Thanksgiving x3 and my weekend home

I took the day before and the day after Thanksgiving off from work to spend an extended weekend with my relatives. Since August I really haven't had the time to do this. Wednesday, I spent time getting my car worked on in Columbus. My parents never really had the money to do preventative maintenance on it, so it needed a tuneup, new fuel filter, radiator flush, and new air filter, and an oil change. This cost me over $400 but its better to get it done than cause something more expensive to go wrong. After that I went to pick up my tv from Circuit City. Until now I have been watching tv on a 13 inch tv that was given to me by my aunts friend. I am super excited about having a 32 inch LCD tv now though. I had to plug it in before I left for my dad's house and it looked real good. I had intended to wait till the day after thanksgiving to buy one, but I was too worried about the lines at BestBuy and how early I would have to get up to get one. It is a good thing I bought one ahead of time because Best Buy could only gurantee to have 6 per store. The extra hundred dollars I paid for mine was worth not having to stand in the cold and losing another hour of sleep. Plus I wanted to make sure I got one with good customer reviews and if I got to the store and the one I had chosen was sold out then I would have had to choose another one that I hadn't researched, etc. etc. and I didn't want that either.
So the deals I got the day after Thanksgiving are:
1.digital camera also bought prethanksgiving but got a great deal for $149
2. LCD tv 699.99
3. dvd/vhs recorder player 179.00
4. sweater $17.00
5. candle for fireplace in mirrored dish (very cute) $4.00
6. rubbermaid tupperware containers 24 peice with stackable lids and containers $14
7. surge supressors
8. printer cartridges
9. rent dvd
10. mannheim steamroller 3 cd set
11.GPS navigation system for my car --this will really come in handy for my audits in Columbus since I don't know my way around that well $127.00
I think this is it. I really didn't find anything for anyone else, but I was already done with my shopping for people on my list. I definetly splurged on myself this year, but I needed to get this stuff for my apt. The only other thing I am still on the lookout for is an IPOD for my bus rides to work. Right now I still have plenty of books to read, but it might be nice to listen to some music instead of watching the people around me.

Thanksgiving: Spent the night before at Sheila's helping her get the food ready. Peeled half a bag of potatoes, cubed cheese and had a gab fest with Sheila and Keith. Cooked my corn casserole and green bean casserole thanksgiving morning after Dad made my traditional coming home bacon and eggs breakfast. Delicious! Had a great time at Thanksgiving seeing everyone again. I really missed them while I was away at training. After the Riley's left, Sheila's inlaws came over to play Canasta and I stayed for that. We had alot of fun. It usually gets loud at times when someone beats the other team by a landslide in a hand. The whole day was perfect because we had good clean fun and there was no trouble.

Friday: We went out shopping as I mentioned before; Jane came to pick me up at 4:30 AM and we got to our first stop at Sam's club at 5 AM and had some free breakfast. They were not that busy at all. Next was Walmart and that was a madhouse, then we went to Kohl's and they had a line to the back of the store. You may think I was crazy to go, but it really wasn't that bad; I got a ton of deals and I was done shopping by 11 and had the whole rest of the day to do what I wanted. I went to Krystle's for her family's thanksgiving and saw her baby. She is getting really cute and cuddly. Then I picked up Val and we headed up to Abby's for the Cousin's night out. So all 8 of us went to Cheesecake factory for dinner, then Dave and Buster's to play games afterward. We had never all went out before but Emily wanted to try it out. I think there is at least 5 years difference between me and Chris (the oldest) so its usually seemed like we don't have much in common. Now that we are all over 21 and working in real jobs, we seem to have more in common. Overall good time. I didn't drink because I had been up at 4 am and still had to drive an hour home that night.

Saturday: Today we went to see my brothers new apt in Akron and his BMW car. After all the talk I've heard on the phone from my dad and brother about these two.... I had high expectations. I was let down. His apt had nice carpet, but otherwise the cupboards and kitchen looked outdated and the walkways are too narrow. I like my apt much better and its the same price per month. I haven't ridden in his new bmw, but it didn't look that special from the outside to me. It reminded me of the escort he just got rid of minus the rust. When my dad said "Oh, Linny you will really like this car" I was thinking that it would look like something the president would be driven in. Grandma's birthday party was today. She turned 85 and I haven't seen her in awhile. I wasn't really looking forward to this party for the simple fact that in my dad's side everyone smokes but me and my aunt sandra. It is not that bad when one person is smoking, but when 3 or 5 people are all doing it at the same time and you are trying to be sociable and stay in the same room with them. I was also tired because I didn't get that much sleep last night, so I was kinda grumpy to begin with and my dad and brother had gotten on my nerves when we were at his apt, then the smoking.... and my dads excessive drinking and loud mouthing while we were there just had me in a bad mood for the rest of the night.

Sunday: Tommorow I am going to the bead warehouse with Sheila and her friend around noontime. I am hoping we don't get back too late because I still need to get back to Columbus for work on Monday morning. I have enough clothes to wait to do laundry on Monday instead of tommorow.

Well this is a long enough post. Hope you are updated.