*First, Thanksgiving this year was a blast. We went to Levi's Aunt Terry's house for the big Gates Thanksgiving. We go there on the even years and the odd years are spent with my side of the family. The food was beyond delicious and it was so fun catching up with the family. I am so blessed to have great in-laws and any chance I have to see Aunt June is a great occasion. After dinner we went to Heather's house for AMAZING pie. Heather made five or six of the most beautiful pies you've ever seen. They were not so pretty after we attacked them with full force. Thanks Heather, you always make Thanksgiving special!
*After pie, we met up with Levi's family again to see the new James Bond movie, which I did not like at all. I consider myself a movie snob and I can keep up with some of the most convoluted plots, but this one went entirely over my head. Who is the good guys? Who is bad? Was Vesper a bad person?? I'll never know. Daniel Craig was, of course, very yummy to look but it didn't make up for the whole movie. Another plus was the girl who played Strawberry Fields was very cute. She should have been the main bond girl. Red heads deserve much more screen time :)
*Today I woke up early to go buy a new cell phone because mine is a piece of crap that dies after talking on it for less than 10 minutes. I had received a text message from my cell phone provider saying camera phones were going to be on sale for $19.99 on Friday only. I got there about 9 a.m. (the store opened at 8am) and found a line of over 200 people wrapping around the block. I was in flip flops for crying out loud and there is no way I could have waited that long for something that may have ran out by the time I made it to the front of the line. I'll try again later today, but I've nearly lost all hope of getting a new, affordable phone. Sigh.
*The new dog is fantastic. Morty is such a sweetheart and the cats are finally warming up to him. When he's laying down, Oliver will walk up to him all snobby-like and sniff him and then walk away like he was not happy with what he smelled. Our animals crack me up. They make me so happy and I'm very lucky to have a husband that enjoys their company as much, if not more, than me.
(P.S. Yesterday an English Pointer won Best in Show at the National Dog Show! The winner looks JUST like Morty! Looks like we got him just in time :)

*I have to work tonight, which I'm not looking forward to because I know the store is going to be trashed. I'll definitely be wearing my comfortable shoes tonight. If I can make one public plea it is this: If you go to a bookstore, please do not take 30 books off the shelves if you have no intention of buying more than two. You can look at the book right there and put it back in it's proper place and you have saved a poor bookseller from having to find it's home at midnight tonight. Also, there is no reason to get a stack of magazines either. Take one or two and then get one or two more when you're done reading the first two and have put them back in their place. Sorry to sound like the book gestapo, but it really is the hardest aspect of my job. I'm sure my aunt Nancy can vouch for me, since she's worked in a library for years and years LOL!
*I am in a book rut right now. We are going to be reading The Historian for my book club and I think it looks great, so hopefully this will snap me out of my slump. Any good suggestions other than this book?
Well, I hope you all had a great Turkey Day and I hope you will all have a great holiday season!
Love,
Carly






































