Thanksgiving Weekend!

I talked to my mom recently how it seemed this year in particular "Thanksgiving" was kind of being overlooked. The stores are always anxious for Christmastime shoppers frequenting their establishments which means year after year the acknowledgement of Thanksgiving becomes more and more brief. This year though it seemed extremely brief. Our local Target featured Halloween and Thanksgiving décor during the month of October. Nothing Thanksgiving was able to be obtained post Halloween, they moved right into Christmas. Note to self, next year I will buy my "November-ish" candy dish in October and not wait. The last 2 years we have kept our "Halloween themed" candy dish out for November too. 

Boy, things have changed. While on our way home from granny's house yesterday from the family Thanksgiving we eagerly looked at shopping center parking lots filled with cars as "Black Friday" arrived early, the norm now. We both commented how different it is nowadays than when we were kids. As a youngster I remember it being complained about by adults that retailers were too anxious to get Thanksgiving done and move into Christmastime. Well that complaint is of completely new validity nowadays! As a young one I remember watching the numerous Mervyn's commercials during the Thanksgiving Day parade that featured the annoying lady standing in the cold looking through the store window repeating the word, "OPEN". Oh man, that commercial was annoying and overplayed. But at least back then the stores didn't open until midnight, the very start of Friday. I also remember when a person was hard pressed to find a restaurant open on turkey day. Plenty of full service restaurants were open including Buca di Beppo, anyone for some Italian flare on turkey day? Only ones we saw dark were mostly fast food including pizza places, yet those closures were even spotty, some open and some not. 

I guess I'm old school, I like a quiet day with family gathered, a traditional turkey dinner, and of course FOOTBALL. Gotta have football! To me turkey day and football go together like peanut butter and jelly! And yes, even the furries in our household got a "turkey dinner". Turkey flavored bones for the pugs and a turkey munch stick for our little Pipey. For as long as I have had the boys they have received a special turkey "bone" on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yes, indeed they are spoiled, but it's the good kind of spoiled. ;)

As a youngster Zonie in the family I was in "Black Friday" was slightly different than most peoples.  Hmm, what happens on Black Friday every year in the land of Zonies? The duel in the desert! Better known as the Territorial Cup, Arizona State University vs. University of Arizona. I hope the mountain down in Tucson this year got painted GOLD! Isn't that a great tradition? Trying to paint the mountain each year? Well paint or protect! I'm sure there were some diehard wildcats doing their best to protect their mountain from being painted by diehard sun devils. As a kid and an adult, Black Friday meant going to the last ASU football game of the year which has always been a face-off with rival University of Arizona. Always a bitter and exciting rivalry. Afterwards we all went to Mexican food. I suppose after all that turkey from the day before Zonies need to balance things out by getting back to the number one most preferred style of food in AZ. LOL! Go Sun Devils! Both teams haven't had a good season so it should be a different style of a battle. Winning this game today means you end the season with a huge and satisfying smile on your face. Once again let me say....GO SUN DEVILS! Even here in TX I'll have my gear on even my Sparky earrings! Gotta have the earrings it completes the look. ;)

Quick Snap Sunday

Show Me The Pumpkin!

 

Cody says, "Oh yeah, this is GOOD!"         

 Piper says, "Where's my pumpkin treat?"     

 Hanging out in the kitchen with a messy face and his blanket!

 

Are you my little pumpkin Cody-man? Yes, and you are definitely a pumpkin eating little man too! It's the week of Thanksgiving which means pumpkin flavored cupcakes were penciled in to be made today. The cupcakes will be enjoyed by those at Brad's work. Perhaps I've mentioned this before, I'm not a pumpkin fan(neither is Brad). However, I like it in certain baked goods I've recently discovered. Cody is as obsessed with pumpkin as Simon is peanut butter and Piper is whipped cream.

It will be a busy week in our household. Trying to get everything done in a timely manner on a holiday week is always a challenge. I think a lot of people can relate. For the next 3 days I like to keep reminding myself the long Thanksgiving weekend is the reward for any extra work leading up to the holiday! First things first, I'm still contemplating my 2nd dessert we will be taking to granny's on Turkey day. Gotta love those BIG time decisions!

Piper vs. The Paper Towel Roll

Buy a cat a toy and she plays with it for a brief moment. Toss a cat an empty paper towel roll and she rolls around with it for quite awhile. I decided to snap some pics as Piper played with her new "toy".  She'll do her best to conquer the paper towel roll a few more times until eventually mommie decides it's served enough of an extra purpose and needs to meet the garbage can.

Victory was hers! 

Coldness Arrives!

Well we made it through October and halfway through November before mother nature decided to lash us with some serious coldness. A cold front moved into the Dallas area yesterday, causing me to go digging in the "boys closet" for their winter gear. Early this morning I dressed Cody in a long sleeve pullover sweatshirt. Those long sleeves clearly mess with his mojo! He instantly started walking around just like I picture a scarecrow would walk, if a scarecrow could walk that is. When wearing long sleeves Cody doesn't bend at all. Every move he makes is done as if he has sticks for limbs. Upon seeing him take a few steps after getting dressed, I immediately busted out laughing. Oh Cody, what would we do without your unique ways! LOL!

Brad is currently at a tennis match this morning. He is playing in a tournament, so who knows how many matches he'll end up playing this weekend? I think it takes 4 match wins to win the entire tournament over the course of today and tomorrow. Tennis tournament mornings are definitely more stressful than any other mornings. It's a huge balancing act for me. Making sure the pets are taken care of as well as things are done for Brad so he can get out the door on time. And how many times has Brad been fully ready to walk out the door then turn to me to ask if I can look up the address real quick? Um, TOO MANY times! I now consider mapping his route part of the pre-match ritual! There I was this morning plugging in the tournament site's address into his WAZE app on his phone. If anyone out there needs a good app for driving directions WAZE is a great one! Just remember to completely shut down the app after you've arrived at your destination, otherwise it will KILL your phone's battery. Brad learned that the hard way!

So what's on tap for my Saturday? Laundry and household stuff, as well as planning out my turkey day shopping list. Can you believe turkey day is so near? The month of November seemed to be going by at a normal speed for us then all of a sudden in the blink of an eye it's nearly Thanksgiving. Quite a lot has been going on in Brad's family, which is likely why turkey day has suddenly snuck up on us. It appears the coldness has arrived just in time for Thanksgiving. Perfect because, I definitely prefer a somewhat chilly Thanksgiving day.

  

Quick Snap Sunday

 

What Color Are You Wearing?

 

Above you see my father-in-law, whom committed quite the football sin today. He showed up to watch the Cowboys versus the Steelers at our place this afternoon wearing Steelers colors.  He was in all black with black and yellow shoes!  Huge no-no! Shame on him! LOL! He was mocked and ridiculed by his son and yours truly, his daughter-in-law. ;)

 

His punishment was to wear the Cowboys pom-pom on his head. He was a good sport about it. His face was hilarious when we first clued in to the colors he was wearing. Somebody needs new Cowboys gear...Christmas is coming!  

Quick Snap Sunday

Simon Weight Trains

Greetings, greetings my peeps! It's your fave blogging puggie, Simmie. See, I can get away saying that because Cody hardly ever blogs. He's too cranky for blogging! LOL!

Well folks, pause and look at that stunning dude in the pic above! Do I workout? Yes! There's the proof above! I workout all the time, mommie gets my tail out of bed early. This morning thanks to time change, it wasn't all that early. I think I slept in. It was actually light outside when we headed out for our walk. I'm more fond of the Spring time change because things happen for me early. Fall time change means I have to wait around too long for my meals. What can I say? I'm an impatient little dude when it comes to my feeding time!

Anyway, I'm not just a great little walker I lift weights too. According to mommie I gotta lift heavy. I'm not sure why I'm supposed to lift heavy but that's what she tells me. And that's what I do. I lift my tired little head and lay it on a heavy weight! Or at least what is considered a heavy weight for a pug-guy like me. For maximum benefit with weights do what I do...weight training osmosis style! Try it my peeps! I'm in great shape!