Friday Nov 12th I drove down to Illinois to visit a client and then to IKEA to shop with my sister, Meg, for salon furniture. The client was Tek Packaging in Huntley, Illinois whom I've worked with to develop packaging for their GoPlate. My contact put together a fascinating tour of the plant that culminated in providing me with samples of my work. Then I met Meg at IKEA where we searched for chairs and tables to put in the waiting areas of her new salon. We found tables, but no chairs. After supper, Meg still had energy to search other stores, but still no luck. We stayed overnight and talked marketing, then left soon after breakfast the next morning.

The Art Guild was asked to help staff a Village-sponsored event that next day, Saturday Nov 13th. The Village opened a vacant storefront downtown and the Guild supplied the materials and helped children decorate Christmas stockings for a contest. It was fun, but I think the rain kept the attendance down.

And that evening, we attended the annual high school Scholarship Dinner and Auction. Always a good time. This year the venue was moved to Silver Spring Country Club and the food was fabulous! Jeff and I bid on a number of items, and only won one: a golf package. We sure had fun with Misasis and Zalowskis.

Jeff flew out to Virginia again for his monthly meetings that Monday (Nov 15th) and was back late Wednesday.

My 47th birthday was busier than I anticipated. The day before (Thursday) Aaron and Mike treated me to lunch at AJBombers. They have the BEST turkey burger and sweet potato fries! I started out with my Friday routine attending Step class at the Y. The membership card scanner played "Today is Your Birthday" when I checked in and I received a free guest pass. Then my class was subjected to 47 repetitions of a tough step thanks again to the birthday girl. From the Y, I showered and drove in to work to finish up a few things. John was on vacation deer hunting in Michigan so it seems I'm always doomed to work extra hours my birthday week. Then I ran around picking up things for Bryn's last-minute departure later that night. Don't worry, Paige and Jamie baked me a very chocolatey, yummy birthday cake!

So the Misasi family graciously invited little Bryn to come along on their trek to Colorado and surprise their daughter – and Bryn's best friend – Natalie during Thanksgiving break. The weeklong trip didn't exactly line up with Bryn's time off from school, so she discussed with her professors beforehand. Now if Bryn is able to get the work done while she's in that beautiful surroundings... So Jeff went to get Bryn from Carroll Friday at 5pm, so she could pack up and get to the Misasis by 9pm, so they could leave by 3am! We Skyped with Bryn Thanksgiving night. Bryn spent that day skiing, complete with a lesson in the morning. She returns early this afternoon and we can't wait to hear all about it. Bryn was a good little daughter and has sent me pics on her phone every once in a while to placate me.

Tuesday was a tough day for little Paigey. Her good friend, Jamie, enlisted in the Army and Tuesday was her sendoff. Jamie's family included Paige that day and took her to downtown to see Jamie swear in and say their goodbyes at the airport where Jamie heads for basic training in South Carolina. Jamie and Paige spent a lot of time together lately and there's going to be a big void.

Paige's conferences were that afternoon and I got to hear how sweet and quiet Paige is in school. Every teacher commented on how they're trying to get Paige to "open up." Funny. She's doing awesome in her Media Studies and business classes.

Headed to Appleton Thanksgiving Day to eat out at Van Abel's with Jeff's family. I love this tradition! I so look forward to that broasted chicken every year. After dinner, we relaxed at Maggie's for the afternoon. We chatted for hours. Paige even decided on her confirmation name with the help of her aunt: Deborah. Jeff and I received an early Christmas present from Terry and Paul: 3 bags of frozen fish Paul caught and frozen french fries!

My alarm went off at 5:00am so I was awake when Kristin called to announce that we didn't have to wait in line at our first store because she was able to buy it online. She had gotten up twice already that morning trying to see if/when it might be available online, and she just never went back to bed after 4:00. Wow! So we started at Target which was a total bust: first, there was no parking to be had. We get into the store and the lines are longer than I've ever seen there. So while I was in my non-moving checkout line, I purchased what I wanted using my iPhone and left everyone else in the dust! Next we hit Kohls, which is always productive, ToysRUs and Brookfield Square mall. We all went home and napped so I could prepare myself to work concessions at the season opening boys' basketball game. What a workout that was! We couldn't restock soda fast enough so people were complaining it wasn't cold. Jeff popped popcorn nonstop while people pulled aside waiting for their bag. We had to serve hot dogs on hamburger buns because we ran out of hot dog buns. And it took us til 10:00pm to get out of there. Unreal.

Last night we had the Taorminas and Abby's boyfriend, Mark, over for dinner. I was prepared with stickers as Paige and I had just returned from a trip to Michael's where she was looking for something to make her friend Jamie. Lucy and Bella were fascinated with Paige laughing at the faces she would make and retrieving her from her bedroom whenever they realized she was gone and they were missing her. We all started watching Finding Nemo, but it got too late so Lucy and Bella just checked it from the Saunders library.

Last Wednesday night was a flurry of housecleaning getting ready for the weekend houseguests. I was pooped after cleaning all 3 bathrooms! But along with that just-cleaned carpeting, the house looks fabulous!

My parents arrived shortly after I got home from work Thursday evening. Mom brought homemade cream of chicken noodle soup that we served for dinner. Yum! Friday morning I skipped my Step class at the Y and bummed around with Mom & Dad for the day. They came with me to the DMV to get my driver's license renewed. So glad to replace my old license where my picture had my eyes closed! My new picture is actually decent! After that we took a look around the new Woodman's where I picked up some good buys that included a couple bottles of wine.

Then it was off to Carroll for their Family Weekend. Bryn let us know she would not be available until 3:30pm — after classes, lunch and aquajogging. We picked up Kristin, Bella and Lucy to come along too. When we arrived at Kristin's I noticed a very flat back tire and Dad came to the rescue hooking up Carlo's new air compressor to fill 'er up. We all hiked up to the 4th floor to see Bryn's dorm room, walked the campus just a bit (chilly!), walking through buildings where we could. Then we packed ourselves back into the van bringing Bryn along for the not-to-be-missed monthly St. Anthony's fish fry. Timing was of the essence again as we had to have Paige to driver's ed class by 6pm, so we were in line by 5:00. Worked out pretty well.

Paige's Confirmation Retreat was rescheduled to earlier in the day Saturday. And when I say earlier, I mean they had to be there at 7:00am!! (Reason being that half of the kids at our church attend Germantown and their football team had a Div1 playoff game that afternoon.) Saturday was Jeff's side of the family's turn for Family Weekend and Carroll. They stopped by to pick Jeff up at 10:30am. Much nicer day for touring the campus. They lunched at the Chancery which I heard was quite tasty. Meanwhile my Mom, Dad and I looked at ranges. There was a too-good-to-be-true sale at the appliance/furniture store up north, so Mom & Dad thought we'd get an idea of what I like, then they could purchase up there. While the salesman flaunted the features of the new ranges, I kept thinking it'll just be nice to have a functional clock/timer and all 4 working burners! Went back to pick up Paige, Jeff returned from Carroll later that afternoon in time for another night out. We dined with another couple who took charge of where to go. They had an expiring coupon to use at a cute little place downtown Milwaukee. However, with no reservations, the wait was too long so they awarded their coupon to some others waiting to sit. We found another restaurant had really took notice of the No Smoking atmosphere.

Sunday was even warmer and sunnier than Saturday. Jeff had Paige out in the yard practicing her pitching. After a productive morning updating the Art Guild site and blog, I took a nice, long walk, then cut down the dead perennials in the yard. My parents called from the appliance/furniture store up north and the sale was just that: too-good-to-be-true. Jeff finally got to use his 2 rounds of golf he had bid on at a Silent Auction almost a year ago. Who'd of thought? Golf in November?

Iced chai tea. Awesome. You should try it. That's what I treated myself to at the coffee shop Monday night where I met a fellow Art Guild member to discuss possible fundraising ideas. She has lots of local connections. I have lots of big ideas. We present to the board this Thursday.

Jeff came home from work yesterday morning to meet the insurance claims guy about our roof. Not too thorough, but maybe because the wind damage to the roof was so obvious to him. He said we'll have something notifying us of the amount in the mail soon!

Bryn was able to borrow a friend's car this morning to pick up her new shoe inserts from the podiatrist. She'll have a couple weeks to break them in before we go to get her new running shoes for track around Thanksgiving. Apparently the track team is hosting Open Gym times already! Bryn wants to be in on all that.

Made contact with the insurance company about the wind damage to our roof and an agent is coming out next Tuesday morning to review. Cross your fingers!

The Sussex Sundevils coach liked what he saw last Wednesday night and extended an invitation to Paige to join their U16 team. Paige also had a tryout for the Milwaukee Invaders on Saturday, but had already decided to go with Sussex. We also emailed the Columbus Xplozion coaches, turning down their offer to play there. I'm sure they understood the distance issue. We've heard rumors about an indoor tournament in the Dells so Paige is quite excited.

Paige enjoyed a couple extra days off school last week because of Teachers Convention. Didn't take long to fill up her time with back-to-back sleepovers. Friday night she was kind enough to fulfill her obligation for Family Movie Night and watched The Karate Kid with Jeff and me. I dropped off some homemade muffins at Abby's boyfriend's as he went to visit Abby last weekend. I'm glad he got out there. Abby doesn't have as much freedom to come home this year with her job at the gift shop.

Paige and I drove out to Sussex to see Bella & Lucy in their Halloween costumes before they went out trick-or-treating. I bet they had a blast - their neighborhood looked really fun! From Sussex, we went to Waukesha to meet Bryn in the PIT (eating area at Carroll) to have her sign some student loan papers that needed to be turned around fast.

I had taken all our Halloween decorations down because of that wind storm, but we got everything back in place by Sunday. I tried to get Paige to trick-or-treat with FBLA (business club at school) as they were collecting canned goods for the Food Pantry, but she couldn't find a friend that was going. Jeff and I lit the firepit we had moved onto the driveway and handed out candy from there. We kept warm by the fire drinking hot cider and when it was all over, we ate fresh-baked pumpkin pie. Perfect.

Drivers Ed classes for Paige began this past Monday. She goes every weeknight at the high school 6-8pm, so she's had to be a little more disciplined with her homework. Yep, at the end of November Paige will be 15-1/2 and can test for her temps!