happy late thanksgiving and early merry christmas...

i figured i'd wish you a merry christmas at the same time that i wished you a happy thanksgiving... just in case i go MIA again between now and then! yikes... it's been a while since i've posted on here. i'll chalk it up to three main things:

1) going out of town for thanksgiving & having our heater set off our smoke alarms the morning we were supposed to leave... when i was going to post a wednesday wish list blog
2) the panic of realizing that there are only 20 days left until Christmas day... and really only 10 days until Ryan's family Christmas since they'll all be out here the week before
3) working 9-10 hours a day for the past week

needless to say it's been a bit busy... can i get a pass? :) maybe i can buy some mercy with this gorgeous picture from my husband's creative eye :)



on the heater topic... we woke up to a very cold house last wednesday and decided to light the pilot light for the first time and heat it up a bit. we got the pilot light lit... turned up the thermostat... and went about getting ready for work. less than a minute later, our smoke alarms were going off for the first time since we've lived in this apartment. needless to say, we didn't know how to turn them off and they kept going for a little too long at 7:15 in the morning (i'm sure our downstairs neighbors felt the same way). to make a long story short... we got the heater checked out and a piece of (apparently unrelated) plastic from the top of the heating panel as well as all the accumulated dust vacuumed out. now we know for next year :)

but... we have been faithful to keep up with our "freeze yer buns" challenge. the heater's set at 55 at night, and 62 during the day if necessary. we've actually been able to leave the heater off more often than not, turning it on every once in a while to get some heat flowing through the house and then turning it off when it's comfortable. not bad! :)

we're trying to cut back on our costs elsewhere as well... so if you have any suggestions for low-cost (but still good) recipes (especially quick recipes) it would be appreciated! how are you guys trying to save money this winter?

moving on to Thanksgiving... we had a wonderful time with 18 members of my Dad's side of the family. pictures tell the story best... so i'll leave you with those :)