Spent Thanksgiving last night with Charlie’s family: his mom & dad, aunt and uncle, but just one of The Brothers was in town. It was very nice.

The wine went over well: I ended up enjoying the chardonnay I had so much that I stuck exclusively to that, and had a few glasses. Charlie and his brother had the moscato. Next time, I’m bringing reisling: it’s sweeter, but not a dessert wine. The bacon cheddar scones went over pretty well, but my favorite part of dinner was the green bean casserole and stuffing.  I really enjoy Paula Deen‘s stuffing that my mom makes, but I also love StoveTop, which Charlie’s mom makes.

After dinner, we played two rounds of Greed, which I enjoy. I thought I’d link to how to play here, so that perhaps you might try it and make it a family tradition, too… Different rules call for different amounts of dice, but we play with 5. Three of a kind is that number x 100 (except 3 1’s = 1,000); five of a kind is that number x 1,000 (except 5 1’s = 10,000 = automatic winner). It takes 750 points to get on the board, and 10,000 to win.

I will also note that I am not Black Friday’ing anything today. One of the exits off the highway I can take to get home from Berea dumps me right in front of a Wal-Mart. It was 12:32 am, and the parking lot was jammed. It was insanity. My aversion to crowds generally keeps me from shopping during the main hours in any brick-and-mortar establishment. I’ve grocery shopped at 11:30 at night so I could pop in my earbuds and jam out by myself. So no, no dirt-cheap plasma TVs for me this year.

Onwards, to the Friday5!

1. Leftover from April 17, 2009:  What’s a creature comfort (practically unnecessary) you must take with you on an overnight trip in the great outdoors?  Please consider a phone something that has practical necessity!
   It’s very rare that I would go camping, simply because I don’t like being dirty. My practically unnecessary item would probably be a book, then.
2. Leftover from August 31, 2007: What did yesterday cost you?  <– Thanksgiving in the U.S., but answer it for wherever you are and whatever you did!
   Between the 3 bottles of wine I bought and the groceries to make bacon cheddar scones, it cost me about $35.
3. Leftover from January 25, 2008: What was your excuse the last time you were REALLY late for something?
   Hmm, I’m trying to think about the last time I was really late for something…been a while. I’m going to say that it was probably traffic-induced.
4. Leftover from February 18, 2011: What was your first online purchase?
   I’ve been shopping online for so long now, it’s hard to remember. I’m willing to bed it was something either big-ticket like an electronics purchase, or on the opposite side of the spectrum, like a book or something. I honestly can’t remember, which probably speaks greatly to how quickly my generation acclimated to an online lifestyle.
5. Leftover from December 25, 2009: Which of your gifts do you think you do not put to its best, fullest use?
   I work pretty hard, but I don’t work as smart as I could. I think I squander my perseverance on Sisyphean tasks.