I am oddly fascinated by very large families and the Discovery Health Channel provides that window for me to look through. It is not because I would like to have a large family (FAR FROM IT), I am astonished and appalled about the whole thing. When you have children numbering in the double digits, you have a problem. Yes, tonight I watched a show about the Duggar Family and I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. 14 children plus more to come? (Actually, they are up to 17 now, I must have been watching an old show.) All children names start with the letter “J”? They like doing chores? There is a buddy system? Throughout the show, they talked about their daily lives, how to run a non-chaotic household, etc. The kids are doing the chores around the house, the older children each have a younger sibling or more to take care of, the girls are cooking the meals. Have you noticed that I have not really mentioned the parents at all? That’s because they are too busy procreating to supply more labor for the Duggar household! Come on, do you think that the parents are giving each child the attention he or she needs? Of course not, because they are popping out more children! Where is the screaming, fighting, talking back, arguing, hair pulling, child uprising to protest living/working conditions? Doesn’t that seem odd to you? Not only are the parents not believing in population control, they are producing brain-washed alien babies!

All I can do is shake my head in disbelief. I think I have a neck cramp from all my head-shaking.

I will have to say one positive thing: they sure do have the most organized pantry I had ever seen. I do envy that. And the fact that they can spend $830 to feed this army for a while while Bob and I can spend that much in a snap and there are only two of us.

Oh yeah, I also got a recipe that includes tater tots (Bob loves them) so I’ll will have to try the Duggar Tater Tot Casserole. Of course, I’m going to quarter the recipe so we won’t be eating it for two weeks.

It seems like every year we get up earlier and earlier on Black Friday, that quintessentially American “shopping holiday” that falls on the day after Thanksgiving. This year, we eclipsed our previous records by awaking at 4:30 am to get to Wal-Mart by 5. Kenny and his brother John got there even earlier, mainly because they had specific door busters to snag. Kenny grabbed a TV from Wal-Mart, and John got a bunch of things from Circuit City, including a copy of Super Mario Galaxy for us (thanks John!).

We decided to meet Kenny at Wal-Mart at 5. We got there just a little after, allowing the crowds to swarm in and avoiding a possible trampling situation. We made our way to the main aisle where all the deals were and beheld a truly amazing sight:

A sea of humanity devouring the deals around the electronic department made moving difficult. We finally tracked down Kenny with two TVs and a printer (he ended up returning the smaller of the two TVs — it was just too good of a deal to resist at the time). We left Wal Mart with a SD Memory Card, a paltry take considering the competition.

Next, we went down to Circuit City to make sure John had not succumbed to the crush of shoppers. Thankfully, he was in line with Wii Games for all. While he waited in line, Jen, Kenny and myself traversed the store, snagging DVDs and giving them to John to buy so we didn’t have to wait in line; a great plan for those of you trying this out next year.

After waiting for John to check out, we went down to Target to hit up the DVD deals. We scored The Office Seasons 1 & 2, Ratatouille, 300, The Holiday, and Gilmore Girls Season 6. Jen also got a knee brace! John was able to find The Littlest Pet Shop, which provided us with hours of fascination while we waited to check out.

Next, we split up: Kenny and John went to Michael’s to get some die cutting thingy and a lot of Christmas decorations, while Jen and I went to Office Max to get the hot gift of 2007:

That’s right, the deals even covered basic home office supplies. This shredder is normally $90 but we got it for $29. A shredder hasn’t been reduced that much since Casey Jones flipped the switch on that oversized garbage compactor in TMNT: The Movie.

We bounced over to Michael’s and hung out with Kenny and John while they debated over which decorations to buy. I suggested the Very Headhunter Christmas Tree, but sadly, that didn’t make the cut.

Finally, we went to Sam’s for the free continental breakfast. Jimmy Dean’s Sausage and Egg Biscuits are hella good. All in all, it was a pretty successful journey.

Another year, another Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving has really never been about family or food for me, I mean, we see family all the time (I’m spoiled, I live in the same town with my family so I can see them any time I want) and we eat all the time. What I look forward to when this time of year rolls around is the four day weekend! Four days of relaxation and no work…what am I saying? It’s going to be a crazy busy weekend. Bob and I started off our weekend Wednesday night with a 9 pin no-tap tournament up at Olivette Lanes. We had attended last year and it was pretty fun so we decided to do it again. I’ll actually let Bob post more about this event so he can pat himself on the back. :-)

Yesterday we actually slept in, bummed around the house and was generally lazy until about 4:00 when we went over to meet my mom and some family friends for dinner. We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving the Asian way: casino buffet followed up with a generous serving of gambling! My mom had never played slots at Ameristar so Bob, Chris and I took her over there after dinner and played for a bit. She didn’t get the concept of slot machines and we couldn’t really explain to her what it was about except that if you were lucky, you got money.

Tonight, we made the trip out to New Town to have dinner with Bob’s parents and some of the extended family. My goodness, I was so full, I’m full even now as I’m typing this, but it was worth it. And we even got leftovers sent home with us so I can relive dinner for the next couple of days. Woo-hoo!

Season premiere of Project Runway was tonight, it was the reality show that started the addiction to Bravo reality shows! What are your guesses, who will win? I like Rami, Kevin or Christian.