That was painful. 4 AM to in order to get to Circuit City by 4:30 to stand in line with Kenny and Will. This year, Bob and I did not have any specific items that we were needing but we still went anyways because it has now become our tradition. Of course, Bob likes to tell everyone that I’m the one dragging him out of his cozy warm bed at the ass-crack of dawn to spend money we don’t have. But he really does enjoy it, he thrives on it. How else can he interact the rest of humanity? I don’t want him to become a hermit so why not drag him out on the WORST shopping day? Armed with my chai latte, we stood in line until 5:00 AM when the doors opened and we were greeted by this:

It doesn’t look like much but you have to know, we were close to the front of the line. Since Bob and I had no real idea of what we wanted, we helped Kenny with his purchases. Once he gave us our marching orders, we all fanned out to retrieve this items while Will stood in line, saving us a spot. Next place: Target. When we finally got in, it was a sea of red carts, I felt like I was swimming through Target. They really should implement a policy of no carts in the electronics department, it was ridiculous. While the craziness went on in the electronics and toy aisles, I decided to wander to the other side of the store, which was dead quiet, and buy some necessities, like Tums and shampoo. That’s right, I get up early to buy antacids and shampoo!

After a quick swing into Sam’s Club for a free breakfast and lawn bags, Bob and I then ventured to the mall and made a huge dent in the credit card there. Not only that, we also went to Office Max to get my mom this awesome desk chair that massages your back. How cool is that? (My mom loves it, by the way.) We then picked up Katie and headed to the Mills where we did some more damage. Finally, 9 hours later and lunch at Las Palmas, we finally made it home for a nice LONG nap. I am still exhausted but it was totally worth it.

This week for Supper Club, we decided to have a mini-Thanksgiving dinner with some friends. Since Bob was bowling in a 9-pin bowling tournament, I decided to make it a girls’ night with Monika, Katie, Kate, Beth and Amanda. We each contributed a dish: I bought a Honey-Baked ham, Monika made hash brown casserole, Katie baked bread, Amanda brought a bacon-cheese dip, Beth made green bean casserole, and Kate brought pecan pie bars and pumpkin cookies. The food was fabulous. We pretty much ate everything but we saved some ham for Bob and Brandon to mooch off when they got back from bowling later that night. Because we ran out of the wine that Monika brought, Amanda had Matt come to our rescue and bring some more bottles to open. Don’t worry, we rewarded him with some dinner. A great way to kick off the Thanksgiving weekend!! Woo-hoo!!!! No work for two whole days!

Last Sunday, Yao invited a bunch of us over for dinner, more specifically, he invited us over for hot-pot. The easiest way to describe this is fondue, chinese-stye. You have a simmering broth in a pot set in the middle of the table. Everyone can start throwing in vegetables, meat, noodles, seafood etc. to cook in the broth. Yao had a spread for dinner: lamb, beef, tripe, shrimp, noodles, tofu, mushrooms and greens.

Then you go fishing, looking for yummy things to eat just like Kim and Amanda did:

It’s a family-style meal that is SO delicious. Since there were so many people attending, Yao made a spicy broth and a mild broth and set them at two different tables. The girls gravitated to the mild broth while the guys sat together at the spicy broth table. So, it was pretty much like any other time we all get together, girls on one side of the room and the guys on the other side. Most of our friends have never tried it before and I applaud them for giving it a shot. Once I knew what the girls liked to eat, I just pretty much kept throwing those ingredients in. It was really a lot of fun, lots of good food and good company. What more can I ask for at a dinner party?

Appetizer: “Can’t Just Eat One” Spinach Balls. So true.

Entree: White Chicken Lasagna. Yum. And it goes great with white cake and chocolate frosting.

Side Dishes: Lite Caesar Salad from a bag and Garlic Bread with Romano & Fresh Rosemary.

Dessert: Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding. I thought it was pretty good, a little mushy, though. But there was enough chocolate for me to overlook that.