Where did fall go?

I know, it isn't technically winter until the end of December...but it sure feels like winter, doesn't it? The best of fall goes by too fast. :(

Thanksgiving was last week. Jordan and I had a really great time with my family. It was good to see my grandparents and aunt and uncles. And Matt! Grant and Nikcole were absent, of course...we skyped with them after dinner. This was the first year Grant hasn't been home for Thanksgiving, but they'll be here for Christmas. (Have you seen that stupid Folgers coffee commercial with the brother and sister? The brother comes home from Africa for Christmas, gives his sister a present...she sticks the bow on his shirt and says "you're my present this year." Yeah, that makes me tear up. How lame am I?) My mom made all the typical Thanksgiving dishes--the turkey, corn casserole (my favorite!), mashed potatoes, sweet potato and apple casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce...yum. I contributed with a pumpkin cobbler. Jordan had to go back home in the evening because he was working third shift at the hotel. I stayed in Burlington til Friday...stayed up late watching Food Network with mom, ate hash browns and scrambled eggs for breakfast in the morning (have I mentioned that my dad makes the best breakfasts ever?), and had my parents drive me home in time for my Black Friday shift at Target.

Black Friday...I hate it. And I HATE that Target, and several other stores, decided to open at midnight this year. As if 4 AM wasn't ridiculous enough. I was very grateful to have been scheduled as the closer. My shift was 1:00-11:30. As far as busyness, it wasn't that bad at the cafe, at least not while I was there. (Apparently, it was completely crazy from midnight to 8:00 AM...and they only had two people there at that time, with no one scheduled to cover their breaks. Smart, Target.) Pretty much like a busy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. They were even taking my cafe team members away to work in other parts of the store, since the four of us that were there from 1:00-6:00 were bored and tripping over each other. The worst part was cleaning up at the end of the night. Since we had been opened for basically 24 hours straight instead of the usual 15, everything was really, really dirty. But overall, it wasn't too bad. Just a long day, really.

What else? Oh, my birthday was last week, too. I'm twenty-four now. Whoo. My parents got me a cookbook, a sugar cookie candle (love!), some candy, and a stand mixer. Sooo excited to have a stand mixer! My hand mixer is a hand-me-down from my parents, like thirty years old, and smells like it might burst into flames when I run it for more than a minute. I want to make something fancy now, like divinity. You definitely won't catch me buying any cans of frosting at the store.

Ah, and I guess I haven't mentioned--we have a new puppy! Bentley, an eight-month old shih-tzu. He is such a sweetheart! He came with a few problems...fleas, worms, not potty-trained (though the woman we bought him from said he was housebroken), not neutered. We've gotten the first two taken care of, still working on the potty-training, and Jordan is calling the vet today to get him an appointment to be neutered. So, it's been a bit more work than we thought it would be, but I guess that's usually the case. Bentley and Crosby's relationship is a work in progress. They're still figuring each other out. But when Bentley isn't in ultra-playful mode, they get along really well. They're cuddling with each other on the couch next to me as I'm typing this. :)

Guess I should get going...working 4:00 to midnight tonight. In softlines! Can you believe that? I haven't worked in softlines since the cafe was being remodeled in February and March. And even then, I didn't work there much. To be honest, I kind of hate softlines. There are no aisles or actual locations--you just sorta have to know where things go. And do I know where things go? Of course not! They shouldn't expect me to, given that I work at Target cafe 99.5% of the time, but I'm kind of a perfectionist at work--whatever I do, I want to do it perfectly (the fact that I don't like working at Target is irrelevant...I just have a crazy good work ethic). I hate being unsure of myself--that's a big reason why I like the cafe so much...I really know what I'm doing over there. But softlines? I might as well be a new hire. /sigh. So it's going to be a long night. If I have to fold a thousand pairs of jeans and workout pants, I'm going to scream. I hate folding pants.