I hope you had a GREAT Thanksgiving! Did you eat lots? Any fun shopping stories? We had a nice time at the gathering we went to. It was so nice to not have to cook for a large crowd, and not have to rush off to a stressful family get-together. We definitely miss being with our family for the holidays, but we don’t miss the stress of shuffling from one house to the next. It was such a nice weekend just relaxing at home - with our few hours away with friends. I got lots of cleaning done and some shopping done online. This is the first time in a long time I haven’t gone out for black Friday - but I was okay with not fighting the crowds this year. We stayed up until 1:00 a.m. Thanksgiving morning to get the Best Buy Deal we wanted - it was a GPS thing for the car. Then I ordered a few things from Amazon, but nothing too major. I spent quite a few hours going through my huge stack of catalogs narrowing down some gift ideas and tossing out the rest. I am pretty sure almost 100% of my shopping will be done online this year. It is just so easy!

It is starting to feel like winter around here. We had some nice big fluffy snowflakes this morning. The kids thought that was fun, but are really waiting for the snowman building snow. That usually doesn’t come until Jan or Feb. so they still have awhile to wait probably. Of course now that it is nice and cold out, my husband has decided to start an outside project. LOL He is building a tree house for the boys.

Well, I am off to make some French Dip Sandwiches for dinner with our leftover crock-pot roast from last night. Have a great week!

My mom is a 5th grade teacher in Moses Lake, WA and they are trying to get as many visitors from as many different places as possible to their website. The website is: http://www.swiftclassroom.com/longview/nhanson/index.php All you have to do is visit real quick and you will get a little dot on their map. THANKS!

I LOVE Black Friday (well, I love any deal, but black Friday tends to have an abundance of them), so I of course have to offer my own sale. I know many of you might be out & about Friday, so the sale will run both Today (Thanskgiving) & Friday. So here it is…
50% off Gift Certificates Use coupon code: 2506
Dine Without Whine Memberships Make FUN Unique Gifts!
ENJOY!

I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for being a part of the Dine Without Whine Family, reading my messages, and being so supportive. I am truly grateful for you! I hope you have a wonderful relaxing day and safe travels if you are out and about. We are just sticking close to home… - we might even get a bit of snow, so they say. Enjoy your weekend, and be watching for a special Thanksgiving / Black Friday sale!

Christine

I finally bit the bullet and headed out to the grocery store last night. I had an eye appointment, so I was in town anyway - so I figured why not! It is a rare experience to go to the grocery store with no children in tow. Unfortunately, I had my eyes dialated at the eye dr. so I absolutely could not read anything close up - my shopping lists, product labels etc. That makes shopping quite intereresting! I could hardly even read the keypad to put my PIN number in. LOL I could see far off though.. so as long as I held things far away, I could almost see - I’m sure I looked quite funny - buy hey got the job done!

The funny thing happened when I went up front to check out. Of course the lines were long and I had a full cart of groceries. I don’t ever go to the store without a full cart on the way out - that’s just the way it goes. We live in the country, so if I go into town to the store it is a trip - not a run in to get a couple things event. So an older gentleman walks up to me and says “Young lady, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!” I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so I just kinda looked a him. He then proceeded to say - “It is very disrespectful for you to fill your cart up that full and make the rest of us wait behind you.” At this point I am thinking… well then go to the 10 items or less line - the lines really aren’t that long as they have all of them open. Then he proceeds with “And just wait until you get home and your husband finds out how much of his money you spent on groceries!” and off he strolls. By that point I couldn’t help but laugh (along with everyone around me). What can ya say? LOL By the way, I spent the same amount I always spend so my hubby was just fine, but he enjoyed the story.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pecan Pie - Wow, this looks good! ENJOY!

I found another fun Amazon resource tonight - www.warehousedeals.com It is like the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart - you just never know what you’ll find. If you’re a bargain hunter and willing to spend time looking for the perfect deal - this is a fun place to check out!

All right… I confess… I am a huge bargain addict - if there’s a good sale - I want to know about it! Anyoe else with me? If you are, leave me a comment and if a bunch of you are interested, maybe I can post my best finds on here periodically.

I am also a HUGE Amazon addict. We have a Prime Account, so I can order anything (well almost - some things don’t apply) and have it shipped and in my hands FREE with 2 day shipping - or if I’m really desperate it is $3.99 for overnight shipping. Amazon has some fun things for the holiday shopping season that I thought I would share.

First off they have their fun contest where you vote on what you want them to put on sale… then if the item you voted for wins you are entered into a drawing for a chance to purchase it at a very low price… Here’s the scoop and you can vote now. Currently in Round 1 the Nintendo Wii is winning, round 2 the camcorder, round 3 the scooter (the boys really want that), round 4 the Toshiba DVD Player, round 5 the laptop, and round 6 the TV (dang, I wanted that Roomba!). They are all winning pretty big… so if you want to be entered into the lottery to win the opportunity to purchase, those are probably the items to vote for. I might have bought a Wii for that price, but we voted for the Xbox… other than that, probably the only thing I would buy is the skooter.. or the Roomba if somehow it bounces up to win (which looks doubtful). The rest of the items we’re not really in the market for at the moment, but perhaps some of you are! I’m planning on getting a GPS thing for Christmas from hubby, but not that one… He has the one picked out after his extensive research I guess.

Next… Black Friday (the crazy shopping day after Thanksgiving)… For many years I have gone out shopping this day but this year… I think I am sticking with Amazon. Every hour 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. they are posting new great deals. They also have $.99 gift wrapping during this time. Here is the link to the Black Friday Deals Page.

Finally, I added a tool on the left for you here on the blog with the Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals, & Best Deals.

Have fun shopping!
C-

P.S. Oh, and if you want to see all the Black Friday ads early (for the various stores around town), check out www.bfads.net

Anyone else dreading going to the grocery store this week? I just know it is going to be packed! Thankfully we are going to a big party, so I just have to bring a dish to add to the potluck table.

Before I forget, I want to share a couple of my very favorite Thanksgiving Recipes. ENJOY!

Well, if you take a quick look at the main page you will see that the site is SLOWLY transforming. Many pages are changing over and the majority are still in transition. We’ll get there eventually - it’s a big job!

In the meantime… if you are a Dine Without Whine paid member, you don’t want to miss the new bonus section I added to the site! If you click the members area tab at top it will lead you there. I have added a few nice gifts in there.

Of course if you haven’t requested your free Menu Planning For Today’s Busy Family, be sure to do that as well- there is a form on the right side of all the new website pages to claim your copy. It is free for EVERYONE - send your friends too!

Christine
“The Menu Mom”