Thanksgiving, Black Friday

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Rob and I had a quiet day at home. We cooked a turkey breast, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, some sweet corn that I froze from this summer, green jello salad, and jellied cranberry sauce. It was a delightful meal...and we'll be eating the leftovers the rest of the weekend :). After our afternoon dinner, we watched Angels and Demons...which was an entertaining movie.

This morning we woke up at 6am and pulled on some clothes and combed our hair and went to Target. We were actually surprised that everything we had noticed in the ad that we were interested in was still there (the store opened at 5 and we didn't get there until about 6:20). Rob got his XBox360 that he had been wanting. They had the bundle that the other stores had (with two free games), but it also came with a 50 dollar gift card. Not to mention that they were giving 10 dollar gift cards to anyone who spent over a hundred dollars this morning...AND I had a 10% off day card from my Target credit card....so it ended up being a very good deal. We got a few dvds and an Xbox game and a couple of Christmas gifts for family...so it was a good trip, until we got to the line to check out...which wrapped around the store. We were in line about 45 minutes. After Target, we were pretty spent, but we decided to check out Best Buy and Walmart. We made quick trips at both stores and were home with a couple of Egg McMuffins before 9am. The only painful part about the whole morning was the wait at Target...which wasn't all that bad since we were jazzed about finding the things that we wanted and there were two of us, so we would each take breaks by running to look at something while the other waited in line.

After our shopping today, Rob crossed the 50,000 word mark on his novel. He has officially become a NaNoWriMo "winner"! I'm very proud of what he's accomplished this month, and I look forward to reading his novel.

Once we go back to school on Monday, I'm down to just two weeks left. I have a giant stack of essays to grade this week...and then the final portfolios start coming in the next week. It's been a rollercoaster of a semester. I look forward to only teaching two classes this spring.

Restaurant Review: Smashburger

Tonight Rob and I went to Smashburger which recently opened nearby. They have a selection of burgers and chicken sandwiches along with a few salads. This restaurant seems to be joining the growing numbers of cafeteria-style places where you pay as much (or nearly as much) as you would for the food a sit down restaurant but you don't get waiters or plates or real silverware (think Chipotle, Panera, etc...). The burgers were certainly above average. We both had the "smashfries" which are fries with herbs and garlic on them. They were pretty good--they only cost 30 cents more than their regular fries--so worth it for a change of pace.

Verdict: Good, but a bit expensive for what you get. We will probably go back to try more of their menu.

Update.

Goodness, it's been too long since I've posted. October was dreary and cold. The leaves fell off the trees more quickly this year than any year since I've moved to Iowa. The trees are mostly bare, but the weather this first week of November has been warmer and sunnier...so things are looking up.

There's about 5 and a half weeks of the semester left. It has gone by VERY quickly. I am currently grading essay 3 (of 4). Next semester is going to be much less hectic. I am back to teaching my usual two courses and I will only be on campus on MWF.

Rob is participating in NaNoWriMo this year for the first time. He is trying to write an entire novel (50,000 words) in one month. Tonight he is at a "write-in" with other participants at the local mall. He has been on pace or slightly above pace all week, and he seems to be enjoying himself. It feels a little backwards for him to be going to creative writing meetings and not me. :)

They started remodeling our hallways last month and they finally finished painting (well mostly, they still need to come back and put the switch plates back on and what not). It took them about a month from start to finish, but we now have freshly painted tan walls and green doors. This week they added new stainless steel kick plates and new door numbers. Since they made no attempt to cover the carpet, I'm assuming that's in the works too.

Here's a photo photo that I took the day before they put on the new numbers and the kick plate.
More photos of the remodel can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157622571469706/