Thumbs up for Thanksgiving

Just a quick update on this weekend's holiday festivities. On Thanksgiving day, we went to the Guido's house for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. And on Friday, we headed to Delaware to do it all over again. We had tons of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, dumplings, sweet potatoes, rolls, etc. Not to mention, the yummy desserts. We also found time to decorate our house AND my mom's house for Christmas. Phew!

We are getting in the holiday spirit around here...



And in other news, we were happy to learn that my brother will be home from Afghanistan very soon. That is something to be thankful for!

Ode to Cranberry Sauce

Oh cranberry sauce, how I love thee. Your color, so rich. Your ridges, so smooth. Your taste, so divine. How did I make it all year without you?

Countdown to the canned goodness: T-minus 18 hours. And to all you can-cranberry-haters out there, I hate you! Haha, ok, just kidding, but keep your comments to yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November Deals & Steals

The month of November was good to us. We scored some really good buys.

1. Barstools! Originally $260 + $60 shipping + $18 tax ($338 total). After holding out for months for free shipping, plus an additional 25% off, I scored 2 for $200 total. I danced around the house with joy. They are so perfect! Target.com.

2. Jacket! I have a lot of love for Old Navy this season. I got this $69.50 coat for $25.78. How? I ordered it during Old Navy's 50% off outwear sale while they were also running an extra 30% off card holder's event.

3. The Sims 3! Originally $50, but we got it for $30.


4. Clothes, clothes, clothes. Our favorite company and my former employer, Gap, Inc., had a fabulous Give & Get weekend this month where they offered an extra 30% off (plus a 5% throwback to the charity of your choice). Joe and I took our coupon to the outlets where it stretched the furthest. Excuse my extreme dorkiness, but I actually snapped pictures of what we bought. When it was all said and done, we averaged about $11 an item, spending only about $165 for everything you see below.

Laura's finds above, Joe's finds below.

Dinner at our House - Tuna Cakes

We just got done dinner tonight and I had to jump on the blog to share. This is a cheap, quick, healthy meal that is sure to please many. This recipe is from Kraft (thus all the Kraft ingredients).

2 cans (6 oz. each) light tuna in water, drained, flaked

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

3/4 cup water

1 carrot, shredded

1/3 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. CLAUSSEN Sweet Pickle Relish

MIX all ingredients. Refrigerate 10 min.
HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Use ice cream scoop to add 1/3-cup portions of tuna mixture, in batches, to skillet.
FLATTEN into patties with back of spatula. Cook 6 min. or until golden brown on both sides, carefully turning patties over after 3 min.

Our tips - We used non-fat cheese and reduced fat mayo to cut down on the fat and calories. I hate relish, so we didn't add that in. I used my hands, not an ice cream scoop, to make sure they wouldn't crumble apart in the pan. We also halfed the recipe which resulted in about 3 1/2 cakes. It's no crab cake, but it was pretty yummy.

credit: kraftfoods.com

An early birthday present

So it may have taken us the better part of a day, but we are proud to say that we have successfully installed a new pendant chandelier over our dining room table. Yay! With no handy man experience, we have little knowledge to draw upon with attempting these minor home improvement fetes. As a result, project days at the Guido household are not very pleasant times - there's a little cussing and a little fussing, but eventually we tackle the challenges.

We haven't been in love with some of the builder grade features that came with our condo. Exhibit A: blah, silver, (dusty), apartmenty chandelier.

As with a lot of what's in our house, it takes me a while to find things I like at the right price. I recently came across a lovely pendant light on overstock.com (one of my fav online places to shop). You cannot beat their quality and shipping prices. See Ventura Large Round Chandelier.

And viola...
You love it, right? So far, nothing has caught on fire so we are still pleased. Keep your fingers crossed - it is the first time we have attempted any electrical work.

Organic never looked so good

Joe and I watched this movie last night - wow! "You'll never look at dinner the same way" is an understatement. While the key players in the food industry work on creating their monopoly, the quality of the food we eat is drastically plummeting and most people have no idea. This movie is designed to scare the crap out of you. It worked on me. I highly recommend you check it out - inform yourself - know what you are putting in your mouth.