Thanksgiving Day Turkeys

This is the family tradition that will never die - Thanksgiving Day Turkeys. We love it. We love it a lot. Others have taken this tradition on as their own, but many do it incorrectly. The key is to start with a plain turkey shape and eight colored feathers. You can do six, but you shall have no more than eight (except Caitlin who broke the rules last year with 9 - she's just so thankful). One evening you are charged with the challenge of creating a turkey that is both original and hopefully meaningful to your life at that time. Then each day leading up to Thanksgiving you add a feather of something you are thankful for.

This is Caitlin's turkey. Please note that she used magazine clippings to create her pregnant turkey. She also did the unorthodox cutting of the turkey body into a more human shape. You can read what Caitlin is grateful for, but let me point out a few things. December 4th at 5pm is the day I finish school and Caitlin goes on maternity leave. Family includes every family member on it. Cybex Arc Trainer is Caitlin's favorite work out machine in the world.
This is my turkey. He is sitting naked (and appropriately censored) in a bath tub asleep. I am going to have three months off starting this coming Friday, so I am planning on relaxing (and raising a newborn...they go hand in hand). Max Attack is my baby boy.

This is Max's turkey! He is also naked (and appropriately censored) because he is still in the womb. Max already has so much to be grateful for - like his placenta, future clothes, the womb and gentle nurses that will be yanking his body out of Caitlin.

This is Pam's. As you can see, Pam is clearly a grandma. This obviously represents her graduation into grandmadom starting with the birth of Baby Max (who she calls B-Max). Mom is mostly just grateful for the family, as you can see. This requires exactly eight feathers...which means we can't have any more children or it will throw everything off.

This is Little's turkey (Michael). I'm not exactly sure what he is. He might possibly be Satan turkey. He could also be a turkey covered in Scentsi smells which is where Mike works right now. He is really grateful for Hulu and Bogus Basin as well as the essential Ducks and Limon.

Big D went wild and created a turkey for his turkey. This is a step up (or down?) from his turkey last year where he just pasted his own head on the turkey instead of a turkey head. He is thankful for the same things every year of his life. Limon was an addition a few years ago that has stuck. We love his predictability.

Last year Devin did not decorate his turkey, so this year was a surprise to see an amazing pilgrim turkey. I believe this is supposed to represent his Pilgrim voyage into the world of turkey decorating. I appreciate the Devin is grateful for warmth and food. Me too.

Beefsquee's turkey is always so well put together. This year, she is going to work it hard core at the gym. My favorite are the little sweat beads on her turkey's head. Squeebles is grateful for many things, and her gratitude can never be explained in one or two words. They require novels. Here is a close up:

Instead of just putting Honda Accord or Neo...she wrote this to properly explain her thoughts.

This is Stephoin's turkey. He and the Butler decorated theirs together and put the feathers up so we could get pictures. They added the gratitude later. Stephoin's turkey is clearly a western wagon wheel theme. This may symbolize his inevitable move back west from NYC when the time is right. No one knows if and when that will be - but this turkey may be telling.

Finally, the Butler's turkey. Jeff has dressed his turkey as a hobo. It is at that moment that I learned he had recently been laid off from his job, which totally blows. Thus, he is grateful for unemployment checks. We all wish him luck in his job search.

Thank you family for another successful year of turkey time. Gobble gobble.

Buttcrack of Dawn With The Freaks

I told my friend Don that I had never woken up at the butt crack of dawn to see the mayhem of Black Friday. While I had gone to Best Buy at 9am before, I didn't see what the big deal is. He mocked me and forced me to get up at 4:30am today to experience it for myself. This is the beginning of the line of 500+ people at Target at 4:59am. They gave out totes to the first 300 (we got one inside even though they were officially "out"). When the doors open, people stormed in. By the time we got to the door, they were sold out of the super-special TVs that they had on sale. Good thing I didn't come for a TV.

Seriously, the line was all the way around the building by the dumpster.After we were done at Target and Best Buy, we moved over to the 7am open of Office Max. While the line was significantly shorter (maybe 70 people), they still meant business.

Here is what I learned about Black Friday. Unless you plan on getting up at 4am, don't go. All the deals in the circulars sell out within 30 minutes. But if you get there in time, the deals are pretty amazing. Also, you have to strategically plan your stores based on what you want the most and what is the best deal, and then you just have to commit. And if you think you are going to go at 8am and get a deal...save your morning and just buy it on Amazon. But I am proud of a few deals that I got that will remain nameless at this time.

Starting on Jan 1st

Yeah, my diet is not going to resume until January 1st. Today I had a McDonald's breakfast burrito and egg nog for breakfast.

Thankful for Da Babes

Today I am really thankful for Baby Max. We both had hiccups today within 1/2 hour of each other. I think we are going to make a pretty cool pair.

Yes. Yes I will.

Yes I will allow my baby to listen to this album. Baby Einstein, you've met your freakin' match.

Halloween We Honor Thee!

I know, its ridiculous to post about Halloween this close to Thanksgiving - but I'm thankful for Halloween - so lay off on the judging and such.
Halloween night - such an amazing night to be alive. Jason and I spent the evening preparing the home for the Hallows Eve bash of the year!

This included classic goods like my internationally famous sugar cookies (with raisins and candy corns) and caramel popcorn.

One of the first guests to arrive was the Coles. They had appropriately dressed up as the Bobbitts (think back 15 years to non-stop news coverage). This included bloody crotch stain, censored bar and hatchet.

But most importantly, the costume included a severed member. Amazing. Bravo Coles. Subsequently, they would win best costume award for the night.

The Seevs came as a Foosball players - genius with the sticks guys. Genius.

Chunqing came as a severed head, which I loved. She sure had a hard time eating though.

The Romney's came as Sarah Palin and he as Mitt Romney. This was an appropriate costume because her name is Sarah and his is Romney.

Stick men. Classic idea! All you need is white clothing and some electrical tape. I love it.

Sushi family! The pillows on the back are rice, wasabi on the head and tuna bodies. I love the seaweed wrap around the body to hold it all together.

Baby sushi. Wow. So precious. Even babies should participate in Halloween.

Chunqing, Liz and Don dressed up as the Donner Party. Liz was the blistering winter snow, Don was death, and Chunqing was the meal of human flesh. Way to concept and bring it all together.

Patrick was a Roman emperor or god or Caesar. Either way, he commanded power and respect all night. Not pictured is Tracy (how did we miss getting a picture of Tracy as this party?) as a baseball player/fan and Ellie as a hipster from NY who is visiting the Mulcocks!

I was super impressed how many people dressed up this year, not all of whom are pictured. We watched some of my horror movies, with Til' Death getting a surprise standing ovation this year. People were really loving that one in '09. I swear they go in seasons.

Overheard in Taco Bell in Evanston

I love you Taco Bell and the classy people you bring into your establishment. For example, the following conversations:

Teenager 1: Idiot - it isn't a leper colony, BYU is some sort of Mormon school.

Teenager 2: Trust me...it is not a school.

Or how about this awesome one:

Grandson attending Northwestern: You know, since I've been here I have been reading the Bible a lot and I've determined that Jesus paid for our sins and we just have to be sorry. I mean, we all do bad things and I think all I have to do is pray to Him and say I'm sorry and he takes care of it and I don't have to worry about it. I don't need to go to any priest or do any Hail Marys.

Grandfather: I like that you are thinking about this, but honestly, your theology is ****ed up.

Inappropriate Alert!

Question: Is it wrong to ask the doctor whether the baby creates fart bubbles in the womb juice? No? I didn't think so.

But get this...some people would disagree with you and say it IS inappropriate for me to ask that question. Go figure.

People Watching Afternoon

Today I have been doing some people watching. Some say that I should be doing some homeworking watching...but I beg to differ. I'm sitting in the student union building of Northwestern and I have been watching this girl. She is sitting in the corner eating a bag of Bugle chips. It is her third bag. She ate the first one, then got up and came back a few minutes with another bag. She proceeded to munch that bag until it was gone, get up, come bag...third bag. The entire time she is doing nothing. Not reading, not talking on phone, not even Facebook. She just dedicate 30+ minutes to eating Bugles.

What do you have to be going through in your life to allow that to make sense to yourself?

Caitlin is Birthday Mania Fantastico!

Caitlin's Birthday! Caitlin's Birthday! Yes it IS (was)! Hooray for festivizing your birthing day! You were born and I'm so glad - the thought of you not being around makes me mad (and sad, not glad cause I'd miss you more than a tad)! Let us all celebrate you and the 29 years you have made earth less lame and more radicalicious!

In order to celebrate, I had Don, Liz and Chunqing come decorate our car in the middle of the night so that I could surprise Caitlin in the morning on the way to they gym (yes, Caitlin goes to the gym on Saturdays at 8am - even on her birthday and 8 months pregnant). Bajjoons inside!

Scary cabbage patch doll cut-outs on the car seat to scare people from messing with Yari.

Sticky note smiley face on the back.

M for Mulcock and heart on the sides with ribbon and more cabbage patch evilness on the dash. Yari, you are lookin' good!

And inside? PRESENTS and CARDS!!! Caitlin was super surprised and happy to see that I was not taking her birthday lightly this year. In fact, I was taking it heavily.

In order to get heavy, I took her down to Wicker Park/Bucktown to get loaded up on some delicious brunch products. But first we took a picture of this boa covered bike with skeleton seat and bell. Awesome!

Our breakfast adventures took us to the Bongo Room. I had been well advised by food experts such as Briggie and Jelly to go to this place and find happiness. Luckily there was only a 35 minute wait, so we quickly enjoyed Milwaukee and its fun shops before heading in to get chunky.

You think I'm kidding about chunky...but that is just my meal people...not to share. I really wasn't sure if I was ready for this.

French toast with white chocolate and caramel drizzle, not to mention pears, cherries, oatmeal crumbles and cinnamon. Uh, what?

Eggs Benedict with red peppers, feta cheese and spinach with roasted red potatoes. This is my description: warm yolky protein goo oozing all over fresh vegetables with cream of heaven juice in my mouth.

Caitlin (aka, hottest pregnant chick ever) got the black bean and sweet potato puree breakfast burrito and a white chocolate/caramel drizzle pumpkin and zucchini based pancake. Don't try that shiz at home. That took like 9 hours to consume and be able to walk again.

Other aspects of the day involved shopping and finding a great gift for Beefsquee that you'll hear about someday, driving, getting some practicals at the mall, taking a massive nap, long walks and bike rides. We ended up going to the new restaurant in Evanston called The Cellar which was freakin' awesome. To all my Evanstonians - check it out. Affordable, awesome, great vibe, super killer service. We ate the following:

1. Fish tacos with mahi mahi, guacamole and fresh sweet corn and black bean salad

2. Empanadas: poblano pepper, Oaxaca cheese, fresh corn and avocado-tomatillo salsa

3. Smoked salmon flat bread with goat cheese, spinach, pesto sauce and onions

4. Black Angus micro burger with think cut french fries (this was awesome and obviously just for me)

5. Haricots verts, which were awesome

6. Lemon-lime cheesecake (on the house!)

All for a ridiculously low price considering how much food we ate. There is a 100% chance we will return.

When we got home Heather showed up to drop off some jelly bellies and precious bajjoons! After that, Don and Liz came over to bring a birthday cake by and open presents.

Getting Don all that cake-making stuff for his birthday totally paid off I'd say.Liz and Don got Caitlin a stylish Udder Cover! If you aren't familiar with the Udder Cover, look at the personalized description below:

No one wants Caitlin breastfeeding our baby in church when he is three...but it happens.

Trace Face got Caitlin an awesome dress that fits perfectly (whereas I try to buy something and can't ever get it to fit). That is mad skillz.

Judes got Caitlin trail mix that looked amazing, eye liner that OPRAH LOVES (now that is a stamp of approval) and some dinero. Who doesn't love dinero? Caitlin better not try to buy groceries with that cash though...no sir. She must buy something fun with it.

More awesome gifts. I got Caitlin 5 intermediate sewing lessons so she can learn how to sew clothes. This has been a long-standing goal for her and now it will come true. Pam got her some maternity shirts and money for fabric at the fabric store for her sewing adventures.

I also got Caitlin this awesome box that contains a beautiful journal and holder for documenting and capturing our baby's first year of life. We can do creepy stuff like save his umbilical chord in there (j/k y'all) and put pictures and memories. Extra adorable.

I love Caitlin and wish I could have done more to make sure she knows how much she rules the world. Thanks to everyone who wished her a great day and showed the love. She loves you all.

Putting the Ween in Halloween

Halloween finally came! I am the only one I know who has an advent calendar for Halloween. I just love that little holiday so much. See the little candy corn you get to put in each little slot? I love it.

Super friend Trace Face came to Chicago to celebrate this hallowed of all holidays with us. We spent Halloween morning doing requisite Chicago discovering. Here is the bean photo that is synonymous with Chicago visiting.

I thought about buying this dinosaur for Baby Pops...but then I realized it was not for sale. So then I thought about stealing it for him...until I realized how freakin' big it was. I left it where it was.

After our exploring we went to XOCO so I could have more goodness. This is a picture of Trace Face enjoying what is the most important meal in her life - guacamole with chips. She literally lives these two items. She bleeds green with chunks of tomato and lime. Also, there might be some Coke mixed in her veins as well.

I bleed this sandwich. It made me cry for happiness and contemplate the meaning of life.

See? I am not kidding.

We spend a few minutes staring up at the corn cobs and screaming WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOA! The clouds were moving by so fast it made it feel like the building was tipping over. Yeah, we shamed ourselves.

We discovered that Chicago has its own holiday - CHICAGOWEEN!

My favorite part about Chicagoween is that they make the fountains bleed. Radical.

Just so you know, Trace Face does not smoke weed. No sir.

How adorable are these two best friends? Pretty much precious. Yes indeedems.

This might be the best belly shot we got at this point. See how cute it is poking out of her jacket? She can't close her coats right now, which is kind of a pain with the pending cold weather.

Hooray for Washington state! We had a great time that day with Trace Face. She had tried to come a month previous, but weather cancelled her flight and she spent the evening in La Guardia. She BARELY made it this time due to weather as well, so we were so glad to have her. A future post will detail our sweet Halloween party with Tracy that night and surprise guest - Ellie Marble!