Thanksgiving Survey (WIAW), Black Friday Shopping List, and Elf for Health Day 2

Let’s be real here. If I had posted a recipe today, there is a 0.0001% chance that you would have made it over the holiday weekend. So, to save both you and I the trouble I forewent a recipe for this WIAW and instead filled out a fun Thanksgiving survey that I saw on Liv Lives Life’s blog! Along with answering the questions, I also included some pictures and links to some allergy-friendly Thanksgiving recipes to keep up with the theme of WIAW, hosted by Jenn at Peas and Crayons.

1. Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?

Every year since I was born (except for one year when my dad had to have surgery) we have visited my dad’s side of the family who live about 3 1/2 hours away. Although this year will be quite small compared to normal, I know that we won’t be going for too many more years now so I will treasure each moment.

2. List at least three dishes that are on your family’s table every year.

Turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

Gluten-Free Cider-Glazed Brine Turkey // Mashed Cauliflower // Paleo Cranberry Flax Stuffing

3. Do you prefer pumpkin pie or pecan pie?

Pumpkin pie.

Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Pie

4. Will you watch football on Thanksgiving Day?

Not if I have any choice in the matter 😉

5. Do you plan to exercise Thursday?

Most likely not, except for perhaps a lot of walking.

Or maybe my short Holiday Hustle Thanksgiving Workout that I made last year!

6. Do you prefer ham or turkey?

Well, because of my pork allergy I would have to go with turkey! Actually I would go with turkey anyways.

7. Will you shop on Black Friday?

Yes. Well, now it’s actually almost like a Black Thursday…. But yes 🙂 (Check out my wish list below!).

8. Do you take a nap on Thanksgiving?

Perhaps on the long car ride home, but usually not!

9. What’s one dish that probably won’t be on anyone else’s Thanksgiving table?

Lemon Meringue Pie. There are a lot of pies that one associates with Thanksgiving like pumpkin, pecan, apple, etc. Lemon meringue is probably not among that list though.

Gluten Free Dairy Free Egg Free Lemon Custard

10. Do you share the things you are thankful for at the dinner table?

We don’t actually eat at a dinner table for Thanksgiving and instead gather in the many different rooms of  my grandma’s house. And we don’t share what we are thankful for either, just a bunch of old stories!

11. Do you cook the whole dinner, just the bird or bring a side dish? 

We bring bottled water. Does that count? 😉 Because we have to drive so far nothing we make would last the trip. Plus, whenever we insist on bringing something everyone else insists harder that we don’t. Ha.

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As I mentioned above, I am going Black Friday shopping again this year as per tradition! If you’d like, you can check out my wish list from last year and what I actually bought on Black Friday.

I haven’t had much of a chance until the past few days to check out the Black Friday ads, but I’ve already spotted multiple things that I am considering:

We are in desperate need of a new waffle maker as our current one is literally being held together by two #2 yellow pencils. A new George Foreman would also be great since the nonstick part is wearing off on our other ones. And we have been looking to buy a new blender/food processor forever since neither of ours can crush ice or frozen fruit very well for smoothies, so a Ninja might be a good pick.

I was surprised to find some great deals on sheets! I refuse to use anything except for flannel because I get cold so easily, and these two that I found were less than 20 dollars each.

More practical items on my list! My boots from last year are basically ruined from so much use and every time I do attempt to wear them my socks end up getting soaked because the soles aren’t sealed anymore. So basically I need a new pair of boots. Preferably none in the hundreds of dollar range. I’m thinking $20 is more my speed. Along with boots I also need a new pair of cheap gloves as the tips of my other ones have worn out and you can see some of my nails. Classy.

DVDs are on my list every year and they are my only guarantee for Black Friday shopping. Simply put, they are WHY I go Black Friday shopping. I love rewatching my favorite TV shows and movies so if I can get them cheap all the better!

While it’s almost a guarantee that I’ll be getting DVDs during Black Friday, on the opposite side it is very unlikely that I will be purchasing a new camera. This is kind of my “Dream List.” While all of the cameras shown here are around $100 (about $70-140), my cellphone is still working alright for pictures. It’s just become a real hastle lately since it won’t let me upload pictures via a usb cord anymore and I have to email myself pictures for every post I want to make. And sometimes it takes hours for the emails to go through. Plus my camera memory card is full. So ya.

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Yesterday was also Day 2 of Elf For Health, and the challenge was to unsubscribe to e-mails and work on clearing out our inboxes. The goal was to clear away at least 3 subscriptions and I managed to do over 10 I think. I still have three other e-mail accounts to work on which will be super easy now with the new service I discovered called  unroll.me. Basically it’s brilliant and you should check it out if you have an insanely cluttered inbox like me.

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Questions for you:

Answer some of the Thanksgiving survey questions above!

What is/would be on your Black Friday shopping list? 

Have you cleaned out your email inbox lately?

***How would you all be interested in a giveaway for the new Happy Herbivore cookbook that I talked about a little while ago? Just a refresher, it is called Happy Herbivore Light and Lean. Since I was part of the pre-release tour I have been offered the chance to host a giveaway for a free copy. I don’t want my blog to be all about giveaways though so I thought it would be best to ask you first. It will be just for U.S. and Canadian readers (sorry to everyone else!). What are your thoughts?***