A Year of Change

Good morning to all of you loyal readers. It is another gorgeous Colorado morning.  The sky is pale blue dotted with indigo clouds that are highlighted with golden and platinum rays of the sun. Stunning!

I worked most of the day at WF. Right now the store is running a “Grab and Give” program.  This means all of the cashiers ask our guests (Customers) if they are interested in purchasing a breakfast, lunch or dinner for a family of four through the holidays. Breakfast is a $5 donation, lunch and dinner are $10 each and for $25 you may buy all three.  The $$ buys the food from Whole Foods which in turn goes directly to the Jeffco Action Center to feed the families in need.  I know some customers get a bit annoyed…they are a completely captive audience.  However, quite a few are happy to donate. I think I raised over $200 yesterday and I was really tired of talking by the time I got home. This one and the local school donations are the only programs that I feel comfortable talking about since these programs directly impact our community.

Anyway after I got home we had dinner…I put a chicken in the crockpot and made stuffing before I left for work.  Luckily, the Mister noticed that the setting was between low and high which meant that the crockpot was not actually on.  That minor detail could have been a disaster.  Thank you handsome husband for being so detail oriented. After dinner I ran down to LOL’s to administer the shot. I had one quick stop on the way down to feed a neighbors dogs, give them their vitamins, antibiotics and eye drops for the little blind Schnauzer. Both dogs were happy to see me and happily neither one wanted to bite.

The boys both did their homework with dad.  Dad vacuumed, did laundry, and cleaned up our ever messy house before I came home. Of course the pups are on my feet as I type, so we will need to vacuum once again today.  Yea!! I think we should invest in one of those robot vacuums that cruise around the house all day. I wonder if they work?

We are planning a play date for the youngest this afternoon.  Maybe I should try to find one for the eldest as well.

The Mister has a full day and I have a few things on my plate too.  I am off to make breakfast and school lunches, so here’s Daddy!!!

Herman Cain, oh Herman Cain, yes it’s me, your voice of reason when it comes to politics. Now in my continuous quest to be fair and balanced, this guy has to go! Are we really to believe that 5 or 6 women are all lying? On top of that, how can you vote for a guy for President that uses the word “ain’t”? Enough already, let’s move on.

It’s now 7am and still lots to do. Pheasant season starts this Saturday morning, wish I was going but so far, no plans. We’re still struggling with bills. It seems we do ok for a few months and then something comes up that throws us right back into the abyss. It’s like 3 steps forward, 1 or 2 steps back. Oh well, we’ll just keep plugging along. Remember life’s too short to get stressed out over bills, it is what it is.

Well, take care, stay safe and have a great day. We hope everyone is doing well. I’ve talked to a few of you that say you read the blog everyday but alas, no comments. I challenge each and every one of you to cowboy up and write something. Let’s make this a dialogue rather than just a monologue, come on, I know you can do it!

I woke up at 5:15 and went down to feed the pups, make some coffee and then get the paper. When I opened the front door I was surprised to see no snow. Where was this winter storm that was supposed to hit us last night? Hmmm, another gaff by the weatherman, no, it couldn’t be, but alas it was true, they were wrong again.

Today the misses works but I’m not sure how much longer that’ll go on. It seems her back problems might be related to standing on her feet at a register for 8 hours in a row. We’ll know more tomorrow after she sees the doctor. The youngest one managed to make it into our room during the middle of the night with a bad dream. This of course, along with Lacey rolling around grunting and itching her back, doesn’t bode well for a good nights sleep. The misses is in the shower and I’ll follow her as it’s my turn to take the boys to school and then I’m off to a meeting at a key account.

The misses and I stopped by the mall yesterday as I need some new dress pants. I haven’t bought any new pants probably since I was married. I found a pair that my Mom is going to give me for Christmas. Better to try them on first so you know they fit. While at Neiman Marcus we ran into a couple people we knew from Saks 5th Ave. When that store closed down about a year ago, it seems all the employees moved to Neimans. The misses saw a midnight blue dress that Nicole (the sales girl) made her try on. Of course she looked heavenly. Now this was fun but just a dream as it was made by some designer named Zac Posen. These high end stores must be feeling the pinch too as this was an $1800 dress on sale for $1100 something this Wednesday only. What a sales pitch! She sure looked good in it. She also tried on a black dress for fun, but the blue one could be worn year round, day or night while the black one was just a cocktail or evening dress. Oh well, it’s fun for her to try these on even if we can’t afford it. In a strange way, it gave her some kind of lift just trying them on which is good as she’s kind of been in a funk lately. It’s kind of like the Cinderella thing!

I taught her how to Mind Map yesterday which will make it easier for her to confront big projects or problems that on the surface, can be too overwhelming. I (and she) thinks it’ll help. I guess I’m lucky as I just never (well maybe once in a  while every few years for a few seconds) get overwhelmed. I’m just wired that way, it’s pretty hard to freak me out, unless it’s football or something really important like that!

It’s now 6am and the misses just came down with her hair all full of curlers. I’m sure she’s thrilled with me telling you that! I guess the earthquakes in Oklahoma were only about 2 miles from Aunt Myrna’s house. She said there was a clock on the wall that hasn’t worked for 20 or 30 years. They even took it to clock maker who couldn’t fix it but after the earthquake, guess what, it started working!

The oldest one asked his teacher for more advanced math problems. After school he said, go ahead dad, ask me some multiplication problems. First I asked something simple like 42 X 9 and he had the answer in a few seconds. Next was a bit more complicated like 23 X 2019, and in less than a minute, with no paper, he shouted out the correct answer, 46,437. The misses and I were stunned. I asked him how he did it and just like me, he broke it down in his head and then added the sum of all the calculations together. I guess he did the same thing for his teacher with another problem as she wrote on his Monday folder about a similar experience. First though, she said she had to check his answer on the calculator which kind of bugged him as he knew he was right, which he was. Good to know he has that “numbers thing” like I do. It’ll make life much easier for him.

Well, time to run. I think I’ll grab another cup of coffee and hit the showers. I managed to get half of my taxes paid and am now only off $4K. Someone asked how we could get a surprise like $8K in taxes we didn’t know about. The short story is that from owning part of the Company, I get a K1 (profit distribution) on my taxes each year. We always file on October 15th (when taxes are due if you file an extension) and this year due to Company allocated profits on paper (even though we received no actual cash distribution) it resulted in  us owing $8K! Our accountant finished our taxes about Oct 12th so he (and we) didn’t know this until 3 days before we had to file. So there you have it, nothing I could do about it. I had to send in the Federal return without payment and am just waiting for the letter with what I’m sure will be a nice penalty included. Oh well, remember what I said, hard to overwhelm me, I mean what are they going to do? It’s just another bill, get in line right? Oh wait, they’re the government, they can go to the front of the line! Hopefully they’ll accept something like $10 a month for life rather than come after us, ha ha. It’s next year we need to worry about as we’ll probably owe more like $15K or more, ouch! Oh well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

So there you go, that’s what’s happening here. Hope you all are doing well, take care and God Bless. if I was thinking I would have taken a photo of the misses in that dress! I wish you could have seen her, she was stunning and glowing. Oh yeah, next week, a hair salon in Cherry Creek (our Beverly Hills) is using her as a model and she gets like $800 worth of hair stuff done! Good for her.

So, have a great day and we’ll see you tomorrow. Bye for now,

Anyone reading these days? I thought for sure someone would comment on the 9 year olds literature. Maybe you all are just too lazy. We’re going to have to take a poll to see if anyone is reading or maybe we’ll charge a subscription fee next year if we decide to keep this going. We need some feedback here people!

Ok, the soccer party was great. 9 boys running around inside and out, with sweets and pizza it was hard not to. I woke up at 4:45 am so I could get to the gym and get back home before anyone else woke up. It’s now 6:38 and the youngest and the misses are downstairs with me. I think I’ll pass the computer over to the misses but first I have to say, what a victory by the Denver Broncos over the hated Oakland Faiders (err Raiders). It’s always great to beat them as they have the worst behaved fans in the NFL. You can see their fans throwing plastic beer bottles at our players along with other trash whenever we’re in the end zone. How come the NFL doesn’t do something about these loser excuses for fans? Oh well, we won in great fashion, coming back from 10 points down to crush them 38 to 24, damn good clean fun!

Ok, I’m passing this to the misses while I’m on a high note before I jump into politics. But wait, she’s outside throwing the ball for the dogs so I have a couple more minutes. Did you see Obama Friday night hosting a dinner where rich guests (lobbyists) paid $38,000 to attend, and then the next morning he goes to Kansas to blast the rich? How hypocritical is that? Give me a break, I’m so sick and tired of the President being a full time campaigner rather than trying to fix our problems. Ok ok, I’ll stop now. Maybe this is why a few of you don’t read, huh?

The misses is now making breakfast so too late for her to contribute today, sorry for the tease. It’s going to snow tonight and is already cold outside. Lots to do today, and everyday but I’ve come up with a new way to get a weeks worth of work done each day. It’s a kind of strategy called Mind Mapping. They have software programs to do this but I developed my own version which for me, works. So in the spirit of Mind Mapping,

God Bless, take care, gotta go,

Yesterday after the youngest ones soccer game I managed to get the garage and the house cleaned while the misses changed all the sheets, washed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms. No wonder her back is sore!

We had fresh scallops and linguine with clams last night for dinner which was great! We try to only eat live food” meaning stuff without a bar code or fresh chicken, fish and grass fed beef. I know some of you are rolling your eyes but to each his own.

The youngest played great as his team won again! He’s improved with each game he’s played. Tonight at 4:30 is his end of season party at his coaches house. It’s Italian themed and the misses made sausage, peppers and meatballs, yum. Each kid will get some kind of trophy or something. Daylight savings time kicked in last night meaning we set our clocks back an hour. This means the sun now comes up around 6am and will set about 4:30 or so.

It’s cool today with a high of 43 degrees. More snow is supposed to arrive tomorrow night and then the nice weather returns with highs almost in the 60’s by the weekend.

As promised, here’s a poem by the oldest one,

LIFE

Life is wonderful

Life is everything

Life is us

Life is everywhere

Life is me

Life is you

Life is plants

Life is trees

Life is in the water

Life is in the woods

Life is in the jungle

Life is everywhere

Life is life

How’s that for a poem from a 9 year old! Maybe I’m biased but I think it’s pretty remarkable.

The morning is a little bit contentious around here as the oldest guy came down late and lit in the younger one over a jointly owned toy he was playing with. Drama drama drama, something different everyday. It’s one thing for kids to be kids but we won’t tolerate either of them coming down and throwing a tantrum over a toy that disrupts the peaceful morning. Part of the issue is we’ve recently began severely limiting tv. It’s just no good for kids or really for anyone. Outside of sports, the occasional movie and holiday shows, we’re trying to get off the boob tube.

Well I guess I’ll run now, I need to get some exercise this morning and both boys need some new jeans. This means a run to the ranch supply store as they’re the only ones with wranglers long enough that have skinny waists. Hope everyone’s doing well an has a great day. Take care and give us a call to say hi!

Well today we have a soccer game, tomorrow we have a soccer game and tomorrow night we have an end of season soccer party. Glad we have nothing important to do this weekend huh. The youngest guy might as well sleep in his soccer clothes.

It’s going to be cold today although I think we’ll miss the snow as it’ll stay in the mountains. The wind however, is supposed to be here in full force. Mom’s back went out again yesterday morning, just when we thought she was getting better. Hopefully this episode will pass soon as she’s not having any fun. Daylight savings time kicks in tonight meaning “fall back” which will result in the sun going down around 4:30 to 5pm at night. That’s pretty early but at least the sun will come up earlier.

How’d you like my pictures in yesterday’s post? Uncle T said no wonder I didn’t get anything as I stuck out like a sore thumb. Thankfully elk are color blind. You have to wear all that orange so someone from the east coast doesn’t mistake you for an elk!

Not much else from me, I think I’ll sign off and head to the gym while everyone is still sleeping. Maybe the misses will write some more when she wakes up. Hope everyone is well and has a great weekend. Take care and God Bless,

Oh wait, I almost forgot! The oldest was finishing up his homework the other day and he had written a bunch of poems (which are amazing) and a autobiography. You have to read this but don’t tell him I put it in, it’ll blow your mind. He’s quite advanced for being 9 years old. maybe he’s the next Hemmingway.

Autobiographical

My name is Jagger. I have a brother named Ty, I am tall, and funny. Son of Doug and Lori. Who loves mom, dad & Ty. Who feels happy about life. Who needs food, water, and life.  Who gives help, tickets, and money. Who fears death, being eaten by a giant, and getting stabbed? Who would like to see the Northern lights. Who dreams of flying.  A student of Mrs. Ramirez. Jag is my nickname.

Now I don’t know about you but this is pretty amazing coming from a 9 year old! Sometimes you don’t realize how grown up kids are, wait till I share some poems in the coming days. Take care and we’ll see you tomorrow

Good morning.  It’s a bit early, but the youngest was insistent on coming downstairs. Ugg. We finally succumbed to his wishes under the guise that he would read a book to us, practice his 15 spelling words and write out his five sentences for his test today. We are now downstairs, the youngest is reading, the mister is also reading (the paper) the dogs are warming our feet and the oldest is in the basement typing and printing some poems for his 4th grade class.

The boys played in the snow for most of the afternoon.  They came in for dinner…chicken  and stuffing followed by chocolate fondue with many different fruits for dipping.  Needless to say that was the big hit of the evening.

I am off to make breakfast, so here comes the Mister….

TGIF, what a week, I’m glad it’s over. Next week I’m in New York and the week after Chicago so a bit of travel coming up. I think we have soccer games on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow which will then cancel the game. It’s kind of muddy outside today and the snow will probably be gone before more comes tomorrow. Today I need to run down to the distributor here in Colorado as I let my employee go here last Friday. He was a great guy but just didn’t grow into the managerial role I had hoped for. Oh well, I think he already has another job as a friend and I made some calls on his behalf.

Ok, now for some pictures from hunting. It seems my buddy’s blog has had over 17,000 hits to see our hunting trip. First is me with an AR-10 (military rifle) and a suppressor (what most people call a silencer) as these are legal to hunt with in Colorado. Most people don’t have a set up like this as it’s about a $10,000 rifle including the suppressor, gun and scope. Next are some pictures of the ranch with snow that hit a few days later. Enjoy,

(hint, just click on a picture to blow it up, click twice to make it even bigger!)

The misses heads back to work today and I hope she makes it until 3pm. She did way too much housework yesterday and I’m sure she’s sore today. She basically overhauled the entire master bedroom, both bathrooms, the boys rooms, the kitchen, and yes, even the mudroom. I worked downstairs most of the day and finished up around 6pm. The boys were in rare form. I don’t know what started it but one thing lead to another and it escalated and escalated until it was way out of control. Finally everyone calmed down and we got on to dinner and then a nice evening.

It’s cold outside, about 7 degrees right now at 6am. Our glass screen door was frozen shut when I went out to get the paper. At least it’s not snowing today and is supposed to be in the mid 40’s. I picked up a new 4G phone yesterday with an actual keyboard. I decided I needed this for texting which I’m trying to do more of instead of talking these days. It’s amazing what these companies can develop. I wish we could be as advanced politically as we are technologically. Things sure would be different.

Speaking of politics, is Herman Cain done? Now I never thought he’d be the nominee but he was a breath of fresh air. Looks like his 15 minutes might just be about coming to an end. We now have 3 sexual harassment claims against him and while these are disturbing, they were a dozen years ago and could have been innocent flirting for all we know. Things sure are different these days than 20 years ago. It seems you can’t say or do anything these days without being sued or it being considered inappropriate. What bothers me more, is he didn’t know China has nuclear weapons! He really has no foreign policy experience or even basic knowledge. Of course this isn’t a required prerequisite to be President but basic knowledge is a must. I think even if you didn’t know China had nukes, if you thought about it for 30 seconds, you’d probably guess they would, right? Oh well, onto the next flavor of the month.

I’ll be taking the kiddos to school today as Mom works at 7:15. Hard to believe it’s already November 3rd, man how time flies. I think I’ll run now so I can help with breakfast as the misses is running late. She should have shown her pretty face downstairs at least 20 minutes ago! Hope you’re all well, give us a call to say hi and have a good day.

Ok, once again it’s not as bad as they say or as bad as they’re making it out to be on the news. We probably have 5 or 6 inches and it’s a wet snow, not dry or 8 to 14 inches, as forecasted. Of course all the news stations on tv are having “extended snow coverage” to maximize ratings. This is kind of a mini version of the “hurricane that wasn’t” on the east coast a few months ago. Most of these people must not have lived here very long as when I was a kid, we had some real snow storms. Even 5 years ago, we had a storm that dumped almost 3 feet on us, now that was a storm.

Still yesterday, with impending white doom heading our way, the misses and I bought some new snow boots for the oldest guy as he needed them. His feet sure grow fast! We finished most of the work on our list but didn’t get the house all cleaned up like we wanted to do. I just had too much work and the wife’s back is still not doing well. She keeps doing too much which slows down the healing process.

We haven’t talked politics for a bit so here’s a laugh for you. The misses and I were watching a local news anchor interview the President last night on tv. She asked, “what if I’m an individual and don’t have any money or a job, what do I do?” His reply was “don’t get discouraged” which I guess I can buy, and then followed it up with, “go to a community college and take some courses and get re-trained to get a better job”. Now I don’t know about you but if I’m the person the anchor was talking about, I have NO MONEY and NO JOB. How am I supposed to go take classes at a community college? How am I supposed to pay for classes or gas or a bus to get there, better yet, how am I supposed to eat or stay in my house for the months while I “re-train” myself so I can then go look for a better job? This response by our Commander in Chief shows just how detached he really is. Washington continues to spew these generalizations that are supposed to make the public feel better but have no basis in reality. I could go on and on but what’s the point. Get ready people, what I’m trying to tell you (hopefully you already know) is that you’re on your own! The government is not going to be there to save you when tragedy strikes, please believe this, no matter who you like, democrat or republican.

Ok that’s enough politics for today, we have to ease back into it or we’ll all blow up from the constant barrage of twisted words.

The kids are hoping for a snow day but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I already shoveled the walk but need to clean off the car. The misses works tomorrow and needs to get better today so hopefully she’ll get some rest. We did get all the leaves and branches out of the backyard just in time before the snow. Last thing I needed to do was “walk out the garden hoses” and put them away. For those of you that don’t know, this means walk the hose high over your head from one end to the other to drain all the water out of it so it won’t freeze. I remember this well from filling the horse trough when I was a kid.

Well time to run and see if my paper is here yet. Oh yea, Herman Cain didn’t know China has nuclear weapons (they have for 50 years) and flip flopped on some sexual harassment charges for most of the past few days. Time for him to go, Obama’s only chance is the weak bumbling republican field trying to win the nomination. Whoops, sorry I fell right back into it!

Take care, stay warm and until tomorrow, God Bless, the youngest one says I should run for President, hmmmm.

What a day yesterday was. It started out with a parade at school made up of all the kids in their costumes walking twice around the school. The oldest was a zombie and I have to say, the best zombie I’ve ever seen. He had glued on scars that looked as real as any in a movie. The youngest was as you know, an Angry Bird. There were two other Angry Birds, the principal and another kid but none looked as good as he did in the costume the misses made. Both boys definitely stood out. After the parade, the kids had party’s in their classrooms. In the youngest ones class, the misses was the “party mom”. She’s done a lot this year (and all the other years), as no one else volunteered. I can’t believe more parents don’t pitch in to help, what if the misses wasn’t there? After school, the youngest told me that Mom is “the best party mom ever”, so I guess it was a success. Maybe more people don’t do it since you end up spending your own money on party stuff.

We picked the boys up at 2:45 and headed home where they played a bit while waiting for the hour of trick or treating. We ran up to Grandma’s around 5pm to show her the boys costumes and she gave the boys a few pieces of candy and a wishbone necklace and a dreamcatcher for them to both share. The oldest one wore the necklace all last night and I’m sure the youngest will want it today. Hopefully it won’t cause too much of a fuss. I then left the misses at home to rest her back and headed out with the boys to get some loot. We walked a good mile hitting house after house until each boy had at least 5 pounds of candy. Maybe it was 10, I’m not sure but I did end up lugging both pillow cases full of candy up the hill on the way home. We stopped at Uncle T and Aunt B’s who of course had special bags with all the best goodies. By the time we made it home it was almost 7:30. Both boys began to sort and trade their candy and then as ours was running short with kids still ringing our bell, the youngest started donating some of his to the bowl to hand out. Somehow this concept steamrolled and both boys began giving away their candy to kids that showed up. At first it was the things they didn’t really want and then it evolved into giving away the best candy they had. By the time the night was over, the youngest had given away ALL his candy and the oldest one pretty much too. Could we have reached the point where candy is not that important anymore? Boy would that be nice. Mom and I jumped in and offered some sort of “credits” to be redeemed later for their generosity and good choices. They still have a little (what was left over in our family bowl) but have no regrets in giving away most all of the sweet stuff. When asked why, they said things like “it’s not really good for my body” and “I don’t like the way it makes me feel”. All we could think was WOW!

We all jumped into our bed and talked about the day while watching a little tv. We slept late as it’s almost 7am now. Today the snow arrives late, as much as 14 inches they say although it’ll probably be more like 4 or 5. The misses and I need to get all the Halloween decorations down, chop up the big branches in the back yard, clean the mud room and our bedroom, and if we have time, also tackle the garage. All this and get in full day of work, get to the gym, a trip to the bank and gas up both cars. Guess I’d better get going, huh.

One last thing, Aunt Robi did post her favorite costume and here it is,

Now I don’t know what a “pink fink” is but it sounds fun. We’re very disappointed that none of the rest of you participated. I mean how hard is it really to complete this one simple request, shame shame. If you were in school, there would be no gold stars for you!

Oh well, maybe no one reads anymore. Thank you Grandma Annette and Aunt Robi. If I missed any comments from some of you, I’m sorry but they didn’t show up.

Take care, have a great day and here comes Thanksgiving!

Yesterday started out with the wife rolling over in bed and hearing her back pop which started it all. Hunched over in pain it was clear in a matter of seconds she wouldn’t be going to the Bronco game, making breakfast or doing much else at least for the morning. I ran down to McDonalds to pick up some breakfast for the boys and Grandma and then proceeded to clean up a bit and get ready for the game. With one extra ticket, the oldest guy decided he wanted to take his friend Jennifer. You might remember her as they’ve been classmates for years. She was quite excited to go.

We made it to the game and into our seats with nachos and giant cokes 15 minutes before kick off. 4 paratroopers were hovering about a mile above the stadium floating on the wind heading downward towards the stadium floor. After this during the national anthem, 2 fighter jets came zooming by. This would turn out to be the highlight of the afternoon! The first half was full of endless eating that included suckers Uncle T sent and then some “dots” ice cream. The game was a lopsided affair that was almost comical. During halftime, the youngest asked if we could go followed by the oldest saying “yeah let’s go” and then Jennifer saying  she didn’t care but “we would beat traffic”! So we all headed for the car and were home 15 minutes later where the second half was spent carving pumpkins and playing outside. Jennifer stayed until about 6pm when her Mom finally picked her up. She’s a pretty good girl that’s been a good friend and classmate of the oldest one for I think every year he’s been in school. She was also wearing the scarf we brought her back from Venice as it’s now one of her prized possessions. Now Uncle T, I’ve gone to great pains in my writing here not to use the word “girlfriend” as when I used this before, you mentioned this to the oldest guy which got me in a lot of trouble. So, I’m counting on you to be the older wiser more mature one and NOT mention the word girlfriend at all.

Mom gave it her best college try but was really still in pain when we arrived home. She spent most of the afternoon putting together craft packages for 23 kids in the youngest guys class as she’s the “party Mom” for todays festivities. We’re not sure how she’s going to do this as she’s still in bed and hurting. Hopefully she’s a bit better this morning since I have conference calls starting at 9am. Wouldn’t you know it, this is the first week we decided to move the call to 9 from 8 so I won’t be able to fill in as party Mom.

I did manage to rake the leaves in the front yard during the second half yesterday and need to chop up the big branches in the backyard and rake those leaves sometime today as the snow returns Wednesday and Friday, supposedly in force. Our storm resulted in 3 million without power in the northeast and 11 people dead. Mother Nature at her finest, it’s been some year for weather.

Mom’s now up and walking around like a little old lady with a cane only she doesn’t have the cane! She’s working on getting the party stuff together as I write. The youngest is helping her get things ready. The oldest one is a zombie today and the youngest is an Angry Bird which if you don’t know what this is, check out the internet as it’s a big deal these days. The misses made his costume as the stores have been sold out for weeks. Mom just sneezed loudly followed by a louder scream of pain from her back.

Tonight will be full of kids in costumes and trick or treating. The little guy is now carving another pumpkin and I just yelled up to wake the big guy. Time to run as Mom needs help with breakfast or something. Enjoy the ghosts and goblins tonight and try not to eat too much candy! After this it’ll be Thanksgiving and then Christmas before you know it. I love this time of year, the weather, the holidays, the smell of turkey or pumpkin seeds roasting and the overwhelming sense of family. It’s kind of the one time of the year when you can go back in time to one of those Norman Rockwell type paintings no matter where you live or what’s going on in the World. Enjoy it while you can, it’ll go by fast, I promise!

Take care and have a Happy Halloween. I haven’t seen any comments on your favorite costumes yet, where are you people? For me it was being an Army Major in my dad’s old Army coat (which is still upstairs in the closet) and these German paratrooper or pilot boots he got somewhere. I wish I knew where those boots were! They were black leather lined with shearling and pretty warm. For the misses, the one that came to mind first was Tinker Bell when she was a teenager and then being an angel on horses when she was a little kid. What about you guys, especially those of you older than me! I’m really interested to know what you all dressed up as. Don’t let us down!

Oh wait, Grandma Annette did post her favorite costume so here it is:

“My mom made all my costumes & my favorite was Cinderella with feathers (pink) in my hair and a long dress with a really full skirt. I was 5 and beautiful. I have a picture to prove it. Hey I think I figured this out!”

Thanks for being first! Take care and God Bless,