Crafty

For years, I have been looking for a Nativity display to replace the painted scene that deteriorated to the point that we don't put it out anymore. I remember a display that a friend in Coffeyville had that was cut from 8' pieces of 1 x 12. The figures were very tall and skinny, making them abstract. I loved the display. I have tried to find patterns for something like it but with no luck. I could probably create my own pattern, but I never remember in July when I should be working on it, I always wait until Thanksgiving and suddenly remember that I need a Nativity for my yard.

This year I searched again, like I always do. But this year was different. I found a picture of a little Nativity online and decided that I could quickly put it together. SO... last night the kimmie, the kids, and I went to Lowes and Hobby Lobby then went home with high hopes of spending the evening with my wife and kids building the figures. Kaylee played with Play-Doh, JD played a video game, and Kim played on the computer. Oh well, at least we were all in the same room!

The supplies are simple: Three clay pots (we used clay-looking plastic pots), burlap, three foam balls, grass for the manger, wood for a star (which I will find at Delmar's this weekend), three strings of lights (one for the manger, one for the star, and one to circle the display), and a hot glue gun.

The results are this:


Once I get the star complete, I will post a picture of the Nativity lit. I'm sure you can't wait...

D

Monday Musings

Back to the future: K-State looks to bring back 1998 by hiring Bill Snyder as it's next football coach. I am not particularly thrilled about this -- as a university they can't look to him to save the football program everytime they see it in decline, afterall he is 69 years old. I also don't think this is a long term relationship so I hope they have a plan. Bill is going to need good young coaches to help recruit and a mature coach that can take over in two years.

I got my Christmas lights up yesterday. I broke down and started switching over to LEDs. The box says that I can plug 47 strands end to end safely. Good. Now I can turn my home into a beacon for lost UFOs!

I lost a little over a pound last week.

Kim ran 7 miles yesterday. More power to her!

We finished off the K-State tailgaiting season in style. Wow there was a lot of food there. I would have lost three pounds if it weren't for all the food.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. I am thankful for my family, my co-workers, and the time I spend with my wife and children -- even if I don't always show it. Also that I scored tickets to the last reugular season Cowboys game in Texas Stadium.

Dee

I've been Tagged.

My skinny wife kimmie tagged me...

Here are the rules:

* Link to the person who tagged you. (check)
* Post the rules on your blog. (check)
* Write 6 random things about yourself. (check)
* Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post. (not so much)
* Let each person know he/she has been tagged. (not so much)
* Let the tagger know when your entry is up. (Hey kimmie, my post is up!)

Here's six random things about me.

1. When kimmie posted a comment that said "Tag, you're it", I thought she was flirting with me. Then I found out it was this...

2. I have had three pets named Sammie. A parakeet, a fish, and a dog.

3. I broke all of the storm windows from my neighbor's house that were stored in their carport when I was about 8. Their grandson helped...

4. I rode a three wheeler with no brakes through an electric fence. My cousin and I had disconnected the brake to use the hand control as a throttle because the throttle lever was broke. Who needs brakes anyway.

5. I have played "War" with roman candles, with BB guns, and with paintballs. When I was 12, 17, and 21 -- in that order.

6. Me too! I saw Sam Kinison just weeks before he was killed in a wreck. He has trying out new material at Snookies when I saw him too. I too saw George Carlin while I was at K-State... had to share my seat with Jon Wefald.

Kimmie tagged everyone that I would have tagged... I don't have any friends that blog.

D

Two-fer...

I posted twice today with pictures... Yesterday's bike ride and JD's birthday below that so don't miss any of the great photos and commentary.

D

Nice Ride!

Kay, Kimmie, and I went on a bike ride yesterday. I'm thinking that days like yesterday are going to be few and far between in the next few months. I never really get much exercise on those rides but atleast I'm moving. I took advantage of the pace to take pictures. Kay took JDs camelback water pack and spent most of the time drinking water instead of riding!






After the bike ride, Kay and I took Harley for a walk, Kay picked berries off a tree at the school while I walked... Then I did my Wii Fit, and then rode 13 miles on my stationary bike. That all added up to a 3.2 lb wight loss last week. For the eight week period ending yesterday, I am down 26.2 lbs, or 10.84%. I can still hit 40 lbs by the end if I lose 3.5 per week. Kimmie has lost a larger percentage than me and she looks great!

D

0-3

JD Celebrated birthday number 11 by watching three football teams post double-digit losses. Friday we went to Hutch and watched the Cougars fall to Hutch 28-0. Saturday he was fortunate enough to witness a truely dismal effort by the Wildcats against the Huskers. Then we hauled him to Lawrence so he could go watch the Chiefs lose number 18 in 19 tries. Poor guy. Maybe birthday number 12 will be better!

I have pictures from our tailgate party in Manhattan. We got JD a giant cookie and celebrated his 83rd birthday. We didn't have two "1"s but we did have an "8" and a "3". And as everyone knows, 8+3=11... Our set up was great. Three tents with the sides installed to block the wind and a propane heater for warmth! Enjoy the pics!

D

On her game...

Here I sit, typing on my blog, and Kim just stopped by to say, "I just ran (huff, puff) five miles, (huff, puff) I feel great, I'm (huff, puff) going another mile". SHOW OFF!

Tomorrow I will post super exciting pictures from the weekend!


Dee

Maybe I'll win Sportsman of the Year from Sports Illustrated, too!

Last night Kaylee and I attended the Salina Area Youth Sportsmanship Innitiative Fall Awards Ceremony. My team and I were awarded the team sportsmanship award for the 2nd-3rd grade girls soccer division. This is our second award for sportsmanship in her four years of playing soccer. I guess when you finish 1-5, scoring only 4 goals in those six games, and give up over 25 goals they call it "sportsmanship" and give you an award! There were only two from my team there, but Kaylee and Rebecca were proud of their patches. I on the other hand recieved a very cool bobble head trophey.



Later...

Dee

Sign of the times...

I have a co-worker that went to the New Kids of the Block concert in Kansas City last night. Apparently, a lot of the women in the crowd were pregnant, although I don't think the New Kids had anything to with that (most of them were not attracted to women anyway, were they?). Anyway... the concert t-shirt vending booth was selling onesies. How funny is that, but a stroke of marketing genius to sell onesies to hormonally-imbalanced mothers-to-be. But I bet they were kind enough not to gouge women who didn't know better than to put their babies in a New Kids onesie... I'm sure they were selling them at cost...

Just a sign of the times...

D

Star Power

I was watching a special "Outside the Lines" on ESPN Sportscenter this morning. It was a feature on the children of famous parents that attend Oaks Christian High School in North L.A. The Varsity and Junior Varsity Football teams play a double header on Friday nights. The JV tee it up first and start with a kid named Gretsky at quarterback and a reciever named Smith. The Varsity start a quarterback named Montana. These kids are the sons of Wayne Gretsky, Will Smith, and Joe Montana. The Varsity is 8-0 and the JV is 7-1.

The coach said that the first game he thought the paparazzi were there to see him, but was mistaken. He also said they have a rule on the team that dads can't coach their sons during the game. But Joe Montana frequently wanders down from the stands and ends up on the sideline. So the coach changed the rule: Dads can't coach their sons during the game unless they have three Super Bowl MVPs to their name.

Gretsky said this is really his first exposure to American High School Football and that his son really has no desire to skate. Will Smith's son is, according to the coach, a D-1 Prospect as a Sophomore and could be starting at wide reciever on Varsity, but said "Coach, I'm not thinking about D-1 right now I just want to play with my friends..."

These three are classy. Then you see dads at South games screaming at the kids, screaming at the coaches because they know everything. And I would wager that the three kids featured on ESPN are 10 times the athletes as the ones South has. Gretsky, Montana, and Smith could probably cause a world of problems for the coach, yet they let them do their job -- with the exception of Joe Montana teaching footwork to his son. But I didn't see any of them screaming at the coaches from the stands...

D

Forty never looked so good

Sorry this post wasn't up yesterday but I was recoperating from the weekend... oh wait. That was Kevin, not me. I felt great. No headache, no unexlpained bruises and I even had the stomach to eat yesterday. I think Kevin had a good time, though and that's all that matters.



As you all know the evening started at Bambino's with a lovely dinner and drinks. As I was reviewing the photos I was startled by the size of the margarita glasses at Bambino's. As you can see from the photo below, the glasses were BIGGER than Darin's head. And all for $4.



I had a Purple Haze Martini. It was made with Vodka, Blue Curacao, and Cranberry Juice. The first one was excellent and purple -- a purple drink in Lawrence is the only way to go. The second one was blue and not so good. I think it was Vodka, Blue Curacao, and Vodka!

I know everyone really like my camera phone. The flash was a big hit. A lot of the pictures turned out blurry because no one would hold still. This photo of Andrew turned out, but he has his eyes closed and turned his head. Thanks, Andrew.






I had a good time at Johnnie's. I especially like that Lawrence doesn't allow smoking in the bars. That was GREAT! No smokey haze, no stinky clothes, and no burning eyes. I love Lawrence! Wait, I think I got carried away there. I love Lawrence's smoking ban! Here are more photos some photos from Johnnie's -- I hope Kevin liked his shirt!





From Johnnie's we bounced from bar to bar, only actually getting in to The Ranch. I am much too old for bars like that. The music was too loud, the crowd was too big, and the people too young! We were packed into a corner of the bar, yelling to communicate, hanging out with a bear. Kimmie, my hot wife, did get asked to dance though. It must be the Pound Plunge -- as of last night Kimmie has lost 16.3 lbs (over 7 weeks). She officially passed me in percentage of weight lost... not for long though, I'm motivated now. Anyway... back to the photos... here is The Ranch.





This is Mark and Sarah with an "H". I think we took it easy on her. I would hate for any of us to scare her off...





In the end, it was a good evening. Kim and I missed breakfast, but so did the brithday boy.

D

Sorry...

I'm too busy to post. To busy reading message boards. K-state fires coach, K-State hires coach, K-State hasn't hired coach... it's making me NUTS. (I know, like I needed any help.)

D

Barack and Roll All Nite!

The country has spoken, Kansas just didn't have their hearing aids turned on! I watched results late into the evening. When Pennsylvania went blue, that is when I knew it was over. McCain spent a lot of time in that state in the final week, but he lost by 11% in a state he was counting on. That did not bode well for his camp.

The sales tax issue passed too! By a comfortable margin. Linda L. sent a voice mail last night that she would be happy to support the new pool when she shops at Sam's. She said the old pool was here when she was a kid -- wow, that's a long time!

All of the candidates that we worked with in the General Election won -- Charlie Roth, Pete Brundgardt, John Vratil, Terrie Huntington, Barbara Craft, and Vicki Schmidt. That's why MarketAide slogan is "Join the Winners". I personally helped with the tax issue and it passed too, so it was a clean sweep for us.

I know my in-laws in Ellsworth would appreciate it if you got them a nice gift for Christmas. I think any of these would make a nice gift for them. I think Delmar would look really hip in this one, so don't get it, I think I'm done Christmas shopping for him!

The kids were very excited about the outcome -- National results, not Kansas. Kay was upset yesterday when she came home from school because a young, uninformed, obviously brain-washed boy in her class was talking bad about Barack Obama. She said that she told him he should be nice because Barack's grandma just died. She said no one in her class knew that... she got that from me. I have been a political junkie for the last month. Now I'm going through withdrawal!

Shifting gears -- JD had 4 warts on the bottom of his foot and one on his hand treated yesterday with Canthacur (an acid that destroys the warts). They looked disgusting this morning -- not oh-my-we-need-to-go-see-the-doctor-again disgusting, but wow-those-look-like-they-hurt disgusting. He limped off to school though. He really needed to have something done with them 8 weeks ago, but that was during football and I didn't want him to miss a prolonged period while they healed.

Have a good day, all.

D

We are witnesses to history!

Today is an historic day in the United States, even though Kansas will miss the boat. Today this nation will put racism behind us and elect a president of African-American decent. Kansas will blindly follow the right wing mantra that has gotten us into the mess we are in today, but 6 electoral votes will not stop the coming tide. Even Karl Rove is predicting an Obama Electoral College landslide.

In case you haven't figured it out, I did vote for Barack Obama today. And I voted for the pool sales tax for Salina. I figured Delmar, Jane, Linda, Linda, Darin and Cindy, and Kenny and Carolyn could all help subsidize my children's fun! Nearly $4 Million of the sales tax money will come from outside the city limits. So when Delmar buys that new $200 driver, it will only cost him an extra 30 cents in tax.

I think voter turnout will be high. When I voted at 8:00 I actually had to wait in line -- I think that is the first time in my voting life that I had to wait. There were three people voting and I was next in line. When I left there were eight. I was also #69 on the voter roll. I don't think our polling place has ever had more than 200 in an election and 1 hour into the day, they were over 1/3 of the way to that number.

On the down side, the political work that MarketAide has enjoyed since June will be gone. We've endured well, but now we'll get back to industrial work.

D

This and that...

Remember to vote tomorrow!

Pheasant season opened Saturday. I caught two fish. It was too hot to hunt and have success, so Darin and I spent the afternoon at Grandma's pond. We each caught two.

Today is Kimmie's half-birthday. I got her a corduroy Harley Davidson jacket. She was surprised: she thought her half-birthday was in November, so I caught her completely off guard!?!

The kids had a good time Friday night in Ellsworth. They now have more candy than they can possibly eat.

I did absolutely nothing with my extra hour this weekend.

On Saturday, we visited Drovers Mercantile for closing. It was a fun time. I ate more cake than I should have -- it showed on the scale at the Y. I gained 9/10ths of a pound this week. But I also did not exercise much and ate Halloween candy... I'll lose two by next Sunday!

Here are the kids and Kimmie from Friday. Kaylee was Hannah Montana (and her hair does funny things to my camera), JD was Willie, and Kim was a Hockey Mom (although she was supposed to be a hockey player).





D