Ahhhh!!

It is great to get at least 8 hours of sleep in without any "incidents," just sleeping straight through the night. We are finally recovering from the flu in our household. I am still a little germaphobic and I'll still wash my hands frequently but that's just good common sense practice for this time of year.

We might have an abbreviated version of Thanksgiving. Last year, we were at KU the day before Turkey day. Then on the way back from the game we got our traditional (or non-traditional) slice of apple pie at a drive-through at Burger King. I remember stopping at Cracker Barrel in Topeka for a meal on the way home. We will probably have a bigger meal at Christmas with family.

When I think of Christmas, I think of one time when J was about a year or so. He cried and cried. It was Christmas and here he was crying! You know the old saying, "There's no crying at Christmas (taken from "There's no crying in baseball," League of their own quote). We showed him his toys and then felt his forehead the poor little guy had the flu. It is a Christmas we have never forgotten. (We have it on tape!).

I can remember Thanksgivings with my family when I was younger. Sitting around the brown table with our special decorations. Usually a paper turkey or a picture of the pilgrims gathering around. I remember mom's special dressing and how I would just eat dressing and no turkey. How sick I felt afterwards because I over ate and blaming it on all the onions in the dressing. The only pie that I ate back in those days was pumpkin. Then I can remember when I was working in Wichita and how I didn't have anyone there with me. I got a carry out dinner at Wyatt's Family Restaurant. How I missed my family those days!

When S and J were younger we would eat our traditional Thanksgiving at Boston Market. Well, why not? They had all of the fixing plus the apple pie to go with it! Then when Boston Market went out of business I bought turkey roast instead and saving the bird for Christmas. I changed my mom's dressing with less onions; and now pumpkin pie is not my only favorite pie, I like apple.

I wonder what traditions that S and J will develop for their families when they grow older? It will be interesting to see.

Have a healthy and Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Sick of the Flu

J first got it early Sunday morning, then last night S came down with it. So our official Thanksgiving is cancelled for Thursday. We will probably have it next week or whenvever.

We disinfect the best we know how and yet, that pesky little flu bug made its way inside our house. I have such sympathy pains for both kids and fearful that me or L will be next. Then we have a trip to Lawrence at the end of the week, if EVERYBODY is healthy. We had planned the KU trip since the time their schedules came out, which was early in August or before. I reserved the hotel even before we got the tickets.

I have a weak stomach anyway and have a real aversion to this type of sickness. I have been trying to eat carefully and not to overeat. Washing my hands frequently. I am at the point where I don't even want to eat, but have to in order to take needed medications. I am trying to extra/needed sleep so I can keep my resistance up. I don't know what else I could do, but if there was something other than jumping off a cliff, I would do that too.

So everybody, pray for us. We have cancelled our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday and will have it another time when everybody is well.

I hate the flu....especially this type!

The Countdown

We are going to KU (health permitted) on Friday. First we need to get everyone well before the big game and make sure none of us gets what's going around.

J caught what's going around on Saturday night. I will spare you the gorry details, but I will tell you I detest this type of sickness. I've been washing sheets, dishes, and hands. S had the coughing flu for the past two weeks and is just feeling near normal. L got a flu shot that last a whole year. Me? Well, because of my allergies to egg yolk, I am not allowed to get a flu shot. So I just have to pray, wash my hands, and am a lot "germaphobic" because of it. If I would I could get the flu shot but unfortunately they incubate the serum in egg yolk. So nope, I cannot do the shot. :(

I've been up late at night on the computer. Now, I will just have to get my rest to keep my resistance up, drink plenty of fluids, and eat more fruit.
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For Thanksgiving, we were planning to go to the inlaws. But with the flu, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. We may just have to cook the meal over here, take it over there, and some of us can go over to the inlaws and some of us won't. I sure don't want to over eat. I was planning on making a couple of pies for the day and just a small turkey roast. We bake the real thing on Christmas day.
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I have a slight headache today too. It's a man made one. I was leaning over and ran into a sink while cleaning at church. YOW! That's all I need, a nice bump on the forehead. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and everyone keeps well!

Wash those hands!

Frozen pizza

We went to the store trying to find a cheaper alternative to Pizza Hut and the local pizza place here. We looked at the brands of Tony's and Red Baron. Also DiGiorno's.

I had heard the ads regarding this pizza and thought we should give it a try. You know, it wasn't half bad. It was better that Pizza Hut but not quite as good as Papa John's Pizza, in my opinion. It was the tasty crust that won me over. If you haven't tried it. Do. You'll be surprisingly happy you did.

Rambling around in the Cold

I do not like the cold weather. It's not really THAT cold, and it could be a lot worse. But with this north wind it feels like 20 degrees, instead of 44 degrees

Sipping my hot cocoa while blogging is seemingly warming me up. I am warming my hands on the mug and still feel cold. I try to think of all the warm things I could do. I still hear the window howling out of the north, it doesn't help. I'll have to get in front of the space heater to feel really warm.
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We went to the endodonist today and he didn't see anything wrong with S's tooth/root canals. But did say there was little infection (swelling) today. He couldn't do anything, UNLESS she had pain, which she does not want at all! He will have to check more x-rays to determine if we need to go to yet another specialist. Hopefully it will clear up on its own. So we still don't know anything.
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We are a week away from Thanksgiving and trying to figure out what we will be doing that day. I talked to my FIL today and I had some ideas. I think we can do it our way and eat over at their house. It would be much simpler. That way my FIL wouldn't have to put up with Sasha. What are your plans for Thanksgiving?
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I've been looking into shopping for Christmas. Do you ever notice that each year your kids want less gifts but what they want is more expensive? That's the case here...IPod and Wii. I want (unrealistically) a bigger house or another family room where they can use these "fun" items. J could play on the old TV and I could keep my new TV free of gaming. Realistically, I could just go for "The Office game," on DVD and a huge stimulus check.
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Connecting with old friends

I am on Facebook as most of you know. It's a great way to keep up with old friends and family. I also use it to talk to friends now when I want to know what's going on with them.

I looked at my friend base and I don't have that many friends on it. I have 66 at last count. The break down of those friends are the following: Four friends are Pastors of those four friends, three can be counted as college friends and one church friend; Church friends: 31, or 32 counting the pastor. Relatives: 5. College friends: 15; High school friends: 7; and area friends: 4.

In Facebook I can view my friends Political Views and Religious Views. Sure we are not going to be of the same political party. Then I look at religious views, a great deal of my friends I already know that they are Christian. But it makes me sad to even see one person in my friend base who is not religous.

You remember this person as a nice person back in school. Probably one of the nicer people in fact and they are not religious! Its sad to see this. You wonder if you should express your views onto them or to let them see the light in you.

How are we to treat non religious people? Do we push our views onto them only for them to get turned off by our "religious-ness?" Or do we just be ourselves and they can accept us as we are. But what about them? Do we give up on those people and say "They will never change. What's the use in getting them to change?" How do we handle/deal with people like this?

How do we deal with "good" people who do not attend a church? If they are living in our community then we should suggest for them to come to our church. But what if they live far away from us? How do we encourage people to try out a church?

I often find myself pondering these questions. Do you have any answers for me?

KU wins in a Blowout!

The new number 15 for the Hawks is Tyshawn Taylor. Whenever I see this guys number I just know that I'll say, " Go Mario." I still need to learn some of these new guys.

KU won tonight in a blowout over Florida 80-45. It looked like it was going to be a repeat of Sunday's game when Cole Aldrich drew two quick fouls in the first half. Of course, Coach Self pulled him out but when the team was needing some leadership, Coach put him back in. Sherron Collins has really stepped up to become a leader on the team. In the first half he had scored 18 points. He scored more points individually than Florida had scored in the entire first half.

Coach Self and is staff is trying to find the right combination of starters for KU. Tonight he started Aldrich, Collins, Taylor, Morningstar, and Markieff Morris. We were surprised not to see Tyrel Reed get a starting position in tonight's game. Reed really has a lot of spunk and fire when he plays. I really like him as a player and he is a really nice person off the court as well.

Because the team was so far ahead in the second half all of the 'Hawks (with the exception of Mario Little, because of an injury) saw some action. Matt Klienmann even got a free throw in and Connor Teahan finally got out of slump and shot a 3-pointer.

KU does look a lot different out there on the floor than they did last year. I think sometimes it is a battle of nerves with the players. We will continue to see sparks of great plays throughout a game.

Next game for the Hawks will be next week at the Sprint Center in KC on Monday and Tuesday. Then we will travel to Larry Town to see the team play against Coppin State. It will be our Thanksgiving/Christmas present.

Rock Chalk Jayhawks! :)

How many days until Christmas?

It's not even Thanksgiving and yet just after Halloween we heard Christmas music at Wal-mart. We cringed upon hearing it. Is company trying to persuade customers to buy stuff for Christmas early so that they can have their own "bailout" plan? Oooh, it's too early to hear Christmas music.

This morning I was looking for a radio station on the way to school and here was B98 playing, yep, you guessed it Christmas Music! Sheesh, it's just the 17th of November. They will be playing the music until January 1st 2009! Ugh!!!

No, I am not Bah Humbug but come on this is just a little too early to hear the music. I think we are always affected by what the stores have on their shelves and play through their music systems in the store. Back to school stuff is out by at least June; Halloween by September; Christmas stuff no later than Nov. 1st.; and Valentine's Day on Jan. 1st.
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One good thing that KAKE or KWCH has revived is the old reruns with Santa Claus and Kakeman or Toy Boy during the Christmas season. I love it when the little puppet would run down and get his slate with a number on it. Then they would go "zooming around the world." See video link below for those of you who has never seen Santa Claus and Toy boy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgifUxwAJo8&NR=1


So here is your Toy Boy number for today: 37 more shopping days to go.

KU Wins, but it wasn't easy

The above photo has the UMKC Kangaroos and Markieff Morris battling for the rebound.

KU opened it's 2008-09 season tonight. The first half the 'Hawks didn't look like a team out there. I am not sure whether it was a case of nerves playing in front of the home crowd or what. But the first half Cole Aldrich picked up two quick fouls and he had to sit out the first half.

Sitting out the first half wasn't great for the 'Hawks at all. It looked pretty iffy if they were going to win the game at all. They trailed most of the first half and the score was tied with a basket from Brady Morningstar the close of the first half.

When the second half started Cole Aldrich kept out of foul trouble and really played well. He had the most points of the 'Hawks by the end of the game with 15 points. Sherron Collins played well too, with 14 points. Tyrel Reed looked impressive as well, his point total was 12. I was most impressed with freshmen Releford, Tyshawn Taylor, Quintrell Thomas, and Markieff (MK) Morris. The Jayhawks have a young team. We have to give them some time to see how well they progress.

Their next game is Tuesday against Florida International at home. It will be on ESPNU. So it will be another radio game for those of you who don't have the U channel.

Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

A "Chuckles the Clown" Moment

If you have ever watched a rerun of the "Mary Tyler Moore," show where Mary was attending a funeral of "Chuckles the Clown," (the episode was called "Chuckles bites the Dust."), then you will be able to relate to what happened in my Sunday School Class.

We were discussing the writings of Paul and I overheard something from another classroom. Something came to my mind and I wrote the thought on my bulletin and showed it to L. I won't divulge what I wrote, it was a private joke. L looked at what I wrote and snickered. I just thought he would kind of laugh; no he had to "snicker," and laugh. At that point I tried to stifle a laugh and the more I heard about this certain something the more I couldn't help but crack up. Brad S. was the teacher and Barry B., was discussing a point. I didn't dare look at them, as I was currently just losing it and just wanted so much to burst out laugh! I covered my eyes and started to snicker. My eyes started watering and I know it wasn't right laughing during class nor writing notes while in class was exactly right either I just couldn't help it.

I quickly made an excuse that I "had to get a drink of water." I didn't. I walked around and tried to get my laughter under control. I was talking to myself and trying to get under control.

Finally I came back with the help of Brenda and tried keeping my emotions in tack.

But I kept thinking about that "Chuckles the Clown," funeral moment on MTM show. So I apologize to my Sunday School class!

Pastors discussion

All last night, I mulled over about the pastor search and the discussion we had a church. At first, I wasn't sure that we should get some one over 40. But if you really think about it maybe we should have a guy at least in his 50's or in that area because if he has a young family that will take time away from his young family. Our congregation has many jobs for this next pastor. The next pastor would have to prepare a sermon, senior visitation, be with the youth, etc.. I would think any young pastor would have to pass on that. I think the job would be even longer than 40 hours.

I think we should get someone who is "seasoned" (as Flute puts it) and if we want to go young for the youth's sake, then we should consider on getting a full time youth pastor.

I was checking the A Church because that church seems like they are doing well. They have a senior pastor and an associate/youth pastor. In the bio it made no mention of their ages, however, according to how many years each man had been married they had to be at least pushing 50, unless they got married when they were under 20.

The A Church has many programs going on, just like we used to. But because of dwidling pre-school population our church no longer sponsors a pre-school. We had to be competitve with the school's pre-school and it was hard to secure a teacher. So we gave up our pre-school after being operational since 1969. Now our prime focus is on the youth (junior high and up).

However, there is a problem because our church is unable to secure more people to help out as sponsors. In my case since, I have youth that attend the youth group, but they don't want me to be hanging around their friends, etc., and I think that's probably how I was too. When I was in a youth group I felt the same way that S and J does. But then again, we would have other couples in the church who was willing to be with the youth to direct them.

In my own life the set up was different. We had actual classes that we attended when we were 13 or so and we learned about the church and the work of the church over several weeks. Then we had to sit near the front row and actually listen to the sermon by taking notes on it. Then at the end of class most of that class would make the decision and join the church. I wanted to be different, and so I chose to wait a few years so people could see this was a conscious decision on my part, instead of a group decision.

Our pastor set up a program for the high school seniors to be involved in worship. We would read a missions story and then read from the Bible, before the sermon. We sat up in front with the pastor and went to sit back with our parents after we did our "job." After a full year of doing this (in my year there were 4 girls) the pastor gave us these carved out crosses (that he made) and I proudly display mine on my mantel to this day. Then they placed our names on a plack in the foyer that we were "Pulpit pages," from 72-73. (I don't know if the placks are still there as I haven't been to my home church for over 12 years).

Maybe if our church would consider doing something like this and getting the youth more involved in church, just maybe a few of them would stick around.

There is a lot of think about from last night. I know that our search committee has a task ahead of them in finding the right person to lead our church. God speed to them.

The Mouse/Vacation

Today while I was walking out the back door taking J to school, we found a dead mouse. This time it wasn't I church it was at my own house! I looked around and thought "well Sasha didn't secretly get out of the house to kill it." Then I wondered if a renegade cat came into the yard to kill the mouse. I wondered if perhaps, it would have been a squirrel picking a fight with a mouse. Nah, squirrels and mice are somewhat related aren't they? Then I looked toward the dog's pen. Mario. He must have killed the mouse. The dog deserves a special reward today a big bone or extra time out of the pen. He is earning his keep here.
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Planning a vacation when the kids used to be so easy. We would just take a whole bunch of toys and go down the road to our destination. We used to get fancy and bring a little TV with a VCR. Then we bought a DVD player for trips which still gets used quite frequently when we travel to Larry Town. We knew if we went during the summer out to the NW then we could spend time with family far away. It usually takes us 3 days of traveling where we could see sights like the Great Salt Lake, the Snake river, Multnomah Falls, Pike's Peak. We knew which hotels to stay in and what was around there (restaurants, etc.). But now our kids are older and family vacation will soon become a distant memory.

Our family in the NW has baseball commitments and we have school commitments. We have to carefully plan when is the best time to go out to the NW and how long we will stay. Lately, we have just having short vacations around the area as the price of gas skyrockets out of control like it did this year. Next year is when I am hoping we can take our "family vacation" to the NW. It will have been three years since the last vacation there. After that, S will be looking toward her junior/senior years of high school and then there is college. I doubt that S will want to go on a "family vacation" when she is in college. All of our resources and monies will be going to finance an education for her. Then after she is done with college, J will soon follow.

The road trip is the "cheapest" way to go out there for us. I did some pricing on airline tickets out there. Quite expensive, depending on which airport that you leave from. Flying would cut down the time constraints of the road trip. It may be what we will be looking forward to in the distant future.

It is tough to see the family from the NW when they live so far away and they don't travel to little old Kansas by road or by plane.

Frustrating.

I'm still here

I know I haven't blogged for a couple of days. I am just pondering a few things about being a member of Outreach at Church and some other personal planning things.

The outreach meeting was on Monday and since then I have been thinking about what I could bring to this committee. Hmmm....I was a blank. One new member came up with two good ideas, but for me I was stifled or felt stifled. My creativity was not working. I couldn't come up with a single idea. This very frustrating for me. So I started looking through my old notebooks because I knew I had written some ideas down somewhere concerning Outreach. Sometimes, though I am shy in giving out my ideas because I am afraid that they are not right or I'll get shot down even though sometimes I feel very strong about a certain idea. So maybe that's why I stifled my feelings/ideas.

I can remember one group that I did express my ideas. I had very strong feelings about what I was feeling saying, etc. to this particular group. They all took it the wrong way and I felt pretty ostracized in giving my opinion. So consequently I am no longer involved in that group even though everyone who was involved (with the exception of one) is gone from that group. I have opinions still for that group, but I won't even try to get involved in that group. I try not to make waves anymore.

So going back to my Outreach meeting I found the notes and might suggest what I had written down. The group may or may not try these. I just have to go out there and ask.
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I am planning a vacation in about eight months from now. If only the gas prices would hold at the $1.99 mark by the summer. I wish that we could go out to the NW sooner than the summer. But since it is a 1600 mile trip (one way) summer is the most logical time. It will be nice to see to see my family and meet my new great niece, who will be turning 3 sometime next year.
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S and J's school district is holding a career fair tomorrow. S gets to visit with the career of her choice. J has to visit the agriculture and manufacturing area. He would rather visit with the journalism people. Too bad that they can't accomodate sixth graders who want to something else besides ag and manufacturing. One size does not fit all. Will have to see what they thought of the fair tomorrow.
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Return to KU Basketball

KU Basketball has returned on the airwaves. Actually it returned last Tuesday, but because there was a Presidential Election going on, I skipped the KU game last week. Well, I did try to watch them but there were so many different players, that it was hard to keep up with them. I also attribute the problems to poor video or poor televsion set on my part. But actually I was watching the election.

While watching the broadcast I was tired of the announcers. Too much gab and not enough basketball. They gave some of the players nicknames like Cole Aldrich is now known as "the long arm of the law," so now they call him the "Sheriff." I think this is just the announcers and nothing from the "official" KU people. Then they nicknamed Marcus and Markieff Morris as the "twin towers." I commented to S that, that was ironic since KU was playing Emporia State and everytime I hear "twin towers," it takes me back to the days when I was a student out there (for one whole semester) and living at the Twin Towers dorms. Last year the announcer (Dave Armstrong) called Conner Teahan, "cool hand Teahan." Armstrong must have a thing for Westerns. Wonder if he watches "The Rifleman?" (like I do).

Armstrong, who worked for a TV station in Hays, KS (most likely one of his first jobs and probably with KAYS---associated with KWCH) commented on the new walk on Jueneman. He cheered for him to get a basket (which he did). I had a broadcasting teacher who would constantly get angry at me when I would show favoritism, we were "supposed" to be impartial. It's pretty hard when you go to school with these players to be impartial. Armstrong also was a sportscaster on KSNW back when I was living in Wichita, so I remember him from there.

So it's back to watching the games on TV and going to one game in 16 days. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

Where did today go?

It's been one of those days when I am working on a project and the day has gone by just like that!

Today my assignment was to clean one of the rooms in the house. S has been suffering with this cough/fever thing for the past two weeks so I wanted to make sure that it wasn't because of her room being messy/dusty, etc.

So I rearranged, cleared up everything on the floor, vacuumed, wash/dried/folded a lot of clothes. My plan was to be a "neat freak," the white glove test, so to speak. I hardly had time to play on the computer, read, or anything. I get the room nice and clean and immaculate (I wish that the rest of the house looked this good!). I found a lot of interesting stuff and you know even though working in your own house doesn't give you a pay check, you do get money when you clean. Finding nickels, dimes, or pennies on the floor becomes "finder's keepers, losers weepers. If you just clean up your room maybe you could make money too." So parents remind your kid of this. You find money on the floor which you are cleaning it is yours. It probably was theirs to begin with!
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S went to the doctor office after school. We waited on J but he was frantic as he lost a math paper. We tell him to come to the medical clinic by the hospital. Well, apparently he was "half listening," and heard "medical clinic," part and not where it was located. We gave him adequate time in getting to the clinic and he was not there. So we went into the school and no kids were there (unless you had study hall) and about that time I was wishing that he had a cell phone. We waited at the corner and saw him coming from the North. He had gone to the old medical clinic on Central that has since closed. That's what you get from half listening to the instructions.
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S's diagnosis was bronchitis. The doctor told her she would be on antibiotics and issued a cough medicine for her (she's reluctant in taking it because it has coedine in it). But the meds (with insurance card) cost $50!! WOW!! It does NOT pay to get sick! But it does make me wonder if the meds would be cheaper at Wal-mart. Too bad Wal-Mart isn't closer. If we want Wal-Mart we have to travel 33 miles to the east. The inconvience of living in a small town without a hometown pharmacy, yuk!
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Finally I had a church meeting. I'm on a new committee. I get to take notes/minutes of the meeting. I like that. Now, if I could come up with some great ideas, like Steve S. did. I'm not shy about sharing, I just don't know what to suggest. I guess I'll have to search out what other churches do to reach out to new people.
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I have a passion for old TV shows. I don't think I watch all that much TV. But when I do, I enjoy old reruns of "The Rifleman." I can remember my dad watching this particular show, but I never watched them. Now, they are quite interesting, especially seeing some old time actors on there. Each episode I say, "Hey, this guy looks like, blank, blank," and usually I'm right. I saw Michael Landon on there before the series Bonanza started, it was pretty interesting. The year was 1958. No wonder, I don't remember being interested when it was first on, I was all of 3. Anyway, this show, despite the main character using his rife and keeping law and order on the streets usually gives some type of insight into life. I like it. Not everyone can get this show. You have to have Satellite.
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Hope that the rain/thunder/hail has stopped for tonight. Today we had a BOOMING thunder strike. I was like, "OH MY!" It was the worst one I've ever experienced. It almost seemed like a quake hit at the same time. Our cell phone provider even lost service during most of the day. L said that one of his toy trucks rolled off the shelf after that boomer. It was not normal.
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Please say a prayer for some friends of mine, Spike and Paul. Spike just got through surgery and Paul suffered a mild heart attack. These two men are really gems in the church and they are needing prayer.

The Television Trip

What a day! We were planning to leave early from Harper to Hutchinson, but then realized that we needed to make a trip to Anthony first. So we got in the car and saw flute's booth at the Arts and Crafts fair. She had a lot of pics and of course a very great looking poster of S. I love it!! I want to buy it and maybe more.

Then we went back to Harper needing to call in and confirm a card. Of course, they have to try and sell you on more credit card protection. It was like, "Okay, already confirm that we got this card, now let us go."

We had an appointment in Hutch at Noon and we were cutting it close! We picked up the Papa John's pizza and off we went to the mall. They had a great sale at JC Penney's that I had to take advantage of, of course! One of those buy one at regular price and get the other one for 99 cents. So I got two pair of jeans for under the regular price! Pretty good deal.

So we went to Sears and eyed one set. That looked pretty good. Then the Sears associated said, "I see you eyeing that set. Well, it's on back order, so you might not want that one." Yeah, that's for sure. We looked at other sets there and decided to go check out Wal-mart.

We got to Wal-mart and we saw the different brands: Emerson, Sony, Toshiba (no way!), Sansung, Polaroid to name a few. We weren't a 100 percent sure that we liked these either. So I suggested that we go back to Sears. They had a deal where if you purchased something for over 400 dollars then there would be no interest for 2 years. That deal was sounding better and better.

L suggested we look at Target for another choice. So we found this Magnavox and the deal was it cost xxx amount of dollars but if you got a Target charge card it would be cheaper, plus they had an extended warrenty. After that Toshiba (Japanese meaning last 2 years) fiasco we thought that would be smart.

Then I kept saying, "Yeah but Sears has that no interest for 2 years thing." We drove back over to Sears and I liked one brand, a Sylvania. It was higher in price and was a 37 inch screen instead of a 32. Well we asked the associate to see if there were any of those in stock. They had none of these two flat screens in at all. Well, that decided that!

So we went back to Target and picked up the Magnavox. It's 32-inches, flat screen and HD ready. We could get HDTV on our satellite for a price. But I'm not sure I want that quite yet, wondering how much that would cost. We know that HDTV is really sharp, as my brother has had it for a while.

This TV is incredibly lighter than the dead Toshiba one. Well, at least now we are up to date with this TV. I just hope it last longer than 2 years!!

The Television

Our upstairs television chose not to snap on today. We tried everything. We turned off the satellite and hit reset. I tried different remotes and pushed the button on the TV countless times. Nothing. Nada.

We had been having trouble with it having a white horizontal line dividing the screen. It has been hard to watch, but we were trying to keep it until it completely croaked. It completely croaked today.

We have only two televisions in the house (that work). The one downstairs was bumped there because we bought the current (now dead) TV. Our main television view is upstairs for obvious reasons it is warmer upstairs than down and we have a larger viewing area.

So I have been looking at the various deals on the Internet. One offers no interest for 18 months if you purchase something over 499. It is funny that one store has the same brand (like a W brand) for 23 dollars less than another store. Same product but cheaper.

This time we will upgrade and get one that is a flat screen. Maybe a few years down the line (and I'm hoping THIS time the tv will last longer than the dead one) we will upgrade even further with a bigger screen.

There are certain brands that I am partial too and certain brands I won't even touch any more. Obviously I won't by a "T" brand any more. This tv didn't last only but 2 or 3 years, if that. Guess I'll be reading "Consumer Reports" a little more closer today.

I know that the family will want this new replacement by tonight!

Cat Adventures

We have an indoor cat. We have had him for nearly two years. I have learned to clean a little box, line it and pour in the kitty litter every week. The past few weeks we have been experiencing some different adventures, or problems. He has contracted fleas.

When we had our dog (Daisy) in the house, we never noticed much of a flea problem. I am guessing that the fleas jumped on the dog and left the cat alone. But now since Daisy has been gone and the other dog is permanently outside, the fleas have now jumped on the cat.

Great an indoor cat with fleas!

I contacted the vet and he told me that the flea problem was really bad this year compared to other years. The fleas would get on our clothing and we would bring fleas inside thus jumping on the cat. He gave us some flea spray to see if this would work out.

Well, I dragged my feet on this. I wasn't sure how good this would be for the cat. Meanwhile the flea population started tripling on the kitty. Yesterday, I went to Wally world and picked up some flea ridding items. A flea collar, a monthly spot on treatment, and a flea comb where the tines are close together, resembling a nit comb.

I got a pan of warm sudsy water nearby and combed the cats fur. I would see the fleas and dip this in the pan to kill off the fleas. I have never done this before, ever. I am basically a dog person and never really had to put up with fleas. So I "cleaned" his fur with the comb only to hear that the kids found more fleas on him. I repeated the process this morning. Then vacuumed the house (I have to do this twice a day). L put the spot treatment stuff on the back of the cat. The cat ran around the house and didn't look to happy.

I never thought I would have to deal with flea problems since he is an indoor cat. Isn't it great being a cat owner!? Let me think about that one after dealing with this problem.

The Dinky little store

L and I had to go to Wichita for some routine medical testing. While we were there we had a little time to kill. At first I suggested Borders but he suggested going into this little "dinky store" on Central to look at their stuff.

When we walked inside I thought, "Oh great it's just like the WIFS." (Except without all the thrills and the people asking you if you need help or what is it for.) It hardly looked like a store. It looked more like a garage area. They had different sizes of clips, zippers, surplus army supplies with patches, army helmets, a Coleman area, a "rubber room," ceramic tile, cammo shirts, bird feeders, and even a kitchen department there.

I checked out the prices of a new spatula and it was shocking. It was only $1.00. Then I found a mini muffin pan for under $4.00. I wasn't planning to purchase anything let alone step foot in this store, but I did.

It is an interesting find in the city of Wichita. I would recommed going to "The Yard Store," on Central if you are ever there. You may be surprised in what you find there for a nice small price.

History has been made

What a night! I watched the coverage until late into the night and early morning. Our new President Elect is Barack Obama. Our first President from Hawaii! Even though my vote in this area didn't count in the electoral college vote, overall it did make a difference!

Some of my "republican" friends are shocked. "Now what?" they ask. Now they need to listen to what Barack Obama will do to help the economy and other issues facing this nation. They need to stop listening to the lies and rumors that were spread around by "their candidate." One of my friends on Facebook said they would follow God's authority and not mans. This is how I have felt for the past 8 years. But I believe that God allowed for Obama to win. People will have to put their feelings aside and work together for the good of the country. Yes, I realize some people are set in their ways and some grew up racist. In my own family, I wonder what my dad, a very strong Democrat, never ever voting Republican, would have voted. I'll never know. But it doesn't really matter. A new generation has been born.

A lot of people have compared this election to this of the election of President John F. Kennedy. He was a young Senator from Massachusetts, with a young family, and he was unique because he was Catholic. People took to him and some did not.

Now people are thinking about the fate that which happened to both Kennedy's, and Martin Luther King. To those people, I would like to address that security is beefed up and not to worry. There has always been some kind of nutty people out there always trying to plot against the President.

It is a new day and I look forward to the future of how America will be perceived by the world. I think this is a great day!

Congrats to Barack Obama and Joe Biden!

Election Day 08

Tomorrow is Election Day. I am planning to vote for Barack Obama tomorrow.

Here are my reasons: Obama's tax plan. 95% of working couples would get a $1,000 tax cut. Families who make over $250,000 (and that's a Big chunk of money) would see their taxes go up. Most Americans don't make that much money. Boy, I know I don't, not even close! Senior citizens making less than $50,000 would pay NO income tax. This is a very good deal!! Obama is for the low to middle class. If you fall into this category then you should put a vote in for him.

2) War--Obama was against the war from the first place. Any peace church group (such as my own) should vote for him because of his stance on the war. McCain is a war hawk.

3)Health Care--Obama would not touch the insurance for those who like their insurance. McCain would tax workplace health benefits. This is wrong. Obama has my vote on this.

4)Education--Obama would focus less on standardized testing. He would also offer a $4,000 tuition tax credit for those students completing 100 community service hours.

5)Social Security--if you make more than $250,000 dollars you will be taxed more (and lets face it not a lot of people out here in my area does not make that kind of money).

6) Economic Crisis relief--Obama's plan would offer a tax credits.

These are the facts. And the fact is, Barack Obama is ready to lead the nation and this is why I support him.

If I have offended anyone, I am sorry. But I need to get my thoughts out here and quit sitting on the sidelines.

Small town/insurance Frustrations

There is a downside to living in the small town. Today, I had to contact the endodontist in Wichita because our dentist in the A town couldn't help S's abcessed teeth anymore. I have tried to contact our dentist to ask them questions concerning insurance.

I keep getting their answering machines from both their A town and W town offices. Here it is a Monday and they are not open for business. It is frustrating to say the least, when you need to ask questions to determine about a treatment completed (or in this case incompleted) under their care. It involves a time constrait and whether the insurance will pay for it or not.

If insurance will not pay for it, then we will be stuck with the bill. S meanwhile will continue to have pain off and on until the work is completely finished. Our first consultation appointment will not be for 2 weeks! Then we will have to wait until December to have the actual work done, unless her previous treatment has lapsed into a year. If not, then I don't know what. A quick call to our attorney perhaps?

Sometimes I think going to a different dentist would provided a better solution, but we like this dentist and S doesn't want anyone different to work on her teeth.

I just hate problems!

Some Positive Town Happenings

Sometimes or a lot of the times there is not that much happening in my little town. But today we had two positive happenings in our town and downtown at that!

Our downtown are here used to be fairly busy when I first moved to town about 19 years ago. They boasted a bank, an OTASCO (Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company) store, a grocery store, a pharmacy, a radio repair shop, a photography shop, a restaurant, and some other gift shop just north of the fountain. Then off to the east there was the only lumber company in town. You know, TWIFS.

Things started shrinking in the downtown area from 1989-1999, or so. The owners of the photography shop moved out of town; the gift shop owners stopped doing business; the radio repair shop man died; the restaurant (where we had a few dates) closed up business; the OTASCO store changed owners and eventually quit business all together; the WIFS moved to the highway; the owners of the downtown grocery store moved out on the highway; and the pharmacy ceased operation in town.

The pharmacy has since become The Lighthouse. At first our church had something to do with the activities. Then our church sold it to a group. This group was needing money to finance a heating system and air conditioning system to the building. Today, they held a chicken noodle dinner with drink and dessert for a love offering. Many people turned out. The group that runs the Lighthouse have been doing a lot of positive thing for the community. After home games, they open it up to host "Fifth Quarter," and BBQ hamburgers after the game. They have opened the building for many other activities. It is good that Harper has something positive for our small community. I hope they continue to do well.

The other positive was also held today. It was an Art show held at the Senior Center in the downtown area. L and I were the youngest there (at the time we attended). Awesome artians showed their paintings and their craft work. I marvel at how someone can just see something and be able to use their talents to create a work of art.

Harper needs to have more positives things like these for the community. I applaud those who were involved in these two events this past Sunday!