PSA

Tomorrow is Friday, it is going to be here just barely in time. That is all.

Wyatt

We watched Wyatt last night. He is talking so much now. I was telling him "I love you." and he was telling me "I love you." right back. That is what warms a Grammy's heart.

Senior Pictures

I took some senior photos for Monica on Friday. We both enjoyed it a lot more than shopping. I sort of miss the photography work after I do a shoot for friends. But then I remember the aggravation of the business part and decide I am much better off just doing the photos for fun.

Thanksgiving Plus Three Days

It has been three enjoyable days since Thanksgiving. Here is a picture of the guys busy frying the turkey on Thursday. This involves beer and chocolate milk depending on the age of the participant. We had Nick's brother, his wife and new baby over and my Dad and Stepmother stopped by for a while too.

We have so much to be grateful, seriously and frivolously.

1. We were able to gather together as a family and spend the day not only eating, but just being together enjoying each other's company.

2. Even though Andrew couldn't be with us this year, he is happy at his new assignment and for the first time in two years is not planning for a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

3. Winter has finally arrived complete with snow, even though it was gone by late morning. It was nice to see some on the ground when we woke up.

4. Nicole has had a good year. Her leukemia has remained under control, she has graduated from college and is in the management program at work.

5. Nick's year hasn't been as good, but we are praying that after January it will steadily improve.

6. Ray and I continue to be healthy and satisfied with our lives. We are planning for our future retirement and looking forward to it.

7. I finished my Christmas cards this weekend, so that major project is done.

8. Ray has the house decorated outside for Christmas and we have most of our shopping done.

All in all, that is a lot to be grateful for. I wish the same for all of you.

One more day until Thanksgiving

I only have to slog through one more day of work until Thanksgiving. Nick, Nicole and Wyatt are coming over for the day. Ray and Nick will be frying the turkey again. I never expected to like a fried turkey like I do. It seems like such a redneck thing, but they do taste good. We will be having all the usual side dishes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie.
My plan is to eat until my arms and legs stick out and then take a nap.
Hopefully, I will have some pictures to post as well.

Girl Friends

Here are my friends Diane, JoEtta, Joyce and Toni. We all used to work together, now Diane and I work elsewhere, but we are all still good friends. We email each other during the day and get together to talk and have fun. Having friends like these women is priceless for me. We care for each other even when we aren't being particularly adorable. That is wonderful.

Wedding Wishes for Blake and Elizabeth

I photographed the wedding of the daughter of a friend of mine yesterday. We had pretty good weather for an outdoor wedding in November. Liz was getting pretty cold by the time we were done with the photography however. I also helped her mother make the wedding dress, so I had more than a little interest in how everything turned out. It was a beautiful wedding and lets all wish a very nice young couple a wonderful life.

Wyatt and the Geese

The temperature is in the mid seventies today. It may be the last good day of the year, so Ray and I took Wyatt to the park. He is enthralled by the playground equipment, but even more so by the large flock of Canada Geese that live year around in the park. Whenever, adults come near the geese they scatter, flying away to the safety of the pond or off to other locations. However, Wyatt does not pose a threat to them and they allowed him to come within a couple of feet before moving away. I was concerned that they might be aggressive, but were not. The flock acted more like a group of good natured dogs, not running away, but not letting Wyatt get close enough to touch. We enjoyed watching him as much as he enjoyed chasing the ducks

Read my Blog????

There was an article in the newspaper explaining all the tricks to getting people to read your blog. If everything it said is true, no one will ever read mine. Here is what works; no pictures, write about one topic. use a distinct voice, comment on other blogs more than you write on your own. This is all good and I bet there are bloggers out there that will take the advice to heart and become rich and famous. However, that is not me.

I started this blog because my friends on ScrapDawgs wanted a forum to post challenges for photos and the like. I also felt the need to write somewhere on a regular basis. As a scrapper, you need to be able to write and have a level of competency that people understand what you are trying to say. For some reason paper and pen don't have the same ease for me that writing on the computer does. I think I have improved some. I am comfortable with my writing, I am not going to be the next novelist, but I am not shaking my head when I am done.

I don't really care if anyone reads this, I enjoy it when they do. I suspect that people stumble across Life in Haysville once in a while. My hope is that they think it is all right for a personal blog before they move on to the next.

Oh, and I hope they like my pictures.

Duckie

Here is our little Duckie at the door for Trick or Treat. He is so cute. We had so few kids this year we loaded him up with candy. It seems like Halloween costumes are so much cuter than they were when Nicole and Andrew were small. It is a certainty that they are a lot less expensive now than the costumes I made for the kids.