Thanksgiving Weekend

2007 11 22 Leaf Pile 046a, originally uploaded by ultimate_ed.

Well, we're home from San Antonio and we even brought the kids back with us :-) The weather turned bitterly cold (for us central Texas types, anyway) on Thanksgiving Day.

But, the food was good (mmm, pie) and the visits with family and one of my oldest and best friends was quite nice. My friend even suprised us with the gift of a new Nintendo Wii!

My father prepared a fine leaf pile in the backyard and we put it to good a proper use.

We even managed to score a few good deals and get most of our Christmas shopping finished on Black Friday. Now, we're free to focus on the reason for the season.

All in all, we managed to do a fine big of living this weekend.

Empty Nest

The house is quiet...too quiet. Momma and I are empty nesters this week. My parents came to visit this weekend. When they returned to San Antonio, both the princess and the tornado went with them. We'll be catching up come Thanksgiving. But, for now, it's just Maw and Paw at the homestead. We're both taking off of work tomorrow to get some projects done around the house that we just never manage to have time for with the kids around. Still, it will be good to get back with the kids again.
In other news - the car. No, back up a minute - yesterday I went to the doctor as I had picked up some kind of eye infection. The visit went well and I got a prescription for drops, which are helping. On the drive home, I noticed steam venting from under the hood and got the car home quickly. An inspection showed the source to be a failed hose. I filled the radiator and got the car over to our trusted mechanic. After 190,000 miles, its no surprise the hoses needed replacement. Alas, it turned out to be worse - the radiator is also cracked and that needs to be replaced as well. But, with the holidays gearing up, the shop can't get a replacement until Monday.
In truth, it's working out for the best. It was only a matter of time before these things wore out. With the holiday trip and the kids out of school, it's about the best possible time for the car to be unavailable. So, overall I'm thankful that I was able to get the car to the shop w/o destroying it and that we have a good opportunity to get things fixed. I'm counting on another couple of years service before I put this one out to pasture.

Celebrity Look Alikes?

Stumbled upon this one and thought I'd give it a try. Interesting results...

Boo!

2007 10 31 Jack o Lantern 001, originally uploaded by ultimate_ed.

Alright, I've been in hiding long enough. I've been meaning to make some posts, but, life has been getting in the way.
I've actually been sick off and on the last couple of weeks, which has rather heavily cut into my posting motivation.
Still. other than that, things have been going reasonably well. Momma made it home safe from Chicago and the family was still alive when she came home.
Last weekend was full of parties and visits from grandparents. The princess had a karate tournament and she won her bout. She was also on fire at her soccer game.
This past week, naturally, there was much candy to be gathered and given out. Momma made the fine Jack o'Lantern carving in today's picture. We probably had a good 30 kids come by the house. Our little witch and Thomas the train went out and brought in a pretty good haul. Today finished the week with a school field trip to the zoo. Momma wasn't feeling well this morning, so I took the day off and chaperoned the princess around.