Sammi posing with her favorite pumpkin. She makes Thanksgiving complete!

The Thanksgiving afternoon nap.

The Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Crossing the Antelope Line of Decency

The wife and I usually drive up to Dallas every six weeks or so. That is a lot of drive time, about three and a half hours one-way. This isn't a problem for me, as I love a good road trip. Sammi, however, gets antsy after about twenty minutes in the car, or ten minutes in the truck.

As such, we've taken to playing "car-games" to make it a little easier on her. We spent the first several trips playing "Worst Baby names," which was pretty fun. I think we decided that Crunchy Dill-hole Rutschman was the winner. We also play complete-the-sentence games, such as "I wouldn't go in there..." The big winner there was "...because I didn't flush." The funniest part about these games is that Sammi always wins. She even beat me at my favorite game: "Two words that should never be together." The premise is that some words belong together, like chocolate and peanut butter, only in this game it is the exact opposite. Sammi's winner was:

Fart nog

You can't beat that. Not even with sandpaper baby-wipes.

In fact, Sammi wins at most every game we play, including Bocce ball. The only game I can win at, which requires no creativity or originality, is Scrabble. I'm OK with that because I like to know that she has an amazing imagination, and a killer sense of humor, even when it borders on bathroom humor.

Pressed for time

...so here is the short list for Thanksgiving:

1. Sammi- my wife, my love, my partner in crime. She is completely unlike any other. I am thankful that she agreed to marry me, even if it was against her natural instincts.

2. My family, who've been nothing but supportive of my marriage and the subsequent moving away. Family should never be taken for granted. They love you and understand you better than almost anyone else.

3. Sammi's family, or should I say my new family. They have kindly accepted me as part of their flock.

4. My job. I actually love what I do, and it leads up to number five...

5. New friends in a new town. Frankly, I'm thankful that I work with a good friend, who is always there for me, Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM- exactly the time I need friends to be around.

Wm.

Rainy Day Blog

It is raining outside as it's been all weekend, not the hard pounding rain, but more of a heavier drizzle. William and I were just sitting on our patio drinking a cup of Russian tea (made from his mom's fabulous recipe) enjoying the rain. This weekend we celebrated our "official" one year dating anniversary in San Antonio. William had to do some work and I got to tag along. It was a great, we ate at some really interesting restaurants The Liberty Bar and The Gristmill, went shopping, got a great new mirror at Pottery Barn (which William is hanging now) and enjoyed each other's company. We did a lot of walking in the rain, which was pleasant until William tried to do that thing where you walk ahead of someone when you go under a tree and pull the branch down behind you so you soak the other person...Notice I say William "tried", he failed miserably! Somehow William's attempt was foiled and he ended up completely drenched while I escaped bone dry. William was a drowned rat and had to walk back to the car all wet and squishy shoed. I took his picture, but luckily for him, it didn't take. Darn low batteries! I love rainy days!