Kansas City Thanksgiving

I was up early, around 6:00, to a cloudy, cool morning.  Made the coffee, let Bella out of her cage, and spent an hour browsing the adds, so many that you need the entire morning to go through them, not that I need or want anything, though they certainly are there to tempt you, with the idea of a 'deal', something we all have difficulty passing up.  Evie was up by 7:00, Marlena shortly there after, and she immediately got to work on her Thanksgiving Journal, where she writes from the point of view of the turkey,  She enjoys it, obviously, and just finished drawing a picture to match.  She has the turkey finding away to escape its fate with the help of her dog, Bella.  Mary got up around 8:00 and Tom just came downstairs, about 8:30.  Evie is fast a work on the turkey, cinnamon rolls, dressing, all the makings for today.  I hope to get a good walk in this morning before Rose and Frank come about noon.  We plan on eating a bit early, around 4:00.  Lots of football today, as usual, though none of the games are of great interest though, no doubt, we will sit in front of the tube and watch them, a turkey day habit, as if there is nothing else to do.  I wonder what would happen, what the afternoon would be like, if we just turned off the TV and forced ourselves to talk with each other.  I am sure we would play some games like BananaGrams and spend some time talking.  Because of the TV, I find I have rarely had time to really talk with Tom's father in law, Frank.  We turn the tube on and that's it till we doze off after the turkey dinner.

We had a great meal, as usual, and I am still full, of turkey/mashed potatoes/stuffing and football.  We are sitting here, playing Apples to Apples, Marlena's favorite game.  Frank and Rose left after the games, around 7:00, as Rose had a cold and wanted to get home.  Her brother, Michael, was also here for the day, a nice guy who works as a technician for Lucent.  We see him once a year, either at Christmas or Thanksgiving.  We did take pictures before everyone went home, though it was a hassle as usual, to get everyone together though the kids were more accommodating then my son, Tom.

We heard from both Beth and Jill, Beth was deep frying a turkey for the first time, and Jill was having al the Bissell's over for the first time, some 30 deep.  She seemed to have everything in order and didn't seem too stressed when we talked.  I am sure both turkeys were great, as it was here.

Morning with Marlena

Marlena and I have been up since a bit after 7:00, as I struggle to read my computer and juggle Bella and Marlena tries to write her Turkey Journal.  She is usually the first one up, some its fun to sit with her and listen to her talk.  Like me, she seems like a morning person.  We looked through her school directory and she pointed out the kids she knew.  Then, she got her journal, told from the Turkey's point of view and started writing in it.  She has quite an imagination, and she writes well, of course.  After finishing a page of her journal, everyone else got up, and now she is  coloring a picture to match her journal, and it's not quite 8:00 in the morning.  We are off to the Plaza this afternoon, to shop and eat out, an outing we manage every time we are in KC.  It's an amazing place, filled with great shops and restaurants, with a southwestern architectural theme, making it really attractive, with Spanish style architecture.  Unfortunately, I just heard thunder, and the rain is pelting the windows, a result of the warm weather moving in after yesterday's cooling off.  Let's hope it clears up for our trip to the Plaza.

Tom and I ran to the grocery store, picking up last minute items for Thanksgiving and Friday, when Tom and Mary are having the Burlingame' over for dinner.  We made it in record time, and then headed down to the Plaza to shop and eat dinner at Houstons.  I have to say I have had it with shopping already; I don't even want to walk into a store because I don't want anything and don't want to buy anything.  We walked around for about an hour or so, then went and had a very good meal at Houston's, a great restaurant right on the Plaza.  I had a great burger and beer, and Nick had the ribs, which he loved.  On the way home, Evie made us stop and CVS to pick up candy, nutty buddies, and ice cream, just what we needed after a big dinner.  I have to admit the kids were happy.  Another game is on and no movie is available that we all might like.  Evie is working on the turkey right now, making sure things are ready for tomorrow and it's only 8:15.  A foggy, rainy day outside but we had fun nonetheless.

Decorating Cookies for Thanksgiving

I was up early, just missed Nick, but got my fix of Morning Joe (without the Joe) and the web.  At 10:30, I went off and got an oil change, then came home and Evie and I walked the neighborhood for about 45 minutes.  Before the oil change, I dropped Evie off at CVS and I went to the local coffee shop, to answer my email and get caught up with reading.   I guess grandparents' night was great; Marlena took over, showed Evie just about everything, like it was her school.  Every there seems to love Marlena...what's there not to love, right.  It's nice to see her so confident, outgoing, enjoying school and the adults that are part of her life.  Quite a change from that shy little girl from a couple of years ago.

She's brought a friend home, Erika, after school, and they will be decorating cooking with Evie.Marlena had a friend over after school and they decorated cookies with Evie, something that has become a tradition.  Even Bobbie, Nicks friend came over to decorate as well.  The girls enjoy sprinkling lots of sugar on the cookies, and the star and snowflake were the most popular shapes.  i think we have pictures from years past of the cookies, but this year, we have yet to put them on a plate.  Evie usually makes the cookies in Chautauqua, so they are ready to be decorated when we get to the kids' homes.

Nick, Tom, and I went to the basketball game last night, watched Duke beat Marquette, and part of the K-State defeat of Gonzaga.  It was a nice night to go downtown, which was packed with fans, as were every available restaurant and bar.  It looks like a thriving area, all because of the spectacular Sprint Center.  Tom mentioned it was the busiest center in the country, being used most weeks, if not days.  We sat just one side of Duke fans, mostly alums dressed in blue, and among the K-State fans, dressed in their purple.  They seem just as passionate about their basketball as Kansas fans.  The people in front of us, a family, parents in their 50's, daughters in their 20's, were up and screaming, singing the fight song, die hard fans.  We had good seats, about 15 rows back,  behind the bench.  We got back about 10:00, so Nick did not get to bed till 10:30 though he was up and out of the house by 6:50.



We had lemon chicken for dinner, Tom's favorite, and watched basketball most of the night.

School Day in KC

I just walked Marlena to the school bus at 8:30, along with Bella, just like I do with Marisa in Darien, though we walked Hayden and Halle to their school in October since they live too close for a school bus.  Nick heads off before 7:00, so he is up early and out the door before Marlena even gets up.  I am back to my routine of surfing the net and watching MSNBC, something I have not done for awhile because I usually listen to NPR at the lake.

Last night I went with Tom to his basketball game at the Raytown Baptist Church, a mega church with wonderful facilities, a great gym, a work out center, a coffee shop, and a mini restaurant, all attached to the huge church, one of the largest in KC I am told. The league seemed to be more of a reaching out, as I doubt if the players, mostly black, belonged to the church.  Tom's team was sponsored by USA-800 and was made up of his employees.  They were a combination of young black players and older, slower white guys who could shoot.  It was a different league in some ways, as it was definitely a 'church league.'  Before the tip off, the two teams gathered to say a prayer and at half time, the teams sat together and one player from each team addressed the gathered players, I assume about their life and Jesus or something like that.  I was too far away to know for sure, but it seemed that way.  The nice thing about it was their was less competition, more friendship between the teams, though they did not mind 'putting it to each other,' when given the chance.  Tom seemed to enjoy the exercise, running, doing some rebounding, but leaving the scoring to the younger set.  Before we went to the game, we all went to Buffalo Wings, Nick' favorite place.  We have been their before; it's more of a sports bar, with probably 15 tvs all playing various football games.  It was a good day for KC as the Chiefs beat Arizona fairly easily.  We ended the evening watching parts of the Music Awards, mostly the Black Eyed Peas and Pink.

Tom's getting home early today and we are going to head off to the Sprint Center late afternoon as he has tickets to a college basketball tournament.  At 6:30, Duke plays Marquette and at 8:30,  Kansas State plays Gonzaga, two really top flight games.  It will be the first time I will have seen a top ten college team in action.  Nick's going as well, so we will probably come home early as he has school tomorrow.

We just got back from an attempted hike at Longview Lake, a couple of miles from Tom's house.  We could not find the trails, walked a bit, then found out we were on the wrong side of the lake.  So, we stopped at a new shopping corner, near Longview Lake and college, bought a coffee, and drove over to the other side of the lake to see what was available.  There does seem to be some trails but lots of access seems closed down for the winter, which is silly because it would be a great place to walk, hike, or even cross country ski in the winter.  We measured how far it would be to walk up to the coffee shop, about 1.6 miles but a lot of ups and downs, a good work out to be sure.

Kansas City Sunday

I'm up about 6:40 and we have to be on the road by 8:00 if we want to get to Nick's game at 9:00  Unfortunately, his team is pretty weak, so they had a tough time of it last night, as the team pressed the entire game, making it difficult for Nick's team to get the ball across court.  He has two games today and I hope the team's are weaker or it will be a long day for him and us.  Just let Bella out on a leash, as she seemed out of sorts, did not want to just settle down on my lap, but rather paced around, as if she missed the rest of the family, which is probable.  It's supposed to be unseasonably warm, perhaps in the 70's but now it may also rain.  It does look gray outside at this time, though it may just be from the sun not having risen yet.  It's strange to not have a view each morning, of the trees, lake, vista towards the hills.  Basically, I am enclosed in the house, and if I open the blinds, I get a  view of houses and back yards one way, the street, drive ways, the other.  I guess I will take Chautauqua.

We watched both of Nick's games, the first they won and was fun to watch, the second was a foul fest and they seemed tired as they lost to the same team they played on Friday night.  We came back to the house and watched the Chiefs beat Arizona, another lazy day, though it was very warm outside.  None of us felt much like being active; hopefully, tomorrow, we can get in some walks and get back in a routine of doing something active each day.  We are going to Wild Wings for dinner, and Tom has a game at 7:00...no one wants to attend as we are gamed out.

A funny story about Nick's game which Mary told us this morning.  After Nick's team lost their second game, quite badly, Rose came up to Tom and said: "You tell Nick he played a game because I know all you will do is criticize him."  Today, she seemed to have 'mother in law's regret' as she texted Mary to tell Tom she was sorry for what she said.

Kansas City morning

Up about 7:00, Kansas City time and I am trying to get in a bit of writing before Bella wants out of her cage.  She will take all of my attention when I let her out, so I am putting it off for awhile.  It looks like it's going to be a great weekend, sunny and warm, even into the 70's tomorrow.  Tom's got tickets to a college basketball tournament on Monday, so he, Nick, and I will go see Duke play Marquette and Kansas State will play Gonzaga in the Sprint Center downtown,  It should be fun.  We got in around 4:00 yesterday and Tom was home around then too, with ribs and chicken from Jack's Stack House, the king of rib places in KC and it was really good.  We then went off to Nick's game at 8:30; his team lost in the last minute, ahead most of the game, which was too bad.  It's a new team for him, with a different coach, a woman who seems pretty good though perhaps too intense.  When last week Tom told her Nick might have to miss a practice because of a soccer game, she said, "That's unacceptable."  Welcome to serious basketball.  Off to get Bella.

Went off to Nick's practice at 10:30 and while he practiced, we had our traditional trip to Costco, for Thanksgiving goodies, mostly Turkey related.  We then came home and Tom made chili for dinner, and we laid around most of the day watching Ohio State on the tube.  I guess I am still worn out from the trip because I don't have much energy.  It's been a nice day, in the 50's but none of us budged much though Evie just went off to the park.  We have another game tonight at 8:00 for Nick and two tomorrow.  

Effingham to Lee's Summit

It's 7:30 central time, and I am sitting at the breakfast bar at our Hampton Inn, letting Evie sleep in a bit.  It's an overcast day though not too cold, in the 40's, as Fox News plays on the television.  Why is it on whatever public place I visit, from motels to doctor's offices, to airports.  We ate last night at the bar of the Lone Star Steak House, the same place we ate last April when we met an interesting trucker. This year it was a salesman for Western products, like belts, hats, etc.  He was from Louisville, Kentucky, and has 23 salesmen under him who are responsible for the US.  We talked about basketball, at first, as he knows both Louisville and Kentucky b-ball pretty well.  He then told us all about himself, how he races stock cars on weekends, with his brother, how he started up a western store, now run by his mom, in Louisville, how he helps us his stores by keeping up on the new products, especially on what products are popular in what part of the US.  Rhinestone belts, for example, are big in Texas and Oklahoma, but no where else.  A certain square toed boot in popular in Texas but no in the rest of the States.  He also talked about how he used to know the owners of Justin boots, until it was bought out by Warren Buffet.  He was immaculately dressed, with cowboy boots, jeans, cowboy hat, belt and what looked like a small cross in his left ear.  Hes divorced and has been doing this, selling western goods, since his youth, for about 30 years.  So, our goal to have a good meal and get to know someone at a bar, something we used to love to do, happened as we had hoped.  He was a really good  guy.  We were exhausted after the long drive and a few beers, fell asleep about 9:30 local time.  I didn't even feel like seeing how Jack Reacher was doing in the latest, protecting the Vice President.  Six hour drive today, should be at Tom and Mary's in time to see the kids off the school bus.

We stopped off at a country western place called Kleinschmits, just off of Rt 70 in Higginsville, a place recommended by the western dealer last night.  It is an amazing store, with 30,000 pairs of boots, or there abouts, and all kinds of western wear, thousands of pairs and kinds of jeans, shirts, belts, you name it.  We actually spent an hour looking around an Evie bought a pair of Arita hiking boots for 90 bucks.  They really look stylish as well as function and are water proof.  I was tempted to buy a pair of boots, but the ones I tried on were not that comfortable, and I know little about a good boot other than it can be very expensive.  Some of the western shirts were pretty nice but none quite seemed what I wanted.  I guess I am not a cowboy.  We arrived at Tom's around 4:00 which was just right.