let the mediocre days Fall Away and replace them with much better ones by doing at least one NEW AND FULFILLING thing in October, November, and December of 2009

This month, No. 1 was obviously land purchase. Made me so happy!
No. 2 … house offer negotiations! Lots of fun, too. I tried and negotiated an offer, we did not get any lower price but were offered extra work scope within the same old price. Good!!
No. 3 … still ahead :)

There have been a lot of ups and downs. However, I am having a new and I know it will be fulfilling. We are having Thanksgiving dinner…AT HOME! No getting up early, getting everyone ready, loading everyone up, taking a long trip, having the meal then loading everyone back up and another long trip home. We have decided to have both holiday dinners at home this year. These will be our last holidays on the land and we want to make the most of them. So now we get to sleep in, take our time with the dinner preparation, eat when we want to and enjoy a fire in the pit. All without ever getting in a car. Woo-Hoo! We should have done this years ago!

I met Stephen Colbert today

we went to an art opening at the Yuma Art Center… met a number of people there who we knew. That was fun and should definitely be repeated!

They don’t know it, but my parents are always good for helping me work on this goal. They invited me to a square dance, which I went to this weekend. I had a good old time.

Having taken three pictures of benches, I decided to commit to take a series of photos entitled “Waiting” of park benchs and other waiting areas that were somewhat photogenic. The photos are collecting on flickr and are included in a slideshow on my blog. (it will continue to grow)

So by now just about everyone is familiar with the St Judes Thanks and Giving campaign whereby retailers add a donation onto your transaction which goes directly to St Judes. Williams Sonoma has been a corporate partner for years and all those dollar and five dollar donations have helped the children served by St Judes tremendously. Well this year Williams Sonoma is doing one better.

In addition to all the donations collected by customers, each time a customer purchases a $100 gift card, the company will donate $10 to St Judes! (that’s in addition to anything that the customer donates on their own). So of course I ponied up and bought one for myself, I will easily spend $100 there over the course of the next several months, and I am sure there are a lot of other people who will do the same as well. (the rules don’t say you can’t use the gift card for yourself)

Of course, if you have an upcoming wedding or shower why not take head out to your nearest Williams Sonoma today and get one of these $100 St Jude Gift Cards. In addition to Williams Sonoma, the gift cards can be used online and in the catalog as well as at Pottery Barn and West Elm.

It’s one of those ordinary things that can make life extraordinary for a child in need.

• Got accepted to be on a Youth Forum….an International one at that.
• Got accepted to volunteer in a International event.
• Visited the International Financial Center at the Hyatt Regency…it’s really nice.

_{* Whiskey ice cream (not CHOGM related but good all the same).}

As I visit “new church” more often I am finding more and more interesting things going on – everything from Soup Kitchen, to Shelters, to more Scriptural activities … it’s feeling more and more like a place where I can plug in without having to wiggle it into the socket

It was fun to see two of my sons walk in a parade for the very first time. Glad we thought to bring the big flag, too. Their boy scout troop looked nice, including their tent on a trailer.