Gobble Gobble -- Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a great day. It is the day we as a nation come together to be thankful for all the blessings in our lives. It doesn't matter how much or how little we have, we all have blessings in our lives that we can be thankful for. I am thankful for a great job and great employers in that job. I am thankful to see my debt be greatly reduced, even though I have had to make a lot of sacrifices to see that happen.

Others have their family. Or their friends. Or countless other things that they find to be a blessing to them. Some, may be of low income, but they are thankful to be alive or to just have those other blessings around them.

Today, I spent a couple of hours volunteering for our Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which served those that were poor, indigent or otherwise didn't have anyplace else to go for Thanksgiving Dinner. The dinner doesn't ask for income levels, because it is free for all who wish to come. As you see in the first picture, the meal was a very traditional meal of mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and even a slice of pumpkin pie. The second picture here is of a few of the many people who were in attendance to eat of this meal.


With that I would like to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

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Sunday Night at the Concert

So as i mentioned the other day, I had a ticket to the Oak Ridge boys Christmas Concert, on Sunday night. The concert was absolutely fantastic, although the venue hosting the concert was way unorganized.

The performance of Topeka Performing Arts Center was very lack luster, but should not distract from the performance of the Boys. They opened the doors at 6:30 pm as scheduled, but for 30 minutes the several thousand who held tickets was compacted into the small hallway outside the theater. While the doors was kept tightly closed, as more patrons were crammed into that small hallway that surrounds the theater. Handicapped, elderly, those who had been on their feet all day at work all day and everyone else were forced to stand for 30 minutes in those very tight quarters and not allowed to get even near their seats.

Once inside the concert was absolutely fantastic. Starting with several of their popular classics, such as "Elvira." After a 20 minute intermission, they came back to sing a number of Christmas songs and was certainly the first time I was wished a Merry Christmas this year.

One of my favorite Oak Ridge Boys songs, is one that isn't on any of their current albums. "(They called her) Christmas Carol" is a song about a very unique woman that everyone called her Christmas Carol.

Like a fixture down on Main Street, she stood there all year round
With a tin cup and tamborine, singin' Christmas songs
Folks thought she was crazy but they loved to hear her sing
Drop some money in her cup and she'd shake that tamborine

And they called her 'Christmas Carol'
There's not a Christmas song she couldn't sing
I remember Christmas Carol
With her snow white hair and a beat up tamborine

She wore that same old ragged coat all the year around
Lived all alone in a little shack just outside of town
She'd stand there singin' 'Jingle Bells' in the heat of the summertime
Yes, everyday was Christmas in Carol Johnson's mind

And they called her 'Christmas Carol'
There's not a Christmas song she couldn't sing
I remember Christmas Carol
With her snow white hair and a beat up tamborine

But I can still remember that twinkle in her eye
'Cause Carol kept a secret from the people passin' by
That secret was a mystery they talked about so long
How each Christmas Eve those gifts showed up
Outside the children's homes

That was 40 years agos, or 50, I believe
And still the toys keep showin' up each year on Christmas Eve
I wonder if we'll ever know just who took the cause
Is it still Christmas Carol or is it Santa Clause?

And they called her 'Christmas Carol'
There's not a Christmas song she couldn't sing
I remember Christmas Carol
With her snow white hair and a beat up tamborine


- Oak Ridge Boys

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Today and Today (SUNDAY) Only!

Today, Nov 23, 2008, is the day. What day is that? The day that I told you about yesterday. Dr. Pepper is giving away a free 20 oz Dr. Pepper. All you have to do, is go the the website, that I have already linked to and click on "the Dr. is on call" and then fill out the form. Simply follow the instructions on that form and with in 4-6 weeks you will have a coupon for one free bottle of Dr. Pepper. But, you must do it today (Sunday Nov. 23, 2008) by 11:59 PM. If you don't do it today, you will have forever lost your chance. So hurry, this you chance for the most frugal pop purchase, FREE. I am not a big Dr. Pepper fan, (occasionally I drink one), but I requested mine. I mean, who can pass up free, right? And, you can bet I will be drinking it down, as soon as I get it.


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Free Dr. Pepper

I heard this on the news Friday afternoon, but now I have found it in print. The only catch, you will only have to 24 hours to receive your free 20 oz soda pop. Once you get it, you will have until Feb 28 to use said coupon.

LOS ANGELES – Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality. The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.
- Yahoo News

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Oakridge Boys Are Coming

After three days in Branson (Thurs, Fri and Sat) the Oakridge Boys will bring their Christmas Cookies Tour tour to Topeka, KS. I am not a huge country fan, but I have always enjoyed the Oakridge Boys music. I just secured the last seat on the floor and even better yet it is an aisle seat. I am so looking forward to being there after work on Sunday.



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Debt Reduction - November

This month has seen some real reduction of debt. My car loan is almost to the $6,000 mark and my WaMu balance transfer is down to the $400 range. Take a look at my chart to the right to see my progress.

In addition, I was interviewed by a local ABC affiliate in regards to the local visioning plan for my community. I was surprised when I found that they carried so much of my interview. See the clip below.



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Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Small Kansas Town

This past week, ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition have been in Kansas.

Patrick Tutwiler was shot in the neck by an Iraqi sniper and returned home with a traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder, memory loss and speech problems. Less than a year later, their modest home was hit by the tornado of June 11, 2008 that destroyed a large part of Chapman, Kansas. Patrick and his wife, Crystal, pulled the family into a closet and used their bodies as human shields while the tornado tore the house apart.

Patrick, Crystal, their four children and nephew moved to a nearby military base temporarily until Patrick was given his official military discharge. Because of Patrick’s injuries and his current part-time employment, the family’s finances cannot afford to rebuild or purchase a new home.

Now it is up to “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to build this dedicated solider a safer and stronger place they can call home.

- Rebuild Chapman

Last Tuesday, TY Pennington and the others from the show, showed up at Fort Riley, Kansas to announce to the Tutwiler Family, who have been living on a military base ever since their house in Chapman and the town was devastated by a tornado, that they will have a new home built.

On Wednesday, the crew arrived in Chapman to begin work on the Tutwiler's new house. Now tomorrow at about 2 pm, the family is expected to be back from their Disney Cruise to the Bahama's, to see their new home. While, I would love to be there to see this (and possibly be seen on camera in the crowd), I have other obligations. I however, would love to issue best wishes to the Tutiler family and wish them home. It is my hope that you will enjoy it, and I look forward to seeing the two hour special, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 25, 2009.
Not only, will the program replace the Tutwiler's family home, they also will rebuild the town's community center as well as at least do some work on a church that was damaged in the tornado.

The Topeka Sears store was utilized in this program as well.

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