Celebration for 90th Birthday for Our Mom... Happy 90th Birthday Nancy Haverty!

Mom Celebrating 90 Birthday

Our family got together to celebrate my Mom's 90th birthday. She turned 90 on December 6. A few months ago, we started discussing and figuring out what we would do to celebrate her birthday. Mom did not want a huge party, so we knew we had to keep it small to our immediate family. However, Betsy had the idea of doing a card party for Mom. So, the announcement was sent out and people started sending in cards to Mom. I know Carrie and I sent nine cards and others also sent multiple cards. She loves it and getting cards daily for the past two weeks has been great. We read through some of them when we celebrated which was fun to do.

Group Family Photo

Betsy organized us into a group picture. We were missing a few family members that were not able to make the trip. This was the first time in a few years that this many of us were able to get together. We missed Spencer, Jack and Katie, Katy, and Donna.

I ended up taking the pictures with my phone as we had some technical issues with Betsy's Android phone to get it to do a timer countdown. I think we got some good pictures of the whole family.

See all the pictures from the celebration on Flickr.

Beautiful Sunset

Beautiful weather for the birthday celebration. Carrie snapped the picture to the right of the sunset. Amazing weather for December 9. Carrie and I took our fire pit and had it going most of the afternoon into the evening. It was nice to have a little heat to stand around while we were talking and enjoying one another's company. The forecast for earlier in the week was rain and snow, but that never happened and it was a great celebration.

A small group of us remained and kept Mom up late into the evening (midnight) talking and telling stories. Mom was sharing stories from when she was little which was interesting.  Tim started the question asking and then Carrie and I chimed in and started asking questions too. Questions such as how Dad proposed or favorite meals from her childhood. It was really interesting and some stories I had not heard before.

Oliver Went to Quiet Room

Oliver went off by himself at one point in the evening as he had enough of family time. He did well overall, but did not like having a one and half year old try to pet him. So, we had to keep Oliver separated from Hayes. It was so good to meet the little Haverty's that attended the gathering. 

So happy with how the celebration turned out. Mom had a great time and we kept it only to immediate family. I hope we are all able to get together again soon just to be together.

Until next time, have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful week...

Share My Fantasy Football Career, Discuss Other Fantasy Sports I play, and Other Ramblings

Fantasy sports are fun... well, most of the time. It is amazing how quickly a "good" season can change. In one of my fantasy football leagues, I was leading the division and had won a series of games in a row. The past three weeks, I am on a losing skid. I dropped from leading the division to third place in my division. At this rate, I have a chance of barely getting into the playoffs with two weeks left in the regular season for fantasy football.

The Chiefs Kingdom league I have been an owner since 2016. It is a great time as we do a live draft in-person at the start of the season. I have not won this league yet, but I have had some good seasons. This year, I was progressing with a good team and suddenly the wheels fell off and I am not sure where I will end up. We have had different league owners win over the years and the past two years for the first time we had a repeat winner. This league is a lot of fun and banter is shared between owners.

The Beer Gut league, I have been a member since 2011. This league has shrunk and grown over the years from ten teams back up to twelve teams. There have been multi-owner winners in this league. I won the league in 2014 and 2017. We had our first three-time winner with the 2022 season with that league owner winning 2012, 2015, and 2022. The league has been around a while, so it is not surprising that we have multi-owner winners.

I also enjoy playing fantasy baseball, but I have really struggled through the years in fantasy baseball. I enjoy both but I have had better "luck" in fantasy football. I am hoping to get my first win in Chiefs Kingdom this year, but it does require luck to make it to the playoffs and win. The years I won in Beer Gut I did not think I had a chance those years and some how managed to the playoffs and win in the playoffs to win the league. It all takes a lot of luck no matter what and all we can do is hope we put the correct players in the game to be active to earn us points.

Football and baseball are the only fantasy sports that I play. Even when my team is not doing well, I enjoy the process. 

Have a great rest of your day and a wonderful weekend...

Thanksgiving Cooking, Family, and Fun Plus Basketball and a Snow Storm to Finish Out the Weekend

Oliver and His Friends

Thanksgiving morning and Oliver was at the fence with the neighbor dogs. He hung out with his friends while I was cooking turkeys on the Big Green Egg. Beautiful morning to be outside and Oliver was taking advantage of the weather being with his friends. 

Would you believe that I did not take any pictures of the prep or completed turkey that I made on Thanksgiving? Well, it happened again but the turkey turned out great. Had good color and tasted good. Did two turkey breasts that took about three hours and thirty minutes to cook. Carrie and I realized at the end of the day that we had not taken any pictures throughout the day. We hosted this year having a total of eight adults and two children in our home. It was a great day!

Mom and Family

Friday late afternoon, we went to Lawrence to spend the evening with Mom and family. We had a great time hanging out, talking, enjoying wine, and seeing one another. We stayed rather late Friday night and I recall Mom saying that it was the latest she had stayed up in a long time. We had a fun time! 

Oliver has the best time at my Mom's house. He thinks he owns the place, so when another little dog was there, there were a few times when Oliver was growling and they got into a little battle at one point. All was good and no blood was lost.

Carrie and I After Game in Snow

Carrie and I got home about 12:30 or 1 Friday night, so we slept in a little on Saturday morning. We did make it to our first home Washburn game of the year Saturday afternoon. The snow had started falling and was barely covering the ground when we went to the game at about 2 pm and when we came out, the ground was covered. It would go on to snow into the late hours of the night.

Birthday Dinner

We went out to North Star Steak House Saturday night to celebrate Eddie's birthday. With the snow storm, we were the only ones in the place for most of the evening. The food was really good and we have leftovers for us to enjoy this week while working. I got a Kansas City Strip and then there was a really good dessert we all split. It was a fun night!

Sunday we have lounged around and preparing for the Chiefs game. I think we are going to bring up some holiday decorations to get ready for Christmas.

A lot packed into the past few days. It has been a fun few days off of work, being with family, and then of course eating really well throughout the last few days. 

Until next time, have a great rest of your Sunday and a fantastic week!

Various Rambling on a Rather Short Update for this Week Discussing Sports, Thanksgiving, and of Course Oliver

We had a quiet weekend as we spent most of Saturday preparing our house for Thanksgiving where we will be hosting family and friends. We did watch the Kansas State vs Kansas football game which did not end the way we were hoping. More on the game later. The Chiefs play Monday night football, so Sunday is spent keeping track of NFL games throughout the day and watching my fantasy teams struggle.

It seems as though this past week that the leaves on the trees in our yard all decided to drop at the same time. We just had our leaves picked up a week or so ago which was a big cleanup and I already have another cleanup scheduled for Monday or Tuesday this week. When we first moved into our home back in 2006, I used to do the leaves. I had plans to do leaves this year, but it is just too much having to do yard clean up at least three or four times in the fall and these are major cleanup efforts with leaves up to the ankles. I went with a new company this year to do our leaves who helped with shrub trimming over the summer and they have worked out great!

Right now while writing this post, I am watching Ichabods soccer where we are playing Jennies in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Washburn soccer played Friday night and won in overtime, so it has been fun to watch. We are playing in Topeka, but I am watching the game in the warmth of home.

This is not only Thanksgiving holiday week but it is also feast week for college basketball. My sister, Dina, takes off the whole week so she can watch basketball as there are games throughout the week. Monday night is not only the Chiefs games, but it is also the start of the Maui Classic in Hawaii. I know I will be flipping between football and basketball Monday night. Should be fun and likely a late evening with Kansas not tipping off until 8 pm.

As I jump around on this post, I go back to the Kansas State vs Kansas game from Saturday night. We did not have our starting quarterback play, so the third string freshman did good. We started off the game getting up to lead, but mistakes kept Kansas State in the game and we ran out of time. Disappointing to say the least and Kansas has one last regular season game to play against Cincinnati. 

Oliver Found his Chicken

It is not an update unless I post a picture or something about Oliver. Oliver found his chicken where he hid it at some point and paraded around the house with his chicken. He even took it outside but eventually went to the couch to take a nap with his chicken. Gave us a good laugh as we watched him parade through the kitchen to the family room carrying his chicken. Funny guy!

A short post for this week on this rainy Sunday afternoon. I hope you have a great Sunday and week. I am hoping to do another post prior to next Sunday with pictures and updates on Thanksgiving gatherings.

Until next time...

Washburn Football Won Saturday to Wrap up the Season and Disappointing Kansas Game... Plus Oliver Being Sleepy All the Time

Last week was a busy but it also flew by which can happen when it is a busy week. The weekend consisted of going out Friday night for drinks and dinner. When Carrie and I returned home Friday night, Oliver just wanted to relax and get tickles on the couch. We sometimes say that Oliver would be happiest if we were to lay around with him all day long and pet him. When we are not touching him, he throws little fits or paws at us with his paw to get us to tickle. Poor guy!

Saturday we went to the last home Washburn football game of the season. We won the game 45 - 14 to get our second win of the season. It was a rough season, but hopeful that we will bounce back next season. I went to all of the home games this season except for one when I was out of town. Carrie went to all the home games this season with me. We had a fun time throughout the season. For this last home game, Carrie made chili and hotdogs were made by Greg that we enjoyed throughout the day. We had beautiful weather for a game in the middle of November.

Basketball season has started and the first home game for Washburn is November 18. Carrie and I have season tickets and will be attending the games this season. We have a fun time attending Washburn basketball throughout the season as we have had season tickets now for a few years. 

Disappointing Kansas football game yesterday that Greg and I were following while at the Washburn game. Next weekend will be fun to see Kansas State vs. Kansas, but hoping we have Bean back in the game for Kansas. Bean went out of the game yesterday and so we had a freshman quarterback leading the Jayhawks. KU lost to Texas Tech yesterday 16 - 13 moving to 7 - 3 overall and 5 and 1 at home. Two games remain in the season.

Not a lot of pictures from me this weekend, but we had a good time Friday and Saturday. No Chiefs game Sunday as it is a bye week for us this week. Chiefs play again on Monday, November 20.

Until next time, have a great Sunday and a wonderful week...

The GoodReads 2023 Reading Challenge is Almost Over and I am Behind Schedule for My Goal of 25 Books

Status in GoodReads 2023 Reading Challenge

The GoodReads 2023 Reading Challenge started and I was doing really well about halfway through the year. I was ahead of schedule on books read, but the past few months I have not read as much. My goal is to read each day which I have done, but some days I was only reading a few pages. The past three or four weeks I am trying to read a chapter a day and most days I have been meeting that goal. 

Books Read for 2023

Currently, I am four books behind schedule to complete 25 books for the year. I am at 17 of 25. I have read some good books this year. My favorite series remains the C.J. Box author. I started reading the series last year and I was reading one after the other, so I decided to mix it up and read some other books this year too.

I am juggling four books currently although spending most of my time reading Malibu Burning which was a free book from Amazon that Carrie got. I am almost done with it at 80%, so I should finish it this week. I hope to get another book or two read before Thanksgiving, but I might have to find some short reads to catch up to my planned schedule.

For someone who used to hardly read at all, the past few years have been a big change for me. Reading daily for enjoyment and not because I have to but because I want to is new for me. I read when I was little, but I would not read for long periods of time; instead, I would tend to read a book and then not read for a while until I found another book sounds interesting. This could be a few months to a few years between when I would read when I was little. This changed about three years ago when I started reading daily. There have been times when I have finished a book that I could easily have stopped reading and moved on to something else, but I kept up and got through the book. 

My list of books that I want to read continues to grow. I am up to 31 on GoodReads I have marked that I want to read and I know I have almost that many on my library app too. I continue to have fun and I enjoy the process of reading where I make the movie in my head. I love it when I am reading and become completely lost in the story where time seems to stand still while I read but as I finish the chapter, thirty minutes has gone by.

I better get back to reading so I can meet my goal. Have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful week! I hope you are able to enjoy some good reading time where you become lost in the book. If you have a good book to recommend, I am always open to suggestions, so feel free to comment on this post or send me a message.

Fun Week at Work with Homecoming, Inauguration, and then Saturday was Tailgating and Football

Inauguration at Washburn University 

This was a fun past week with a lot of activity on campus. Events on campus for faculty, staff, and students to celebrate Homecoming which concluded on Saturday for the football game. This week also concluded Friday with inauguration for President Mazachek at Washburn University. My friend, Eileen, addressed the crowd as a representative of Staff Council and did an excellent job. It was a fun event to celebrate, officially, our new president. Since starting in February, President Mazachek has already done so much in the short few months since starting. I cannot wait to see where we go over the course of the next five to ten years.

Cold and Rainy Day

Carrie and I went to the game on Saturday. We knew ahead of time that the day called for cold, rain, and possibly flurries later in the evening. We had a great time even though Washburn lost 31-28. There was a good crowd for being cold and rainy. Carrie and I got over to our spot about 10 Saturday morning and we took the tent as we knew it would be raining starting around 1 pm. Our tailgate neighbor had an additional tent and two different heaters. At our spot, we had blankets, so I stayed nice and warm throughout the afternoon. Washburn moved to 1 - 8 on the season. We had a rain delay in the third quarter with lightening nearby and most people stuck around following the rain delay.

Carrie and Dolly

Instead of a parade this year, students were encouraged to do tailgate spots on the lawn. It was wonderful! So fun to see the different spots. The winner was a saloon with working doors. One tailgate spot was celebration of Dolly Parton and reading. The theme this year was Boots, Bling, and Bods which was fun. A variety of participants in the tailgate spots and it was fun to walk through the area to see what everyone had done.

Scott and I at Tailgate

While it was just Carrie and I hanging out in our tailgate spot, we did some some visitors stop by to see us. Scott and Robin stopped by with Davis and used our football tickets to sit in our seats for part of the game too. It was good to see Scott and Robin to catch up a little. Davis was having fun with his dad playing catch while we talked. 

Carrie and I did not make it over to the alumni tent this time but we did see a number of people while walking across the tailgate area to get to the Ichabod Shop to buy some things. Carrie had made breakfast for us to eat and we snacked on it throughout the day even during the brief rain delay. 

Washburn University Marching Band

Carrie took the picture of the marching band to the right. She loves capturing the band playing. I was watching her and I thought she was going into the middle of their line to get a picture. She stopped short and snapped her picture. I do enjoy when the band comes through the tailgate area. Then later, when the team comes through the tailgate area is a special time that the fans enjoy.

Carrie and I at Tailgate

I appreciate Carrie going to the tailgate and watching the game with me. She is not a big football fan, but she goes because she knows I love and enjoy the time there even when it is cold and rainy. Carrie was a trooper today and told me how much fun she was having over-and-over. While I watched the game, Carrie was reading, people watching, and glancing at the game when she would hear me yell. We had good food, thank you Carrie, drinks, and a fun spot to tailgate on a cold and rainy day. While we did not win, I will remember this one as it had not been this cold/rainy in a long time for a home game.

Sleepy Oliver, Carrie, and John

When we got home from the game around 5 pm, we were both tired. Oliver did not attend, but he was tired from holding down the house while we were away. Carrie snapped the picture to the right while I was sleeping in my chair and she was trying to nap on the couch, Oliver decided he needed to lay on her and take a nap. It is so tiring holding down the fort while we are away from the house.

We thought about taking Oliver to a game this year, but we will need to wait and see what the last game of the season has in store for us in terms of weather. We might have to wait until next year for Oliver to attend his next game.

Until next time, have a great rest of your Sunday and a fantastic week!