The one before the holidays

This is the third time I have sat down to write this blog.  I am not a professional writer, and I am easily distracted by other things.  Also, for the last week or so I have been sick.  So I haven't had time to write, but I have been reading quite a bit.  In anticipation of the David Fincher film, I finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It was a decent book, and I am about halfway through the second one.  I know a lot of people read these books a few years back, but the last couple of years have been super busy for me, and I am just now getting caught up on a few things.  We finally got around to watching the last Harry Potter film this past weekend.  Nothing super exciting is going on around here, but I will catch you up on what has happened since the last blog.  Give me a minute to go back and read it.  Maybe whistle the theme to Jeopardy or something.  OK, you can keep reading now.

We took our annual trip to the DRI pumpkin patch to take some pictures and pick up a couple of pumpkins.  Since we were there only a couple of days before Halloween, there wasn't much to choose from.  Ethan was pretty happy with the choices he made though.  As for the holiday itself, we did make a couple of stops to trick or treat.  I don't think Ethan really understood what was going on, but he was sure glad to have the candy when it was all over.  Even with the limited stops, we had enough candy for three people which worked out nicely.  I didn't mention that Ethan was dressed as Larry the Cucumber from Veggietales.  Although I have come to despise this show, Ethan cannot get enough of it.  Thank you Netflix streaming for allowing my child to have an endless source of cartoons at his disposal.  I guess there are worse things he could be watching.  I'm talking to you Spongebob.  He actually doesn't watch that much, but I will admit that using a smart phone on a two year old often has the same effect as Kirk setting his phaser to stun.  Go ahead.  Soak it all in.

Tiffany and I celebrated our 11th anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  A year ago on our anniversary, we were in the audience at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  This year, we settled for dinner with my grandmother here in Abilene.  Our actual anniversary trip was a few days later.  We went to Dallas to see Stephen King speak.  As longtime fans of his books, we both thought this would be fun to do.  This was a fundraising event for the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.  The whole thing lasted a little over an hour, but in my opinion it was well worth it.  He discussed politics, conspiracy theories, and talked a little about his new book.  For those not in the loop, his new book is about a guy who goes back in time to stop the JFK assassination.  I will probably read it as soon as I am finished reading about Lisbeth Salander.

That pretty much brings us up to date.  Wait.  I just lied.  No, I said pretty much, so I guess I didn't lie.  Nevermind.  Last Tuesday night began the new season of musicals at the civic center.  The first one was Young Frankenstein.  Yes it is based on the Mel Brooks film, and yes it was just as funny.  In fact, I would say that it was probably one of the best plays we have ever seen here in Abilene.  In discussing this play with a few people, I discovered that there are actually people who haven't seen the movie.  I realize Mel Brooks may be an acquired taste to some, but this is definitely among the funniest films ever made.  Of course, I've always been a little strange.