October 10

Well, happy belated Thanksgiving to all. I hope you're all coming out of your turkey-induced coma's after a long-weekend of eating. I have to admit I was a bit of a glutton myself this year. Karlene's turkey was one of the best I've tasted and my mother-in-law's cherry cheesecake seemed to be one of those things that's best in three's (as in pieces). So it was a very satisfying Thanksgiving feast at the Benallick household.

So, for those of you unfortunate enough to not live in Saskatchewan, let me give you a bit of a weather review from the past few days. On Friday it was sunny and warm- above 20 degrees or so. On Saturday it was cold and rained like cats and dogs all day. Sunday it was sunny again but cooler temps that sat around 10 degrees or so (a typical sunny, crisp fall day). Monday was again sunny with temps in the upper-teens. Today, we wake up to colder temps again and, for the first time this fall, SNOW! How messed up is that? As special as the first snowfall of the year usually is, I have to admit I wasn't the least bit prepared for it. I don't even have my Christmas CD's out yet.

It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd give you a quick update on what's going on in my life.

What I'm reading? Right now I'm reading Dr. Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Successful People". I'm only through Habit #1- Being proactive- but am already finding it to be a very influential book that will be a help to me both in my vocation and in my family. I'm also reading through Patrick Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team". If you're in team leadership and haven't read any of Lencioni's books before I STRONGLY encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. He is my favorite leadership/team building/business writer.

What I'm listening to? A week or so ago I picked up a copy of Jon Mayer's new disc, Continuum. Every once in a while a disc comes along that you can listen to over and over again without ever growing tired of hearing it. I've found that disc in Jon Mayer's new release. It's addcitive. I highly recommend it.

What I'm watching? I'm quite pleased with the new fall lineup of TV shows. Along with the usual suspects- CSI, Criminal Minds, Without A Trace- I've added a couple other new shows to my weekly watch list. My favorite of the new shows? Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I highly doubt this is a show for everyone but I for one love the acting, the humor, and, aside from Amanda Peet, think this is the best cast on TV (aside from 24). Friday Night Lights also looks to be a strong new show and, aside from it's over the tob gore, Heroes is an intriguing new show on NBC as well.

I watched the pilot for Smith and thought it honked. I also watched an episode of "The Class" and also found it to be sorely lacking. Is it just me or are we witnessing the end of the classic sitcom? Where are you Cheers, Seinfeld and Raymond?

Of course between all these great weekly shows I'm also trying to find time for weekly NHL games as well as what is turning out to be a great baseball postseason. Detroit Tigers anyone?

So, needless to say, I'm spending far too much time in front of the idiot box:). I guess it will be good then that we will be without cable TV for the next three weeks as we make a switch from Sasktel Max back to Bell ExpressVu.

For those who are curious, Cole is now 3 months old and getting bigger by the second. We gave him a bath last night and I was blown away by how much he filled that thing up now. It doesn't seem like that long ago when he looked so tiny in his little bath tub. He's almost ready for a move to the big tub now. He's sleeping much better. Sunday night he slept from about 10pm until 9 AM straight! Most nights though he's up at 3 and then at 6 so that's not too bad. He's a smiley kid to say the least. We think he smiles a lot more at this age then either Carter or Jenna did but we can't say for sure (it's funny how much of that stuff you forget). He certainly eats more than the other two did as he's really starting to take on the "baby beef" formation.

Carter is doing well at pre-school. He no longer cries when Karlene drops him off and, according to his teachers, he's really starting to socialize a lot more with the other kids and has a lot of the kids following him around. His teacher's love him so he certainly feels cared for when he's there.

Jenna is busy, busy, busy. The other day she managed to make a cast on her leg out of diaper rash creme. This past weekend she got into Karlene's makeup bag and proceeded to dump about $20 worth of makeup down the toilet (literally and figuratively). She keeps us on our toes but she also keeps us smiling with her zest for life and her curiosity about pretty much everything. My prayer today is that someday she'll have kids who are just like she is now:).

Anyways, that's it for today. Later.