Ho Ho Ho!

WOW... another miraculously successful Christmas Crusade!!!! Despite the economy, our listeners... YOU... came through for the less fortunate in our community. 300 families and senior citizens were served... over one thousand people total will recieve Christmas gifts, clothing and a Christmas meal because of your generosity. And then, you answered the call for the "Least of These" in Christian County and provided for another 80 families and 50 senior citizens there. Everyone here at KTTS is humbled by it all and incredibly thankful. So let me say again, THANK YOU!!!! Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the KTTS listeners... what a blessing you are.... never forget that!

Well, I'm getting ready to spend a "restful" week at home with my boys... (is there really such a thing as rest once you have kids?)... taking a week of vacation over Christmas. It all starts off with the family Christmas dinner and gift exchange on Sunday with the Mansfield group and then we'll be doing the traditional Christmas baking of the cookies on Christmas Eve... always Neiman Marcus cookies (yeah, right) and snickerdoodles. We make dozens and then eat till we're sick! We'll head out to church that evening for the candle light ceremony and then Christmas morning will probably come a little later this year... after all, the boys are now both teenagers and can't seem to wake up before noon anymore! (At least I'm hoping they sleep in a little). After presents, we'll share a big Christmas morning breakfast and then Ted says I should cook a turkey for Christmas dinner... he actually wanted me to cook a turkey AND a ham, but that's just a little too much for three people!!! However, I do feel like I should just put feed bags on both the boys... they are constantly hungry and never seem to fill up! Let's see, they also want to fit in Silver Dollar City next week and so we'll try to get down there to see the lights... beautiful!

So, that's my plans... hope yours are just as fun and filled with love and joy and hope and peace... all the gifts of Advent. No matter what's under the tree, may the spirit of Christmas be continually found in your heart today and every day! Merry Christmas and in case I don't blog before then, Happy New Year!

Well, Turkey Day is over and I don't have any leftovers!!! Not that that's anything new, with my extra large family - 50 can show up for Thanksgiving (or just Sunday dinner, for that matter) - no matter how much we've cooked, it all gets eaten and so no leftovers. But, I didn't go to Mansfield for Thanksgiving this year... the boys were with their dad and so I opted for a quiet, no travel day, in town with friends. I did something new for me this year, too.... I went to the Missouri Hotel and helped serve Thanksgiving Dinner. That was such a blessing! Not that they needed my help - there were an amazing amount of volunteers there to share their efforts with those that don't have as much to be thankful for. What a neat group of people! We are incredibly blessed in the Ozarks with folks who are willing to do something good for their neighbors and I was humbled to be a part of that.

Speaking of great neighbor-helping-neighbor activities, the KTTS Christmas Crusade is set to fire up on Monday, December 1st. For two weeks, listeners will hear about neighbors in need and have the opportunity to give much needed support to families that are really struggling this year to make ends meet. Every year it's an amazing thing to witness... people come out of the woodwork to give Christmas to these folks... office groups, church groups, families... all come together and pool their resources to provide gifts, clothing, supplies and food to hundreds of families. It never fails to amaze me that our listeners go the extra mile every year and make Christmas miracles! So, before it gets started, I just want to say Thank You to everyone that participates this year... it can't happen without you and we are ALL blessed by the love you show your neighbors year after year... it truly is what Christmas is all about.

Music Stuff...

Just sitting in my office doing "office work"... that's what I do from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and then again from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Yep, I work an 8 hour day, not just the 4 you hear me on the air! Of course, that's nothing compared to the work I do at home just keeping the house up and taking care of two teenage boys.... but I digress.... (did I spell that right?)

Anyway, one of the perks of working in radio is that I get to hear the new music before it gets to the store. For instance, the new Blake Shelton cd isn't in the stores until tomorrow, but I'm sitting here listening to it right now! I just love Blake and I love how cute he and Miranda Lambert are together. The cd's called "Startin' Fires"... it has the new song, "She Wouldn't Be Gone" on it. I'm listenin'! There's some good stuff on there.... "I'll Just Hold On" is pretty and "This Is Gonna Take All Night" is pretty cool, too. BUT they saved the best for last... the best TWO for last. Be sure and check out "I Don't Care"... it's beautiful and what a story!!! Then the last one is "Bare Skin Rug" with Miranda and it's a HOOT!

I'm also looking forward to hearing the Randy Houser cd... he sounds a lot like Ronnie Dunn... and his new song is "Anything Goes." His cd is in stores tomorrow, too. Oh, and The Zac Brown Band cd is finally in stores tomorrow, too.... "The Foundation."

Well, anyway, hope your Monday's been a decent one... off to another beautiful week in the Ozarks!!! Have you bought your turkey yet???? Don't wait too long! Later....

How'd I do?

Well... I got a HALF of them right!

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR• Keith Urban WRONG winner was Kenny Chesney
FEMALE VOCALIST• Carrie Underwood YES!
MALE VOCALIST• Brad Paisley YES!
NEW ARTIST• Rodney Atkins WRONG winner was Lady Antebellum
GROUP• Rascal Flatts YES!
DUO• Sugarland YES!
SINGLE•Don't Blink, Kenny Chesney WRONG winner was "I Saw God Today" George Strait
ALBUM (goes to artist and producer)•Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood WRONG winner was "Troubadour" George Strait
SONG (goes to songwriters)•You're Gonna Miss This, Trace Adkins (writers Ashley Gorley/Lee Thomas Miller) WRONG winner was "Stay" Sugarland, writer Jennifer Nettles
MUSICAL EVENT•Life in A Northern Town, Sugarland featuring Little Big Town and Jake Owen WRONG winner was "Gone, Gone, Gone" Robert Plant and Allison Krauss
VIDEO•Waitin' on a Woman, Brad Paisley featuring Andy Griffith YES!
MUSICIAN• Mac McAnally (guitar) YES!

I thought the show was the best they've done so far... it moved right along with some really great entertainment. Nicely done! I DID wonder why Rascal Flatts didn't perform, though.

CMA's are on tonight!

It's Wednesday and tonight the CMA's are on ABC, starting at 7... so I thought I'd put down my picks and tomorrow we'll check and see how I did. Keep in mind, some of these I KNOW I'll be wrong on, I just kinda wish I was right!

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR• Keith Urban

FEMALE VOCALIST• Carrie Underwood

MALE VOCALIST• Brad Paisley

NEW ARTIST• Rodney Atkins

GROUP• Rascal Flatts

DUO• Sugarland

SINGLE•Don't Blink, Kenny Chesney

ALBUM (goes to artist and producer)•Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood

SONG (goes to songwriters)•You're Gonna Miss This, Trace Adkins (writers Ashley Gorley/Lee Thomas Miller)

MUSICAL EVENT•Life in A Northern Town, Sugarland featuring Little Big Town and Jake Owen

VIDEO•Waitin' on a Woman, Brad Paisley featuring Andy Griffith

MUSICIAN• Mac McAnally (guitar)

Well, the election is over, so maybe life will get back to "normal"... whatever that is! Been trying to come up with ideas for this blog and with the world as it is, I was thinking I'd try exploring ways to save money... might be good with the holidays coming up. However, if you've better stuff, questions about radio, music, etc... feel free to just throw that out there and we'll see where it goes.

So... how do YOU save money at the grocery store? I have two teenage boys and that spells Major Food Expense! My solution(s) is that I only buy what's on sale at the grocery store... my menus are all about what's on sale and what I can do with it. And yes, I COOK dinner every night... I don't know about you, but I can't afford to feed two boys at fast food joints or any other type of restaurant on any kind of a regular basis.... so I cook! I don't like cooking, but I do it to save money for paying the mortgage! I also have discovered purchasing beef from local folks. I've found that if I purchase a quarter or half beef and/or pig, then I put it all in the freezer (And I only have a 9 cubic foot freezer) and we eat well meat-wise for several months. Plus, I bypass the grocery store versions of beef and pork with all of their steroids, antibiotics, etc... so it's much healthier! That just leaves fruits and veggies ... staple stuff to buy at the store. It's really a big savings.

I'll just leave it at that for now... feel free to give me your ideas and any questions you have... what fun this might actually be!

Have a great day... or week... whenever I get back to this!

Curly

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Ok, this is my first attempt at "blogging".... thought I'd give it a try and see what happens. You may or may not be interested in anything I have to say and if so, I'm sure you'll tell me!

So, what do I talk about? I'm afraid to talk politics... heck, I'm having enough trouble just trying to decide on all the items that will be on Tuesday's ballot! I'll admit, I really get most of my information from my 13 year old son, Ted. He's a real news hound and has a pretty good grasp on all the candidates and issues... He loves to go to the polls with me, too. He's pretty mad that it won't be an election year when he turns 18! Anyway, this weekend we have to sit down and look at the sample ballot that I've printed off and make those decisions before Tuesday. That's as far as I'm gonna go talkin' politics!

Well, I'm gonna let this go for now and try to come up with something more interesting for my next posting.... have a great Halloween and a beautiful weekend!