Busy Weekend

As usual, we had a busy weekend. Thursday night was an away football night. Friday, I went dancing with my crowd. Saturday, I worked at Kohl's in the morning. Joe and Kaitlyn and Matt (boyfriend) went to the OU Game. Kristen went to the game with her cronies. Today, the pom squad held their annual pom clinic for elementary school girls. I was in charge of the uniform sales. We sell retired uniforms at the clinic for anyone who wants to buy them. The girls teach a small but quick routine to the attendees that they will perform at an upcoming halftime for the crowd. This upcoming week is homecoming at the high school. Three of the 5 girls nominated are on the pom squad (Kaitlyn has never been nominated.) Here's a picture of my uniform sales booth.

Dancercize is Tiring

Last night I went to Dancercize at the YMCA. Mind you it was not my first time, I've taken that class several times during the morning session but found that I sweated too much to come back to work afterwards. Since I didn't have to work at Kohl's last night, I thought I would try the evening session. I guess it did me some good, I was so tired this morning I could barely get out of bed. Thank goodness I'm not sore, I'm getting ready to go to my normal aerobics class (low-impact, of course) that I attend on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:00 AM. Here are some pictures of the office I work in with Jann (my boss). She is out today (yesterday was her birthday and she went to Dallas with her husband).

This is our conference room...






And here are two views looking at my desk (Jann's office is in the glass-enclosed office) and looking from my desk area toward the front door of our office.

Picking Grapes

Today while I was at work, Joe went to my boss' house to help her and her husband with their grape harvest. My boss' husband has a vineyard and they have a winery which is opening October 1st to the public for tasting and purchasing wine. The name of their business is Redbud Ridge Vineyard and Winery. The Redbud is the state tree of Oklahoma. Anyway, Joe had a good time picking and seeing the process of destemming/crushing the grapes, etc. I did this last year and had a wonderful time. You go early in the morning (about 8 or 9) when the day is cool and you pick for a couple of hours, then go to the house where Jann (my boss) and some of her friends have cooked a wonderful brunch. After you eat, each "picker" gets a couple of bottles of free wine from the winery to take home. It's a great way to meet new people (all her friends and even some of her clients volunteer to do this and some even drive up from Texas) and do something you might not otherwise do in an ordinary day. Unfortunately, we don't get to stomp on them like Lucy and Ethyl did in the old I Love Lucy show!

Dancing, Dancing, Dancing

Tonight I went dancing again. There weren't as many people this time so it wasn't quite as fun. I did, however, wear my new GOLD dancing shoes. My friend, Elise, said they really sparkle when I'm dancing. So I better not screw up my dance steps or everyone will know! Here's a picture of my new gold shoes and my old leopard ones.

Carlos Santana!

One of the "perks" that Joe has with his job is he occasionally gets to meet the artists that play in The Ford Center. Joe actually gets to present a specially engraved belt buckle or spur to the artist that commemorates their visit to Oklahoma City. The other night was the Carlos Santana concert and Joe got to present the spur to him. (For those of you who don't know, Joe is on the far right, the "tall guy".) Anyway, he emailed these pictures to me and I thought I would share with all of you. Cool, huh?

Thursday Night Lights

Tonight we played Moore High School (where the F5 tornado went thru in 1999) and WE BEAT THEM 37 to 0. Finally we won a game, we were beginning to wonder what our problem was. We have a new artificial turf field this year and this was the first home game played on the new field.

This was the halftime performance by the pom squad and the band.

And the EXECUTIONER. It's a routine our brass and percussion section does and our crowd goes WILD. If you miss your part, you'll get your head knocked off! Kristen's boyfriend in high school played the trombone and did this (some of the kids even put blindfolds). Kaitlyn's boyfriend was also in the band (he graduated) and he played the quint drums and led the procession.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yeah! I finally got my hair cut and colored. It's been six months (??) I can't even remember it's been so long. My hair was so shaggy. I didn't put so much blonde in my hair this time. Anyway, it feels much better.

Beautiful Sunday

Hurricane Ike must have veered to the east a little further than they originally thought. It's a beautiful day here, sunny, breezy and a little cool (high in the low 70's). Kind of like a fall day. I had such a good time Friday evening at the new dance studio. There were probably about 25 of us, the majority between the ages of 45 and 65. It was about 1/2 couples and 1/2 singles without partners. We took a lesson first from 7 to 8. We learned a more intermediate/advanced hustle (which is one of my FAVORITE dances, along with most of the Latin ones - salsa, rhumba, cha cha, east and west coast swing). Then we ate a little bit and chatted for about 20 minutes, then we just danced to different songs. The girl who owns the studio would call out "this is a foxtrot" or "this is west coast swing" and we would grab a partner and dance. Also, almost everyone who was there I've been dancing with for the past year at the university so I felt very comfortable with the crowd. No one is there hitting on you, we're all there to dance and have a good time. Spouses share their partners with the ones of us who don't have a regular partner so everyone gets to dance and have a good time. I think I definitely burned some calories because I danced almost non-stop for about 3 hours. I told the proprietor that I really enjoyed it and I hoped she would do it more often. She told us that EVERY Friday night, we would do this and once a month we'd have a Saturday party and once a month we go to the Club (like we did before) and dance. So, I'm in. I enjoyed myself so much that I went online and bought a new pair of dancin' shoes, (gold ones this time - I don't go over 2-1/2 inch heels and prefer 2 inch). I have a pair of leopard ones (all the guys comment on them) that are just about worn out. I also have some low heeled (1 inch) tan ones that I can't seem to revive the soles with repeated brushings. I think I'll get rid of those and save the leopard ones for when I wear black pants. I don't work at Kohl's for the next 2 Fridays so I know I'll get to go at least a few more weeks in a row. I'm excited and can't wait until next Friday night!

Friday Fun

Today, Jann gave me a bonus. I'm using some of it to pay Kristen's tuition, some to get my hair cut and colored (yeah!) next week, and some for various other little things I've been meaning to get. Tonight is an away game for the high school, so I took a picture of Kaitlyn before she left to go get on the bus at school. Her car is kind of dirty, it's been raining for days, and Hurricane Ike is expected to get here sometime tonight or tomorrow. Joe is going to go to the game. He's played in 3 golf tournaments this week with his boss (it's been a real tough week at work, huh?) so he'll be in the vicinity of the ball game and he is going. I, however, am going to check out the new dance studio in town (Shall We Dance?) tonight. For a mere $10, I get a couple of lessons, food, and dancing for 3-4 hours with partners of unknown origin and age. I can't wait. Ballroom dance lessons started back at the university last week but I decided not to go to the first session due to my schedule at Kohl's. But since this new ballroom dance studio is opening up, I may check into something there instead. I love dancing and would miss it terribly if I couldn't start going again. It's one of the few things I do entirely for and by myself.

Wayback Wednesday - circa 1973

I'm starting a new feature on my blog for slow news days - Wayback Wednesday or Flashback Friday. I will post an old picture from the past. For those of you in my family: you may or may not have ever seen this picture. It is one of the few (and I mean very few) pictures of my entire family. It was made for a church directory. Notice Nana's beehive wig (yes, it is a wig). Bobo looks like he might be wearing plaid pants. My hair is long and STRAIGHT (this was the pre-straightener era, we didn't even have blow dryers back then AND I slept on rollers EVERY NIGHT!) And, my daughters keep asking me "who is that other little girl by Nana?" My sweet little brother!!! Long hair was in , man. Have a good day!

Peace & Quiet

I worked at Kohl's this morning and Joe and the girls left for Dallas. He's taking them down there to see Maroon 5, one of their favorite bands. They also went for a little shopping. They will be back tomorrow afternoon. I, meanwhile, have the house all to myself and can get some peace and quiet. Tomorrow I have to work at Kohl's again (in the morning), but that's okay. I didn't get to walk today but I usually look like this when I leave the house to do my (what used to be daily) walk in my neighborhood. I wear my iPod nano and listen to (mostly) 70's music. But it's got a good beat and I can walk real good to it!!

High vs North

Last night was the annual "Crosstown Clash" between Norman High School (the original) and Norman North High School (11 years old). In the last 11 meetings, Norman beat North the first 9 times. Last year was the first time that North beat us. We got a new coach this summer (after 35 years) and last night North beat us 50 something to 0 (that's right, zero). It was sad, but expected. The game is so big (how big is it, Cindy?) It is so big that around 15,000 people attend and we are fortunate that the University of Oklahoma lets us play that special game on the "hallowed" field at the university. Here's a picture of Kaitlyn on the sideline.


Here's one of their routines. The seniors get to be on the front row (finally) of the chant line.

Here is the halftime routine. Both schools' bands get on the field and face one way and the cheer/pom squads do a routine and then face the other way and the other school's cheer/pom squad do a routine. Kaitlyn is the blonde that runs up to the front at the beginning. I tried to keep the camera on her but lost her when they are forming the letters to NHS with their poms.

Labor Day at the Lake

This is our boat. It's a 21 ft Four Winns. We like it a lot.

Matt (Kaitlyn's boyfriend) and Kaitlyn on the tube.
Kaitlyn strapping herself in on her new wakeboard.
Joe on his new wakeboard.
Kaitlyn wakeboarding.....