Black Friday

Well, it's "Black Friday" but I'm not going shopping today. I have to work at Kohl's tonight so I'm not interested in getting in the throngs of people. We had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday with family and not much leftovers, which is good for my weightwatcher's diet. Today, I'm just relaxing. Tomorrow and Sunday I work too so I'm going to take advantage of the little free time I have. Kristen had to go in today at 5:30 AM at Victoria's Secret. She gets off at noon and she said she was going home to sleep. I took the picture above yesterday, both girls were dressed up for Thanksgiving.

I'm gonna party cuz It's My Burfday!

Last night we went to the OKC Thunder game. Joe had the suite so he had all his brothers and a couple of friends there. This is a picture of his brother Drew Smith (on the right), and his half-brother, Jason Smith.

Here's a picture of the Smith brothers (from the left) Drew, Joe, Steven (Drew's son) and Jason. The only one missing is Christopher. He is currently living in Colorado and did not come to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving.

And here's the Smith sisters-in law: me on the left and Cindy Smith (Jason's wife). It's unusual but Joe and his brother Jason are both married to Cindy's and they have an Aunt Cindy. How unusual is that? Cindy and I were sitting in the suite with the volume up on the TV as loud as it would go so we could see who won Dancing with the Stars. Unfortunately, the Thunder game was over before the winner was annnounced and the suite attendant ran us out of there. So I didn't find out who won until this morning.

This morning I went to the nail salon where Jann had paid for me to have a "deluxe" manicure and pedicure for my birthday. So I leaned back in the massaging chair and read a magazine for an hour enjoying every minute. This evening, we're going out to dinner (I want Mexican). Meanwhile, I'm baking pies and making my cranberry relish for tomorrow's feast this afternoon. Tomorrow we're having Drew and Steven, Jason and Cindy, Kristen and her boyfriend Kyle, Kaitlyn and her boyfriend Matt, Joe and me for Thanksgiving dinner along with anyone else that may stop by. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know I will.

Saturday and Sunday Pictures

Joe is having so much fun this week while his brother Drew and Drew's son Steven are here. He gets to do "manly" things like go to sporting events every day (sometimes more than one sport a day even). Here's a picture of Steven and Joe at the Blazers hockey game yesterday. Steven plays in a hockey league in Texas and loves it. Now if we could just get him a try-out for the OU team..... I love this picture.



Here's a copy of the final score from the OU vs Texas Tech game Saturday night. What a great game!

A picture of the press box after the game.

Joe's family pic. Top row is Jennifer (Joe's little sister), his brother, Drew. Bottom row is Eva, a friend of Jennifer's, Steven, Joe, and Joe's mother, Chris. They had a great time at the pre-game parties.

Here's a picture of Drew and me before they left for the game and I left for work. I thought we looked good together with our OU gear on.

Big Day in Sooner Nation

Today's the "big" day in Sooner Nation. OU plays Texas Tech in a HUGE game. ESPN Game Day was at the stadium this morning and Joe, Drew and Steven went up there and took some pictures. The Bloomin Onion Blimp from Outback has been flying over the stadium since yesterday. I can stand in my back yard and see it from there. Here's some pictures from this morning.

Lee Corso put on the Sooner Schooner hat and picked us to win. Go Sooners!

Here's a picture of my nephew Steven, and his Uncle Joey outside the stadium.

I've Been Tagged

Tagged !! It is that time again...RULES
1- Post Rules on Your Blog
2-Answer the Six "8" Items
3-Let Each Person Know They Have Been Tagged by Leaving Them A Comment

8 Favorite Shows
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. Family Guy
3. Oprah
4. Greek
5. Young and the Restless
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. Desperate Housewives
8. House Hunters

8 Things I did Yesterday (actually on Wednesday)
1. Changed sheets on Kristens bed for visiting company
2. Dusted tops of furniture in Kristen’s room
3. Vacuumed Kristen’s room
4. Dusted off the top of my dresser
5. Walked 2 miles
6. read Los Angeles Magazine
7. Watched OKC Thunder basketball game on TV
8. picked out my clothes to wear tomorrow


Eight things I look forward to
1. Spending the holidays with family and friends
2. Being off work for 5 days in a row
3. Walking as soon as I wake up every day while I’m off work
4. Manicure and pedicure
5. My birthday next week
6. Making Thanksgiving dinner and then eating it!
7. Going to the beach (CA or FL) or to Las Vegas again next summer
8. Kaitlyn trying out and then making the OU Pom squad

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Chili’s - anywhere
2. Slogar, Crested Butte, CO (best Christmas Eve dinner ever!)
3. Uncle Julio’s (Mexican) – Dallas/Plano, TX
4. Dewey Destins (seafood) – Destin, FL (a dive on the docks)
5. Cracker Barrel for breakfast - anywhere
6. The Beacon Drive-In (chili cheese burger/rings/tea) Spartanburg, SC
7. Aunt Cindy’s (Joe’s Aunt) house – all food made from scratch – Norman, OK
8. Joe’s Steak (or so called by all of Kristen and Kaitlyn’s childhood friends) - my house, Norman, OK he does make the best steak, bar none

8 Things on My Wish List
1. To get a manicure and pedicure once a month
2. Have bookshelves and a window seat built in the living room around the big picture window
3. Have a circle driveway put in so everyone has a place to park and we don’t have to move cars every freaking morning
4. Get a lake house/cabin
5. Decorate the house the way I WANT IT
6. Get Kristen and Kaitlyn through college
7. See Kristen and Kaitlyn get married
8. Have some grandchildren

8 People to Tag (if you wanna play...)
1. Heather Nichols
2. Sorry, that’s all I have!! Not many people know I have a blog....yet

Preparing for the Thanksgiving Season

I am in the process of decorating my house for the upcoming Thanksgiving week. I went to Kohl's the other night (when I wasn't working) and picked up a few things to decorate around the house. I had already purchased the pilgrims before Halloween. Joe had gotten me the turkey salt and pepper shakers at Cracker Barrel last year. Cracker Barrel has great Thanksgiving stuff in their gift shop that we usually pick up cheap after Thanksgiving for the next year.

I got this cute pillow for the chair and a little table runner to go on my Hoosier cabinet.

I got these cute "gourd" placemats too. I also purchased a turkey that holds a tea candle to put in the bathroom, an acorn basket, a couple of towels to use in the bathroom/kitchen and some new flowers to use in my OU planter that I keep on my hearth in front of the fireplace that we never use. Anyway, it's coming around. This weekend, Joe's mother, sister and one of her friends are coming down from Tulsa for the OU-Texas Tech football game. Joe's brother Drew and his son Stephen will be coming up from McAllen, TX (way down at the tip of Texas on the border of Mexico) to the ballgame and will be staying with us through Thanksgiving.

Coldplay

Sunday evening our whole family went to see Coldplay (separately, of course). The band was supposed to have been in OKC in July but had to cancel due to illness or something. Kristen already had her tickets from this summer. She had tickets about 5 rows up from the side stage. Joe got Kaitlyn and Matt tickets to the suite where they sat up there. One of Joe's buddies bought tickets for 4 couples and we all sat together (about 6 rows up from Kristen and her boyfriend). The couples (not Kristen and Kaitlyn) all met at Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar & Grill" for dinner where we got to sit upstairs in Toby's private dining room/table that looks out over the whole restaurant. It was really cool. We had a good time, then we walked up the street for the concert. The concert was good; however 1) I'm not a huge concert fan and 2) the crowd was very much Kristen/Kaitlyn's age group. The other couples Joe and I were with are all Joe's age that he went to OU with. I did have a good time but the band didn't come on until 9:00 so we didn't get home and into bed until about midnight. I was really tired yesterday!

Wayback Wednesday - 2003/2004

Here are some pictures of Kristen and Kaitlyn when they used to ice skate. These pictures were taken in February 2003 in Tulsa, OK at the Sooner State Games. The first one is Kaitlyn, the 2nd one is Kristen.

These next pictures are from February 2004. This was at Heart of America in Kansas City, KS. This is Kaitlyn.
This is Kristen.

This is Kaitlyn at Heart of America in Kansas City, 2004 also; different event.

Performing at The Univ of OK Half-time

Last night the Norman HS pom squad got to perform their state routine during halftime of an exhibition game for the men's basketball team at OU. It was a last minute deal and we had seats on the wrong side of the arena (Kaitlyn was on the opposite side from us). Some of the time I focused the camera on the scoreboard screen because I could see Kaitlyn better. Anyway, here it is.

Autumn Leaves

Yesterday when I took my daily walk, I brought my camera with me. There are a couple of trees along my walk that are just brilliant with color. This one is two doors up from us. It looks like it's on fire.

This one is down the street from us a little further. It just shimmers with gold.
This is the same picture I took a week or so ago and posted but now it has colorful leaves.
This bright red leaf caught my eye because it looked like a starfish laying there on the sidewalk.

Senior Night - Football

Last night was senior night and the last home football game of the season. The senior band members were honored before the game. The senior football players were honored at halftime. The senior pom and cheer had a "shout-out" during 3rd quarter (while the band played over the announcer - I was pissed). But anyway, here are some pictures from last night. The seniors wore corsages and they received a rose from the football team (sent over by the booster club parents). These are senior pom squad members. Kaitlyn is the one with the skinny legs.

Here are the senior cheer (orange uniforms) and the senior pom squad members. All of the cheer girls were on the squad when Kaitlyn was. It's hard to believe she was as small as the two little ones when she was on JV. Her year on varsity saw a lot of growth and she became one of the tallest (but skinniest) on the squad.
Pretty scary for Halloween, huh? We had the colors right though. They wore yellow ribbons in their hair so they'd look like candy corn (who came up with that idea, anyway?).
Kaitlyn and her honey, Matt. He decided he'd better come to the last home game. He's a freshman at OU. They've been dating a little over 18 months.