Couponing at CVS

Today I went to CVS on my lunch hour to do a little couponing. It's supposed to snow some more tonight so I thought I would get some supplies (like toilet paper and dishwasher detergent). With both girls home for the holidays, I'm running my dishwasher almost every night!

I got all this (after coupons and Extra Care Bucks) for $3.19 ($1.55 of that was for tax). So, I think I did pretty good. Sometimes I do better than other times.



Some of the supplies I buy (especially the smaller sized Tide, etc.) I give to Kristen to take to her apartment.

Winter Wonderland

Here's some pictures of the house from various angles. The snow just seemed to drift to the front door area. And there were some major drifts between the cars in the driveway.

Christmas Eve 2009

We're having a White Christmas this year. It's very cold and it's been sleeting and snowing all day. Winds have been gusting at 50 MPH so we have lots of drifts. Interstates are closed and travel of any kind is being discouraged. As usual for this time of year, I have my usual back problems, and Kaitlyn is sick. Joe had to take her to the urgent care clinic this morning. She doesn't have strep but the doctor said if she doesn't get better in a couple of days they will test her for mono.

Here's a couple of pictures from the backyard and one of the front.






DON'T EAT YELLOW SNOW!!

I'm a Proud Mama!

It's official, Kaitlyn has a 4.0 her first semester at college. I do believe she'll be on the President's Honor Roll. She found out today she made a 93 on her zoology exam and she was soooo excited. I'm proud of Kristen too. She has been on the Dean's Honor Roll (3.5 or better) almost every semester. BUT, she made her first C ever this semester in Tax Accounting. She hated the class and swears she will NEVER do tax accounting!

I've got back problems. Too much work and not enough rest. I can barely get out of bed in the mornings and walk. I can't wait for Christmas to be over so I won't have as many hours at Kohl's. They have me scheduled for 19 hours this week. I called in sick tonight because I just can't stand on my feet for long periods of time; if I step wrong it sends shooting pain in my left hip and almost brings me to my knees. I'm hoping my doctor will call something in for pain (like muscle relaxers) so I can get some bed rest. The pain is REALLY bad in the mornings, then lets up for awhile during the day and about 5:00 it starts coming back. At least I sit most of the day at my other job.

Random Pictures from the Past

I ran across some old pictures and thought I'd share. This was Kristen and Kaitlyn's first OU/TX game. This was made in probably 1996 or 1997.

Here's a picture of some of Joe's family. Joel Smith (Joe's dad), Drew Smith (Joe's brother) and his son Steven. Jason Smith (Joe's half-brother) and Kristen and Kaitlyn. The jet is the one that Drew flies.

The nurse and the nerd. Kristen was either 3 or 4 in this picture.

Heather and Chris Nichols' wedding in McKinney, TX.

Nana and her grandchildren in Memphis. I think this was like 1993 or 1994.

Joe and I tailgating before an OU game - probably in 1993/1994.

Kaitlyn and Kimberly in Kaitlyn's Barbie Jeep. This was probably in 1996/1997.

Somebody Went to a Lot of Trouble

Last night both girls were home so we went to dinner to celebrate Kaitlyn's certainty of having a 4.0 GPA her first semester of college and Kristen passing her tax class exam (she hates tax with a passion). We drove up to Moore to eat at Earl's Rib Palace (our favorite barbeque place). Afterwards we decided to take the back way home to see some Christmas lights and Kaitlyn says, I know where there's this cool tree. So we found it. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to put lights on EVERY SINGLE BRANCH. It's beautiful - it's like the burning bush in the Bible - it looks like it's on fire!

Halloween Pictures

Kaitlyn and her boyfriend, Michael, finally sent me some pictures of the costumes I made them for Halloween. Do you think they look like Tinkerbell and Peter Pan?


How about now?


They thought this would make for better conversation at their party! I love it!!

Couponing

I've started couponing (not to the extent that Lorna does yet) and tonight this is what I got for $7.96 total including tax. I had two store coupons and the rest were manufacturer's coupons that were doubled up to $1.00 (coupons that are $1.00 are doubled to $2.00 off). I went to the store specifically with these items in mind and coupons in hand. Before she took off for coupons it was $20.16. So, I'm learning how to do this through research and tips from Lorna.

Advent Festival

One of the things I REALLY enjoy doing at my church is working at the Advent Festival each year. I especially like working with 4th - 7th graders. You get to go and sit at a craft table and help the kids make the craft for that table. This year the craft at my table was making a wallet out of a juice carton (not a juice box). It can be done. They were pretty cool looking and the kids had the most fun decorating their "wallet" with the different colors of duct tape. Here was the first group that came and sat down at my table. There are probably 20-30 different crafts people at the church can come and work on. The crafts are "rated" for different age groups - with extremely easy ones for little children and some rather hard ones for adults/older teens. Down in the atrium a combo plays (piano, drums, violin/fiddle) Christmas music and cookies and punch/coffee is served. They sell t-shirts/hoodies and the church is all decorated. I just love it. Working with the crafts and the kids reminds me of when I was a Girl Scout leader (with my friend Kay) for Kaitlyn's troop and all the fun we had.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeee, happy birthday to me!

Cindy says she is thankful she can still get out of bed every day and go to her job (both of them). She is thankful she has a wonderful husband, two beautiful daughters, and lots of loving pets. She is thankful that she’s a senior citizen, she’s lived longer than 3 of her grandparents did, and her sweet “little brother.” She’s thankful she has her parents and two sisters to go visit every now and then and share memories. She’s thankful she can go to the church of her choice and thank God for all the blessings He has bestowed on her. I hope everyone is as blessed as I am. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Tuna Christmas

Jann gave me $50 for my birthday so I treated myself to a ticket to see the play "A Tuna Christmas." I've always wanted to see it so I went to lunch and a play today while Joe was quail hunting in Woodward, OK. This is the outside of the OKC Civic Center Music Hall. This is where the Nutcracker is put on each year. The play I was seeing was in the basement theatre. Currently "Little House on the Prairie" is playing in the grand hall with Melissa Gilbert (the original Laura Ingalls on TV) playing Ma Ingalls in the touring version.
This is looking toward the outdoor skating rink they are setting up for the holiday season. They open it up the day after Thanksgiving and close it down after January 1. Some years it's difficult to keep the ice hard because it's too warm outside.

This is walking closer to the rink. One of the figure skating coaches at the ice rink where Kristen and Kaitlyn used to skate was the one who brought the idea to Oklahoma City. They've been doing it now for about 7-8 years.

Usually, every year, the two figure skating clubs in Oklahoma City put on an exhibition for people to come watch at the outdoor rink. Looks like it needs to warm up just a little more so the ice can get hard.

Dad's Day @ the Sorority House

This weekened is Dad's Day at the University. (It used to be Family Weekend and before that it was Dad's Day forever). Chris, Joe's mother came down (because we thought it was still "Family" weekend) and we went to the sorority house and had lunch. The lunch was good, we had authentic Mexican food. Next we took Chris to an OU men's basketball game. Since the football game is a night game, she and Joe are going to the OU vs. Texas A&M game. Then, if she is still awake, we're going to take her to the Riverwind Casino so she can check it out. Here's a group shot of us outside the front of the AOII house.

The girls and Joe and I upstairs in front of the composite for last year.

"Muzzy" (that's what the girls call her) and the girls.

Just the girls.

Kristen and Kaitlyn with Kristen's lil' sis, Kristin.

Joe goofing around outside the house right before we left.

Random Stuff

When I went to the Affair of the Heart Craft Show in OKC a couple of weekends ago I bought the cutest little purse. It's sort of like a swing pack and it's about 6-1/2 inches wide by 7 inches tall. Someone had an ingeneous idea to recycle COWBOY BOOTS! It's unique and different and just the kind of stuff I like. Someone took cowboy boots, cut off the tops (because that's the part that never wears out) sewed across the bottom added a strap (through the pull-up straps that are already there) and added conchos with a hair tie rubber band to hold them together (I could even pick what set of conchos I wanted on my purse). I LOVE IT!! It's perfect for when you only need a few little things with you. Anyway, there is a website www.rootintootinboots.com if you want to check it out. Why didn't I think of that?????

I took these pictures tonight before Kaitlyn left for the sorority house. They are having initiation this weekend. She's wearing one of Kristen's dresses but she looked so pretty I had to take her picture. Of course she's got the "red eye" in the pictures. She cut her hair last week too. This is the first time her hair's been this short since she was a little girl.

Big-Lil' Sis

Last weekend, the sorority had their Big-Little Sis function. The new members (mostly freshmen) come into the sorority house and open a gift with their name on it. Inside is a pair of pajamas/nightgown. They have to put it on and run through the house searching until they find other people with the same clothes on. This is their "family." Kaitlyn is a twin in a large extended family. Her grand-big is the house president. Here they are doing the "alpha-love" sign.

Here is Kaitlyn with her "twin" Mel and their big-sis, Andrea.

Another picture of her extended "family."

Here is a picture of Kaitlyn, her twin Mel, their big sis, Andrea, and their grand big-sis Desiree, Chapter President.

Another picture of Andrea, Kaitlyn, and Mel.

Here's Kristen's group. Kristen is the grand-big (funny); she still seems like a freshman to me. Both Kristen's little and her grand-little took little sisters. So now, the chain goes Kristen (jondahl), Kristin, Victoria. Kristin took a little sis named Crysten, and Victoria took a little sis named Jen. All the Kristen's spell their name differently! Starting from the left: Jen, Victoria, Kristen, Kristin, Crysten.

Another version with Kristen at the top of the stack.

This is last year's picture. Kira was Kristen's big sis. Starting from the left: Victoria, Kristin, Kristen, Kira.

When Kristen was a sophomore (starting from the right) Ellen, Kira, Kristen, Kristin.

OU Homecoming Pep Rally

Last night Joe and I went to the homecoming pep rally at OU. The sororities are teamed up with fraternities and they put on "skits/cheers/dances." I filmed Kaitlyn's group (Kristen didn"t do it). It is held at the "Field House" which is where the volleyball team plays (and where Kaitlyn has been to pom camp in high school). I did pan the crowd a couple of times. It is ALL sorority and fraternity kids in the audience (very noisy and high energy). Kaitlyn is in the next to last row to start out and do stunts but quickly runs to the front to dance and tumble before the judges then heads back to the back for the final stunts. She does her scorpion move (holding her leg up to her head) toward the end. She is the only girl wearing white wrist bands (I don't know why). Any way she did great and had lots of fun.

While we were watching the festivities one of the mascots (I'm not sure if it was Boomer or Sooner) climbed up to where we were and practically sat in my lap. I was laughing pretty hard and Joe took our picture. The two of Kaitlyn were taken while they were waiting to go out on the floor before she looked up and realized we were there.

More Flat Stanley Adventures

On Saturday, Joe took Flat Stanley with him to get a hair cut. I tagged along for a few minutes so I could take a picture. Tammy (the hairstylist) had never heard of Flat Stanley so we had to explain who he was and we all got tickled about it.

This morning, Joe and I took Flat Stanley to church with us. But before we went into the sanctuary, we took him across the street to our Pumpkin Patch.

I had a hard time keeping him up straight, the wind was blowing this morning.

Here's a picture inside our sanctuary. We have a BEAUTIFUL pipe organ that all the organ performance students at OU love to come play. We have guest organists at our church all the time and they sometimes give concerts there in our sanctuary for the community. I love our church and I especially love looking at this organ when I go to church.

After church, I took Flat Stanley with me to The Affair of the Heart craft show in Oklahoma City. The HUGE craft show comes 2 times a year (October and February) and is at the State Fairgrounds. I haven't gone in 3-4 years, so I took my little shopping cart (everyone that goes to the show has one) and me and Flat Stanley had a great time. I bought lots of stuff and everyone commented on my shopping cart insert that I made. I took the old plastick-y one that comes with the cart and used it as a pattern to make the one I now have. I even put pockets on it for my cell phone, water bottle, and brochures and flat things like Stanley. When I took his picture a lady came up to me and asked if that was Flat Stanley. I said it sure was, and she said she remembered doing the same thing for her daughter when she was younger.