Greetings from "Snoke" lahoma

I'm ready for this ice/sleet/snow stuff to go away. It started Monday afternoon and while it was cool to have a day off from work, it's messy and it's not going away fast enough. Kaitlyn is on her 3rd day off from school. Even though the school district "tries" to build in snow days, it's just never enough. So, after Kaitlyn graduates, she may have to come back to school for a day or two (and do what???) I did finish transferring over ALL my vhs and 8mm tapes from when the girls were little. I love being able to pop a DVD in the machine and look at old home movies. I would have to say it's one of the best investments we've ever purchased. I even copied over a french braiding how-to vhs tape I had (I still don't have the hang of it, even with 2 girls to practice on!). Today the sun will be out all day and the temperature should get up past 40, thank goodness! Tomorrow is supposed to be 60 degrees, yeahhh!!!!

Everyone's Got their Own Direction - even the wind!

This weekend, everyone seems to be going in their own direction. I work all 3 days at Kohl's. Kaitlyn has to "cheer" at a basketball tournament their high school is hosting. Kristen has moved back into her apartment (she lived at home with us during the Christmas break because her roommates all went home and she can't stand being by herself - must get that from Bobo) and Joe went to the Oklahoma Panhandle this weekend to bird hunt.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Oklahoma. When I got in my car to go home, the thermometer said 79 degrees, I kid you not. Now that's the kind of winter weather I'm talking about!!! BUT, as typical in Oklahoma the temperature is supposed to steadily drop and by this afternoon, it'll feel like winter (for Oklahoma) again. At least this morning when I was out feeding the dogs (which I do when Joe is gone, at least he took his bird dog with him) it was very pleasant with NO WIND. For those of you who have never been to Oklahoma, the wind blows 24/7. The only time you comment about it is when it's blowing hard (30-40 MPH gusts) or it's not blowing at all (which is rare). Also it all depends on if the wind is blowing from the north (a cool/cold front is moving in) or from the south (warm/hot - means high fire danger). We're VERY weather-conscious out here. For all you people that have snow, I DON'T ENVY YOU! I'll take my warm weather any day - I'm a tropical kind of girl.

Wayback Wednesday - 1996/97

When Kaitlyn was little, Joe had an expensive pair of Vuarnet (sp?) sunglasses. Whenever Kaitlyn wore her sunglasses, she said she was wearing her "shar-nays." The first time Kaitlyn went skiing, Joe put her in ski school and the instructors thought she was very photogenic so they took her picture and gave the picture to Joe. Kaitlyn was wearing her "shar-nays." We always get a family chuckle out of this picture when we see it.

Christopher Cross

Joe and I went to see Christopher Cross this evening at the Sooner Theatre in Norman. He was great and sang all the old songs from the early 80's plus many new ones. He still sounds the same and can hit all the high notes too. I bought the tickets the day they went on sale back in December and I'm really glad I did. The concert was sold out. The venue was small; the Sooner Theatre was Norman's first movie theatre (they celebrate their 80th year this year) but is now the community theatre showcasing Norman's finest actors (not counting the ones at the University of Oklahoma Rupel Jones Theatre). Across the street is a bronze statue of James Garner (a graduate of Norman High School) dressed as Maverick on a portion of Main Street, renamed James Garner Boulevard.

A little Norman history lesson!

Mumps Not the Word

I called the clinic today to find out if they had heard anything back on Kaitlyn's lab results. I told them I wanted to know for sure if she had the mumps or not for her medical records. They called me back and left a message that said she tested positive for immunity to mumps (so her immunizations as a baby definitely worked) and she does not currently have mumps. So, I don't know what she had. The swelling went down in her neck almost immediately the next day. Kaitlyn did say she had this weird salty taste in her mouth on the side that the swelling was on and that the 2nd night, her ear felt like it did something weird like pop and she thought some drainage came out. I asked the nurse about that and she said that it could have been her ear finally releasing the pressure it had been under from the swelling. Anyway, the z-pack and the steroids have been working and she seems to be much better (and she hasn't threatened to kick my *** yet from the steroids). Although she did mention that the other day at school, people seemed to be running into her in the halls alot and she wanted to punch someone......

"Mumps" the word (maybe)

I had to take Kaitlyn to the Urgent Care clinic this morning because one side of her neck/lower jaw is swollen. It was yesterday and she said it hurt some, so she took some advil and went to work. Last night it hurt a little more and this morning it was still swollen. After a sleepless night (me panicking with gangrene? staph? fiddleback spider? cancer? etc.) I took her this morning to the clinic instead of waiting for her doctor's office to open at 9, then they try to work her in. They had to draw blood - her first time - she was freaked out and I told her to go ahead and cry, just concentrate on me and squeeze my hand. It was over before she knew it. They tested her blood and said the CBC looked good, they couldn't find anything, but they are testing her for mumps as it is making a comeback. She had not had her last booster shot (at 14-15 years old). They will let me know in a couple of days if her test comes back positive for mumps. Meanwhile, she is on a Z pack, steroids, and has pain medication. And I "sort of" have my sanity back. I remember my mother taking me to a little boys house when I was about 9 or 10 and EXPOSING me to mumps. I'd had everything else, measles, german measles, chicken pox, etc. but I never got the mumps! Anyway, the pharmacist said the steroids might make her irritable (will she kick my butt if I say something to her - like PMS on steroids??!!!!) Hopefully not. It's only for a few days. We'll see. Plus this week is finals so she has to go to school. Hopefully your week is better......

Reviewing Family History

I'm having so much fun dubbing my 8mm tapes of the girls over to DVD's. I guess we have about 20 tapes that start back to 1991 (everything I have before then is on VHS). I've done 4 tapes and each tape takes 2 DVD's to copy over. It's about an hour on each DVD. We finally learned over the years to NOT set the camcorder up on the tripod and let it run (so boring!) We prefer just quick videos and it's much more fun to review them later! It's so fun to look back at the girls when they were little and the funny things they've said or done. The funniest one so far is when Kaitlyn was about 3, she used to wear her one piece bathing suit backwards and get up on the coffee table with a microphone and sing along (karaoke style) to Celene Dion and Whitney Houston at the top of her lungs. That one kept us laughing for several minutes! I can't wait to keep going to review the rest. It will take some time (which I'm out of for this weekend - have to go to work in several hours) but it will be fun. I even had some video of my grandmother before she died and of Joe's grandmother reading to Kristen when she was about 3. It's nice to be able to slip the DVD into the player and watch it on our big screen TV. The quality is great and the audio is too. I'm very impressed with my christmas present. It's a Sony Multi-function DVD Recorder VRD-MC5 (for those who might want to know).

"CHOKE" LAHOMA

Well, the Sooners choked. And that's all I'm going to say about that!!!!

West Coast Swing

Tonight I decided to go back and start taking ballroom dance lessons again. I'm taking a 4-week class on West Coast Swing. There were way more women than men this time. It was fun and I remembered all the steps from before.

Tomorrow night we'll all be watching the Sooners play for the National Championship. Go Sooners! Beat Florida! Boomer Sooner!

Ski Patrol

Above: Joe, Kristen & Kaitlyn on the mountain (Winter Park, CO). Below: Kristen and Kaitlyn stylin' in their new ski gear (their old coats and pants were getting too small!)

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve everyone was working or had something to do but me so I went to bed early and it was good!! New Year's Day we watched a lot of football at our house and yesterday, Joe went hunting (for quail) and the girls and I took a day-trip to Dallas to spend our Christmas cash. We went to Grapevine Mills Mall and the Galleria and then came home. That's all we had time for. Today and tomorrow I have to work at Kohl's in the afternoon/evening. Still haven't gotten any pictures from Joe of their ski trip. He used a regular camera so he had to send the film off to be developed!! I don't know why he didn't take one of the digital cameras. Lord knows, we have like 4 or 5 of them.

One of the great Christmas gifts I got was a multi-function DVD recorder. I plan on transferring all of our VHS and 8mm video that we took of the girls when they were younger over to DVD's. Hopefully it won't take me too long to undertake that task and get it completed.