Newest Prayer Shawl

This is the latest prayer shawl I've completed. It is actually a gold color but looks more yellow in this picture. It took me FOREVER to finish. I swear I started this one back last spring. Knitting really bothers my elbow. The doctor says it's tennis elbow so I occasionally wear a brace but I can't knit more than a couple of rows and I have to put it down. Anyway, I think I'm going to start a scarf next (the church gives them out in November to the college students we feed each Sunday after church). Then I'll start a new shawl. Not sure if I'm going to donate this to the church or if I'll give it to someone myself. I know of several people who could probably use one.

Two Websites

Here are two websites you can visit: The first one is our office website, http://www.jannknotts.com/ and the second one is Jann's husband's website for his winery http://redbudridgewinery.com/. I've also added them under my "links."

Kristen's Diploma

The other day, Joe and I went up and took Kristen to lunch. We got to see her office. She has a nice office, big, with a window and a door. Her name is outside the door. We are so proud of her. I had her diploma framed a few weeks ago so she could put it on her wall. I took a close up here. With Distinction means she had a 3.5 or better overall GPA when she graduated.
This is a view of the matting around the diploma. Sooner red of course!

Harvest at Redbud Ridge Winery & Vineyard

Every year, my boss, Jann and her husband, Tom, invite all their friends and customers to come and participate in the grape harvest at their vineyard, Redbud Ridge. You go out about 8:30 in the morning and pick grapes, then you eat breakfast and you get to take some free wine home with you. It's not hard work, but it's a lot of fun. You get to meet lots of people, some students from OU, even some international students from other countries. Depending on how many pickers you have it takes 2-3 hours. I haven't been able to participate the last couple of years because I worked at Kohl's but I was glad to be able to go again. I got there around 8:30 this morning. This is what the vineyard looks like from the driveway.

The netting has to be removed first before the picking can begin. Some of the grapes at the lower part of the leaves (the picking zone) were already eaten by all the turkeys that come up to Jann's property from the surrounding woods. The bags are there so we can go down the rows first and remove the netting, stuffing it into the bags.
The workers are arriving and starting to take down the netting.

This area was set up for people to get coffee, muffins, sausage biscuits, and rest in the shade.

Here's two people taking the netting off.

The lady I was working with is a member in the University Women's Association, of which Jann is the president this year. We stopped every now and then to take pictures of the luscious grapes on the vines.
The next door property has an old dilapidated barn on it. It thought this was neat with the flowers in the growth around it.
Tom (in the red shirt) is giving the pickers instructions on how to properly use the cutters, etc.

Jann (in the white t-shirt and black pants) is bring more food out and pouring coffee for some of the workers.

More vine pictures with grapes.

Looking down the row I'm working on.
My bucket is almost full. They fill up quickly.

Men on 4-wheelers with trailers behind them pull down the rows so you can empty your buckets into them. Then they take the grapes to the winery to the crusher/stemmer machine.

Here's a picture of the front of Jann's house. It faces the vineyard and sits way off the highway.

Here's the side of the house. This is a wing and deck they had built on after they purchased the old farm house.

This is down in front of the winery building. Tom is talking about the process of crushing and stemming the grapes.

They have this table set up showing the 5 kinds of wine they produce at the winery.

The tag on the front of Tom's truck.

The stems that are left over from the grapes.

This is looking into the wine-tasting room.

Time to go home. We all got 2 free bottles of wine from their inventory to take home with us. Here's looking down the drive way where all the workers parked their cars. Vines are on both sides of the road.

Not Much to Report

I must have done something to my back (too much Zumba???) weekend before last because all of a sudden on Monday, 9-13, my back started killing me. I haven't been to zumba since Thursday, September 9 and I miss it. I may try to go today.

Kaitlyn auditioned for and made Sooner Dance Company. It's a group of girl/boy dancers that are NOT dance majors but perhaps have taken dance most of their lives and want to continue it. It's more of a lyrical/modern dance group (as opposed to Hip-Hop) but Kaitlyn thinks she will enjoy it. She LOVES living in the sorority house. She is playing catch-up on all the stuff she missed out on by not living in the dorm her freshman year. It's kind of worked out since Michael is working at the television station in the city and most of his work right now revolves around high school football so from Thursday night to Saturday he is pretty much living out of his car and the TV station van traveling across the state working the graphics for the football games shown on their station. Kaitlyn works on the weekends (when he is off) so they have very limited time to see each other.

Kristen likes her job at Chesapeake and has moved into a new office (it has a window and a door!). We went shopping this weekend to try and find some office decorations. I had her diploma framed for her a couple of weeks ago so she can hang it on her wall. I'm not allowed to mention anything about her dating life. So suffice it to say, it's all still good.

Joe's mother came down this past weekend to go to the OU ball game on Saturday. Yesterday morning I took her to breakfast while Joe and his brothers played golf. We had a nice visit.

In two weeks, we go to the OU/TX game in Dallas and in 3 weeks I'll be home for a visit and to wish Bobo a happy 80th birthday. I can't wait, I'm so excited!

United Way Fundraiser - Celebrity Sing

Last night was the annual United Way Fundraiser - Celebrity Sing. It's where the "movers and shakers" in town (Norman) sing. Jann has bought a table for 8 the past several years, but this was the first time I've been able to go. It was held in the theatre of the Riverwind Casino and the theme this year was Cowboys - Boot Scootin' Good Times! I got to wear my one and only cowgirl outfit that I bought 5-6 years ago to wear to the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) event. This is not a good picture of me, but I kinda look like Dolly, don't I? hahahahaha

The people at our table were Jann, me, Alice (one of Jann's clients), Alice's friend (Jane), the Reverend Pam Normile (she is at Jann's church, 1st Presbyterian) and her husband, Dwight, and Mary Thomas and her husband, Keith (also go to Jann's church). It was also Alice's birthday, so Jann and I "stole" Alice's dessert and put a candle on it that plays Happy Birthday. Jann put on an apron that said "Celebrate" and the fireworks on it lit up.

Here is a picture of Jann and Alice. Alice is sooo much fun. I think she turned 75 or 76. She was a good sport and let us put the hat on her for a few minutes.

We had great food (donated from several of Norman's best restaurants) and entertainment too.

A couple more pictures from the train trip to Ft Worth

This picture was in the church newsletter about our train trip to Ft Worth. I'm on the left in the yellow.

Some of the ladies in the train. The 1st two rows are mother-daughters (each mother sitting with her daughter).
We went to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Ft Worth. I'm sitting back in the corner so it's hard to see me.

OU Game Date

Saturday, Joe and I went to the OU home opener against Utah State. I bought a parking pass from our church this year. We park right across the street from The Service Station restaurant (where we met). We walked up through campus corner - it was a beautiful day - they had it blocked off as usual and all the beer vendors were out on the sidewalk.

We went to a tailgate party with some of our other friends and I had someone take our picture.

Here's a picture of the big Oklahoma flag they bring out before the game (you know we have to copy Texas). It's still not as big as the Texas one, though.

We went to the Service Station and had dinner after the ballgame (about 10:00) and came home and went to bed. It was a tiring (and long) day. But we had lots of fun.

More Bath Remodel Updates

I got my clothes back on Tuesday evening. I haven't yet gone through every single one to inspect it and see that every one is back to normal. But at least they are back in the closet for now.

Here's our new light fixture. It's really polished/brushed nickel but it looks gold in this light. We need to figure out how to raise it a little or the mirror we purchased will be perfect for me and too low for Joe (cuts his head off).

Our new sink and faucet on the new countertop.

My shower curtain I've almost finished. I still need to hem it and I've got to put two more grommets in the top. The package came with 10 and I have 12 shower curtain hooks. I'm using red rugs and towels in the bathroom, hence the red accents.

Here are the shower curtain hooks I found at Ross on clearance.

We picked up the floor tile this week and hopefully they will come out and lay that next week. We're getting closer!