New Post

Looks like it's time for a new post! Sorry to disappoint, I really don't have anything new to add. Joe was in Phoenix all this past week for an arena managers conference and to get in some continuing education hours and golf while he was there. Plus hobnobbing with all the Ticketmaster dudes (got to keep the connections). It was actually hotter here in Oklahoma than it was in Phoenix if you can believe that. During this heat wave, we are the 2nd hottest place in the US. Lubbock, TX, OKC, Raleigh, NC, I want to say Tulsa, then Austin, TX (or something like that). Most days we hover around 104 or so. It rarely gets below 100 (unless it's after dark). The record here in Oklahoma is 50 days with 100 degrees or more, we are closing in on 40 now and the meteorologists are saying they don't see an end to it yet in the forecasts.

Joe purchased a small window air conditioning unit and we have it in the garage (rigged up under the garage door) for the dogs. Poor things, we do have shade, but even shade doesn't cut it if the temperatures are so high.

This coming week starts "work week" at the sorority house. The week from hell, preparing for and setting up for recruitment that starts August 12th here at OU. Kaitlyn is excited and she is one of the few girls that likes and actually looks forward to "rush" (now known as recruitment).

Kristen is doing well at her job. Her department moved into new offices recently and she has a big, beautiful office with floor to ceiling windows. She has turned into a real health nut. She takes, pilates, yoga, ballet barre, zumba, and works out at the company gym. She is excited to start the MBA program at UCO (University of Central Oklahoma, a smaller university than OU, it has about 20,000 students) in Edmond, OK, which is about 15 minutes from her apartment in the city.

I meet with the surgeon on this coming Thursday about my gallstones. Maybe I'll have more to catch you up on after that!

Gall Bladder Update

Yesterday I had an ultrasound done of my gall bladder. They called me in the afternoon with the results. I have stones in my gall bladder. This would explain some of the sicknesses I've had over the last several months. Anyway, I'm supposed to meet with a surgeon in the next few weeks to get set up with surgery. Fun...

Gall Bladder Attack

I had my first (that I know of) gall bladder attack Sunday night. I went to bed with a mostly full stomach. About 12:30 or so, I woke up with a pain in my upper abdomen that seemed to move over to my right side and around to my back. I couldn't get comfortable and it really hurt to lay on my right side. I tossed and turned and about 3:30 got up and slept on the couch in the den. Needless to say, I didn't make it to boot camp Monday morning. I called my doctor and waited at home until about noon. I started feeling better around 9:30 am so I went to work at noon. I finally got in to see my doctor around 4:30. She is sending me to the hospital tomorrow morning to have an ultrasound of my gall bladder. I didn't go to boot camp this morning either. I called them and deferred my groupon until after all this blows over. Meanwhile, my lower abdomen is so sore from boot camp last Friday, I think I've pulled some muscles in my groin! Not fun! Jann is continuing to go without me.

The Bedroom is Painted

Sorry this picture is sideways, I'm loading it directly from my camera instead of the computer.

I LOVE the color. The inside of the closets need to be painted too. Then it's time for the new floor.

Master Bedroom Progress Report

Joe and Kaitlyn have painted all the trim and closet doors, ceiling etc. Joe has now masked off everything so we can start painting the walls. We've painted a sample beside the window. It's called Thunder Gray but it has a green tint to it.

We've also torn out all the wallpaper in our master bath. We are painting that a light yellow. What's funny is we covered the old wallpaper that was yellow/white gingham check with a green ivy wallpaper. The tile in there is already white. We just painted the medicine cabinet white. We may put in a new vanity/sink while we are at it.

Parent Work Day at the AOII House

Today was Parent Workday at the sorority house. I brought my sewing machine with me but this year they didn't need anything sewn up. I helped hang stuff on the walls. The downstairs TV lounge had new furniture (a huge brown cordorouy sectional sofa with a huge square ottoman) and the room had been painted. So another parent and I hung a grouping of large flowers on the wall behind the sofa. Upstairs the air conditioning was currently NOT working; which unfortunately was where we did most of the work. I helped hang some of the composites in new places and we hung the new one up for last year on the landing by the stairs. I was there about 3 hours with 6-8 other parents. It was hot as EFF upstairs and I had sweat dripping down my face. I was glad to get out of there. The house did look in better shape this year than last year when the air conditioning was not working anywhere but then it wasn't as hot either!

Day 2 of Boot Camp

I went to Day 2 of Boot Camp. It was a little harder than the first day. We did mostly ab work (which is VERY hard for me). We also did some punching of things and passing small medicine balls around. And some PUSH-UPS, which again, for me is HARD. My arms were shaking when I got home this morning. I wasn't sure I could even type. I could barely get my sports bra off over my head. I still can't handwrite very neatly this afternoon.

I also accidentally killed a squirrel with my car when I was going back to work from lunch today. I was praying he didn't get hit, but when I looked back in my rear view mirror he was flopping around in the street. I didn't have the heart (I was crying too hard) to go back and run him over again. When I went home this afternoon I passed his poor little body in the street. I hope God forgives me for that. I sure didn't mean to do it. Squirrels are abundant in our neighborhood and run out into the street quite often. I usually shut my eyes and pray that I don't hit one, but today it didn't work. I killed a Robin once with my car when I was pregnant with Kristen. I cried for half a day about that. It was spring and I just kept thinking I either wiped out a Robin and the eggs inside her, or I kept a mama bird from going to check on her babies. Either way it was sad. And I've never forgotten that I did that. Now I have 2 black marks!

Boot Camp

Jann and I went to our first morning of boot camp today at 5:30 AM. There are 9 in our class (8 women/1 man). The instructor is a woman. Jann and I are the oldest in the class; the instructor is 52 (we got that beat by 5 years). I would say all the other women in the class are probably late 20's to mid 30's. The class is being taught at a Tae Kwan Do place across the street from our office (so again it's less than 1 mile from my house). It's kind of like circuit training where we move around in groups of 3 to different stations all the while doing "fast feet" between reps. I could see immediately where Jann and I are lacking. I do Zumba (cardio) and no abs/core work. Jann does a lot of Pilates and Yoga and very little cardio. There is no yelling or standing over you breaking you down. We made it through our first day and YES I am a little jelly-fied. I think I can do this. I really like the fact that my workout for the day is O-V-E-R by 6:30 AM in the morning. We go 3 times a week for six weeks. If this doesn't get me in shape, I'm hopeless!

Susan Cowsill and New Project

Back in the day (1967), before the Partridge Family, before the Osmonds, before the Jackson 5, there was a family group called the Cowsills. There were 4 guys and a girl, she being the youngest. I think they made one album (which I had) and then they were gone. I LOVED their music, playing their album until it finally cracked. Actually my bed rolled over it, but same difference - I wasn't through listening.
There was also a television program called Operation: Entertainment that traveled around the country to army bases entertaining the troops before they headed out to Vietnam. We lived in Augusta, GA at the time and what to my wonderment, but the television show was going to be filming at our local army base (Fort Gordon). And also, who was the big group going to perform - The Cowsills! I can remember wanting to go so badly, but of course my mother wasn't going to pull me out of school, nor take me in the middle of a bunch of army guys (who were, in reality, not much older than me). I missed my one and only chance to see them live.

Until tonight. Susan Cowsill has her own band and travels around singing her own music. Norman has a Summer Breeze concert series that comes to our Lions Park and it's free. I've been planning to go since it was announced this spring. She lives in New Orleans now so a lot of her music sounds a little cajun with a fiddle and all. Granted it's almost 45 years later, but I loved it. I went by myself. Joe was at home painting our bedroom.
I've also started a new knitting project. I'm making a purple/pink triangular shawl. I started it today when I went to my prayer shawl circle meeting. We were told that our "stock" was getting low. We only have 20 shawls in the cabinet so get cracking and make some more!
Oh, and the last song Susan Cowsill did was my favorite one from the album I had. It's called "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things." I filmed a short clip. Everyone in the audience knew the words. I'd say the average age in the crowd was probably 56 (my age)!

I Got My Hair Did

I went to the beauty shop this morning and used my Groupon ($60 for a shampoo, cut, color & style). Joe took my picture in front of his NEW JEEP (yes he bought it). I also bought another Groupon this morning for a six-week "Norman's Biggest Loser" bootcamp. Oh yeah, it's at 5:30 AM.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

As you can see, there's some changes going on. First off, I'm changing the theme of my blog to sewing and crafting. I've renamed it to one of my favorite lines from the movie, "The Ten Commandments", with a slight play on words. This will help take away the focus on my camera-shy family and more on what my passion is - sewing and crafting. As we get down the road, I will probably make my blog "un" private.

Joe and I have been talking for the last 4 years how we were going to re-do our bedroom. The time has arrived!!! We re-did the kitchen when Kristen was a freshman in college. We had to re-do the guest bathroom last year due to a mold issue. We have now moved most of the furniture out of our bedroom into Kristen's room and are sleeping in Kaitlyn's bed in her room. I've had my new bedding purchased for almost a year. I can't wait.

I won't go into the grossness of what was under my bed, but suffice it to say it had to do with animals. Our house is old (50 years this year) and the "master" bedroom was originally made for probably a queen-sized bed. Obvious by the placement of the windows in the room. We have a king-sized bed which takes up quite a bit of floor space. This picture looks to where the bed used to be in between the two bedside tables with un-matching lamps!

This picture looks toward my side of the room. The window faces the front yard.

This is the closet on Joe's side of the room. His clothes were in that closet. I don't know how he got everything in there. It's small compared to today's standards for master bedroom closets. We are taking up the carpet and putting wood floor in our room. Don't get excited, only laminate, not real wood!

As you can see, we have lots of cleanup to do, stuff to rip out, and things to paint. We're starting on it this weekend. It may take a couple of weeks but it will all be worth it. And I'm one step closer to getting my SEWING ROOM!!! Yay for me!

You Want to Buy a What?? or Is There a Mid-Life Crisis on the Horizon?

Joe has been kind of talking about getting a jeep for the past week. Then today he drives up in one. Some lady he works with is getting a divorce and she needs to sell it for the payoff which is much less than what it is worth.
I have to admit that driving around town with the top down is a lot of fun! (and yes I know he's down under it in this picture - he checks out EVERYTHING THOROUGHLY.)

It has a canvas top. We'd probably have to order a hard top (if he purchases it).

The only drawback is it's a stick-shift. That will keep me from driving it! I do love the color - a real pretty green. Don't know if he'll spring for it or not. He's paid off Kristen's car and he needs a new one to drive back and forth to the city. (It's 4-wheel drive too.)

4th of July Weekend

Yesterday, Jann and I took the day off so we'd have a 4-day weekend. Kaitlyn and I started cleaning out the dresser in her room, making a garage sale box and a donate box. I got in Kristen's half-empty room and sort of did the same with stuff I KNEW she no longer wanted. Speaking of Kristen (the jet-setter) she flew to New York (up around Buffalo) Thursday night with the same group of friends she went to Vegas with. They are staying at one the of guy's parents place and they are going to Niagara Falls, and up to Toronto for the 4th of July weekend. Must be nice to be young, make a lot of money, and go wherever you want for fun!

Kaitlyn, Michael, Joe and I are going to try to go to the lake today. The high is supposed to be 103. I won't cry if someone backs out of going. It's just too dang hot! Tomorrow, Joe and I are going to a friend's house for their annual get-together. Monday morning Joe is playing golf and we may try to go to the lake again.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of old 4th of July pictures when the girls decorated their bikes or scooters to ride in the neighborhood parade. I think these are from like 1998 - 2000.