January Happenings

Last weekend I went to the inaugural concert of the Norman Philharmonic. I enjoyed it immensely. The composer was there who wrote an anthem and a symphony for our city as well. She explained how she came up with the idea for the music and told us she got it from our City of Norman flag.

You can see the flag hanging above the orchestra here but you can't tell what is on the flag. There is a pencil representing education, a musical note for the arts, a lightning bolt for the energy industry here. There is also a gear for technology and a sun for weather industry here (NOAA and National Weather Service). I took this picture during the intermission.

In our efforts to make a shrine to our children (joking - sort of) we brought the glass curio cabinet in from the garage and set it up in our hall. Joe got it from Joel's (Joe's biological dad) house when he passed away last year. This first picture was kind of dark. I was trying to stay out of the picture (the back of the cabinet has a mirror) and I was trying not to get the flash.

I tried to give each daughter 2 shelves with something else in the middle. The top shelf is Kristen's because she is the first child, after all. I put her OU graduation picture and her HS letter (sans jacket) for 4 years of orchestra. A senior medal for orchestra and her first skating competition picture when she beat Kaitlyn. They had to skate head to head at the same level.

The second shelf, shows a placque that hung in the ice rink showing Kaitlyn had placed 4th in the qualifying round for the Southwest Regional Championships along with one of her highest skating medals, when she placed 4th out of 36 girls (2 rounds of short/long programs) at Skate Kansas City, and her first pair of ice skates that have been hanging in the garage all these years.

The 4th shelf is Kristens and it has 3 of her soccer trophies on it. The bottom shelf has Kaitlyn's 4th place trophy for her dance at Nationals in Fort Worth, TX as a senior; one of her two letters in HS. The letter she got for cheer/pom is on her letterman's jacket. The one in the trophy case is for 3 years in Orchestra. The large picture is one of her senior pictures and the small one is of her "winning the ball" over a much larger girl playing soccer when she was in about the 5th grade at a competitive soccer tournament.

The middle shelf is special. It holds Joe's grandmother's metronome (antique - she was a piano teacher) that was given to us when the girls were little and just starting to play the violin in the orchestra. The ukelele belonged to my grandmother, Stella Thaxton Doyle. The cabinet lights up only we don't have an outlet in the hall. And yes, that's the hall wall that had to be re-done when we had the mold issue in the bathroom - so no plug.

New Shawl

I finished another shawl last night. This is another one that is blues and greens. I will turn it in at the church next week.

I think for the next couple of weeks I'm going to concentrate on my Entrelac scarf I started this past fall. I will start a new shawl during Lent, when we typically meet weekly throughout Lent and then bless the shawls the Sunday following Easter.

Kristen and Pat - New Year's weekend visit

Okay, I'll probably get in trouble for stealing Kristen's pictures from Facebook but I'm willing to take a chance. These are some of the trees on the campus of Chesapeake Energy (where Kristen works). And yes, it is called a campus. It is almost a city unto itself. The CEO wants it to be like a college campus and it really is. They have so many buildings you can't keep count. He doesn't like elevators so he keeps most buildings to no higher than 3-4 floors. They have their own soccer field. A 2-3 story gym, their own doctors, nurses, dentists for the employees and the list goes on and on. Anyhoo, every year they REALLY decorate for Christmas and you can take limo rides through the campus to see all the beautiful decorations. Joe and I were going to go this year but it rained the night we were in the area so we blew it off.Kristen and Pat at the OKC Thunder game on New Years Eve.

Kaitlyn and Kristen at the OKC Thunder game New Years Eve. Micheal took the picture I think.

Kristen and Pat somewhere on the Chesapeake campus.

Kristen, Pat, Michael, and Kaitlyn went skating at the new Devon Energy outdoor rink in downtown OKC on New Years Day. It's supposed to be like the one in Madison Square Garden with restaurants around it, etc. They have live music and/or D.J.'s on Friday nights.

Steven Moves to Norman

Our nephew, Steven, (Joe's brother Drew's son - he's 19, one year younger than Kaitlyn) moved to Norman this past weekend from down in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas (McAllen, TX). He got a one-bedroom apartment on the east side of Norman (close to Kristen's first apartments that she lived in). He's going to go to the local community college (Oklahoma City Community College) this semester and try to take some classes that will transfer in to OU. Meanwhile, I think he's going to try to find a job and work out some with the OU Hockey Team to see if he can get on with them. Steven would like to get into the OU Flight Management School. He's been co-piloting with his dad in the corporate jet for the last several years and would like to be a pilot too. Steven and Drew swung by the house the other night to pick up some of Joel's (Joe and Drew's dad) furniture that we took when Joel passed away and didn't use. It fit perfectly in Steven's apartment and we got rid of more stuff from our garage. Slowly but surely one day, we WILL put cars back in our garage. hahaha

Muzzy's Getting Married

Joe's mother (Chris, but we call her Muzzy) called me this morning to tell me she is getting married this spring. Her boyfriend, Johnny, proposed to her on New Year's Eve. They have been dating about 7-8 months. I'm so happy for her. They really enjoy each other's company and have a lot of fun together. They are going to St. Maartin on their honeymoon in late March. The wedding date has not been set yet, but it's sometime between now and March 26. They are taking her best friend, Peggy, and her boyfriend. They were the ones that introduced Chris and Johnny.

Last night Joe and I took Kristen and her boyfriend Pat to dinner. They look so cute together and we really like Pat. He is a very nice young man and I can tell he really likes Kristen. He will graduate from college in May with a degree in Finance. I "think" he's going to try and find a job out here. We'll see what happens.

Happy New Year!

We had a lovely day yesterday, despite having to bury Tipper in the morning. The girls dropped by with their boyfriends and Kristen and Pat took 2 of the bicycles and rode around campus. Kristen gave him a tour while he is in Oklahoma. Unfortunately he couldn't hang around our house, as I'm still cleaning up cat "fur" and Pat is highly allergic to cats. Last night we all met at the Thunder game and and had dinner. After the game, we all went our separate ways. Joe and I met our friends at a bar in Midtown OKC for a couple of drinks and appetizers then got home about the time the ball dropped in downtown OKC. I think Kristen and Kaitlyn had their own respective parties to go to. I told Joe I felt good about our little "family" including the boyfriends. It just felt right. Anyway, Happy New Year! Here's to a great 2012!

Joe left today to go goose hunting and to try out his new goose decoys he got for Christmas. I cooked, for the very first time I might add, fresh black-eyed peas in the crock pot and I made made-from-scratch cornbread in my cast-iron skillet that I've only used once or twice before. Thank goodness I had instructions on keeping it from rusting and seasoned. Everything turned out good I might add.