Update on Plumbing Issues

Well, last Sunday I took all day to make pictures (individually) of all the clothes I had in the ill-fated closet. I had like 64 things in that small coat closet. The majority of which were evening clothes, long dress coats, hand-made costumes, and other long things that wouldn't hang in the girls closets. When I estimated the replacement value, it was a little under $6000. Sheesh, I didn't realize what I had in there. Some of the stuff still had tags on it. Now I have to send it to a cleaners that specializes in cleaning moldy stuff (only a couple of things actually had any mold on them - my wedding dress was one). I'm just picking out the newest, most favorite things to send, the rest I'm getting rid of. I don't want to gouge the insurance company for things I didn't wear or was planning on getting rid of anyway.

We've had sooo many people out here the last week looking over the damage. It now seems that the pipe to the shower may have been what was leaking behind the shower wall. At this point, it seems that we will get about a 75% bathroom remodel out of the deal. Unfortunately, I think we have to keep our old bathtub (boo!) because it would cost a lot to have it cut up and removed (it's cast iron). We will be getting all new tile, new walls, new counter top. Joe and I want to spring for new cabinets, sink, and floor. Which may or may not end up being covered under the insurance. We don't have a final answer on that yet. We also think we may not have to vacate our home while all this is being done either, which is a plus since we have animals we have to care for.

The girls pretty much moved all their stuff out. Kristen took all the clothes she thought she might need until Thanksgiving (haha). Kaitlyn was afraid that demolition would start before she's supposed to move into the sorority house on July 31. If they closed off the back part of our house and we had to move out, she couldn't get to the new stuff we bought for her sorority room. She packed everything up and moved it temorarily to Michael's (her boyfriend). We're helping Kaitlyn move into the sorority house one day and then helping Michael move to his new apartment the next day.

Kristen is still contemplating graduate school. We told her since all this mold stuff has come up that she will need to figure it out on her own. If we can, we'll help her, but not to count on it. She's been having fun on the dating scene. She met someone through work (from an external audit agency) and she's met a dentist (about 8 years older than her) out at a club in OKC. She's finally realizing there's lots of fish in the sea! She leaves on Sunday for her first business trip. She's going to Houston for 3 days to do inventory in a Chesapeake pipeyard. Woo, hot and steamy! She had to buy steel-toed boots and jeans. She's going to sweat her butt off, I hope she doesn't pass out. She almost got heat stroke at a Chesapeake Community Service Event about a month ago when she was outside painting a fence at a local boys ranch (for orphans). She is NOT cut out for outside work. We'll see how this goes.

Today, I'm going to the AOII house to work for the parent's club. We go in and clean up the house, paint, build/repair stuff, etc. before the girls move in, in two weeks. Kaitlyn got a notice from OU that they want her to apply to be a calculus tutor for next year. It pays $10.00/hour. She was completing her application the other day. She said she can also tutor zoology if she doesn't get the calculus job. Tomorrow, I think Joe, Kaitlyn and I are going to try to go to the lake.

Some Good News

In lieu of all the bad plumbing news we heard about the past few days, Kaitlyn was notified today that she is receiving the R. Boyd Gunning Scholarship from the OU Scholars program. She was invited to apply towards the end of spring semester. Conditions were: 1) had to be an Oklahoma high school graduate, 2) could not have any other scholarships (National merit, valedictorian - which Kristen received, Native American, etc.), 3) could not have any Oklahoma Promise scholarships (family makes less than $50,000/year), 4) must have made a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher their freshman year in college (Kaitlyn made a 4.0). She will get $2,000/year for the next 3 years if she maintains a 3.25 GPA or higher. We are so proud of Kaitlyn. We were upset last year that she was overlooked for a scholarship, but OU more than made up for it this year. Yay!

Oh, and Kristen was accepted in the Oklahoma City University's Graduate School (private Methodist university - where most of the Miss America's from Oklahoma go to school). She will automatically receive a scholarship of up to 50% of her tuition and will work toward her MBA. She will continue to work at Chesapeake Energy part-time. Yay!!

Big Time Problems ($$$$)

A couple of months ago, let's say the first of May, I kept hearing a noise like the outside hose was left on. I asked Joe if he left the hose on and he said no, it was off. Then I noticed one day that when I leaned over the bathtub the tub itself was very warm. Then I noticed that the floor in the bathroom was also very warm. I brought Joe into the bathroom and said, this is not normal. Tiles are usually very cold, the bathtub too. Then I noticed that the front entry hall had certain spots (it is tiled) that were very warm. This is where the dog wants to lay when she's hot. So I know that wasn't right. The whole time, I kept hearing water SOMEWHERE. And every morning when I went in the bathroom to put my makeup on and fix my hair, I felt like I was in a sauna. Well, Joe finally "heard" it the other night. So he started investigating. The side of our front hall coat closet butts up against the wall in the large hall bath. This is what he found.....

One of the girls had mentioned last week that the closet sure smelled musty... Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, my wedding dress was up against the wall inside a dry cleaner bag. It's not a big loss - I only paid $50 (on sale) for it (a Jessica McClintock dress) about 5 years before I ever even got married. It's too small for either one of the girls to wear (I was TINY). It has some mold spots on it and I was saving it for the "dress-up" box for my granddaughters some day.

Today, Joe had a plumber come out and start assessing the damage and what can be done to fix it. He opened up the wall and peered in. He thinks we have a leak in our old pipes in the slab foundation and there could be more than one. Our house is old (50 years old next year). We're waiting on an insurance person to come by and see if it could possibly be covered under our homeowner's insurance. I'm afraid to hear, very afraid......

4th of July Activities

Last week the Dignity Memorial traveling Vietnam Veterans wall came to Norman. There were big plans to have a ceremony, etc. over the 4th of July weekend. I told Joe I REALLY wanted to go see it. When I went to Washington, DC in 1973 - the wall wasn't invented yet. So, I figured I had better go see it when it came to Norman as I didn't know when I'd ever go to Washington, DC again. We went on Thursday evening about dusk. I personally did not know anyone who was killed in Vietnam, but I do know that Mark (the person I moved to Oklahoma to originally get married to) served in Vietnam and was deeply affected by it. I might add to the point of obsession or post tramatic stress disorder or something. This was one of the entrances on one end.


Looking up at the flags flying on the top of the memorial wall. It was sad to see all the names of the mostly young men (and women) who died defending something they probably didn't understand at the time.
This was like a casket/locker that things that were left on the wall would be sealed inside when the wall moved on to its next destination.

This is the Cleveland County Veterans Memorial. I didn't realize it was at the park. It was built in 2008 and I haven't been to that park since the girls were little enough to push in the swings. It has the names of all the veterans that live in Cleveland County, whether or not they were killed in action.
Friday evening it rained, and Joe and I went to Kay and Randy's house and sat out under their covered back porch and drank frozen margaritas and caught up on our lives. Saturday, it rained again and the forecast wasn't looking so good for the rest of the weekend either. So we just sort of hung out and didn't do much of anything. However, between Joe and I, we broke our printer. I said the heck with it and went a bought a new one at Sam's Club.
And since I'm not such a meticulous housekeeper, I made a dust cover to go over the printer.

When Sunday rolled around, we finally called off our 4th of July boating activities. So instead of sitting around all day again on Sunday, I asked Joe if we could paint the hallways in the house. They hadn't been painted in 15 years. So we went to Home Depot and bought some paint. Joe taped off everything and cut in around the doors. I didn't like the color. Since we had already bought 2 gallons of the paint, we went and bought a 5 gallon bucket, 2 gallons of white paint and a drill attachment (think giant mixer attachment) and lightened the color up. Kristen, Kaitlyn, Joe and I all painted on Monday. And what do you think it did outside? We were waiting for the 70% chance of rain they were predicting and it never came. Oh well, at least we got our hallway painted. Here's a look, it started out Spice Cake and turned into a dark tan. The fun thing is we always paint graffiti on the walls BEFORE we paint it. It's fun and we paint whatever we want, even if it's inappropriate!

Shopping Trip and other random things

Friday evening the four of us went down to Dallas to spend the night so we could get up early on Saturday morning and do some shopping. Plus Joe is looking for a new(er) car and he's been looking at cars in the Dallas metro area. We got up early and Joe dropped us off at Northpark Mall. This is "the" upscale mall in Dallas where everyone wants to shop. Kristen wanted to buy some more work clothes and Kaitlyn needs a specific dress for sorority Rush. The sororities have specific outfits they wear on specific days of rush. You have guidelines and rules for what you have to wear (both the girls already in the sorority and the girls coming thru Rush). While we were in the mall, Joe was test driving cars at various locations in the same vicinity. This was one of the pretty fountains in the mall.

After about 5 hours in Northpark Mall we went to Smashburger to get a late lunch. Kaitlyn and Joe had eaten at one in Colorado and Kaitlyn and Michael had eaten at one in Tulsa. It is VERY good!

After our lunch we went to Grapevine Mills outlet mall to shop for a couple of hours and Joe drove a few more cars in the vicinity of that area. Then we left to come home.

Last weekend was Father's Day and I got this shot of Joe taking a rest in the lounge chair he bought me for Mother's Day. He was going out to feed the dogs (hence the can in his hand) and decided to have a sit for a few minutes.
The day before we had gone to the lake and I took a picture of our boat. It's kind of been too windy lately to be on the lake. It's not fun when it's too windy!

Fun Weekend!

We've had a crazy busy weekend thus far. Friday night, I went back to the dance studio for the first time in about a year and a half. They were having their weekly dance party but the dance lesson for the evening was the "shag." I had to go to that! We learned the proper technique during our lesson and then the dance party was the rest of the night. I danced a few times; I danced a rhumba, the cha-cha, the shag, a fox-trot (which I don't really like). Lots of my old friends I took dancing with several years ago were there and I had a great time.

When I got home, Joe and I decided to go out (after 10:30 PM). We went to The Mont (a local college icon that's been there since Joe was in school - all the old Normanites hang out there), sat on the patio and had a drink. Kristen and Kaitlyn couldn't believe I was actually out after 10:00 on a Friday night.

Kristen's birthday was Saturday; she turned 22. She wanted me to make her favorite cake. I made her the "flag" cake with strawberries and blueberries. She came home and we took her to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday luncheon. We didn't embarrass her and tell them it was her birthday or they would have made her sit in a saddle and sing to her.


This weekend in Oklahoma City, the city is hosting the U.S. Conference of Mayors where all the mayors across the United States can come for a conference and some super fun. They have different activities on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening. Joe asked me what would I like to participate in and I said the hoedown on Saturday evening. Friday evening's event was in Bricktown, where they had the Taste of Bricktown, then the afterparty at The Skirvin Hotel. Last night, we went to the Oklahoma Hoedown at State Fair Park, and the afterparty was at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (we didn't go there). Tonight, there is Flaming Lips concert and something else going on.

When we got to the hoedown, they give you a hat and you can have your picture taken. We decided we wanted a black and white one instead of color.

Outside the Express Personnel Clydesdales and stagecoach were on display for the mayors.

Inside they had a dance area set up (I'm guessing) like the Oklahoma Opry and the Red Dirt Rangers were playing "Red Dirt Music."

The tables were set up real cute. Your silverware was rolled up in a bandana which you could keep. I tied mine around my hat. The food was WONDERFUL. They served Made in Oklahoma products (from the Griffin's jams to the bison meat). There was a full-service bar with everything you could want for free.

The Oklahoma State pom girls were there (I guess to make it seem more "cowboy"). Joe couldn't resist going into enemy territory to have his picture made with them.

I had a glass of wine before dinner and a budweiser after.

They had several games set up around the arena. Horseshoes, calf roping, and mechanical bullriding. Here's Joe receiving instruction on roping the mechanical calf.

Trying his best to capture the calf. Never did it though.

As we were getting ready to leave they had a different picture booth set up. We both got into the picture but it really looks better if there is only one (we discovered after). It looks like you're riding a horse looking at a bull charging you.

Here's a very quick video of Joe riding the mechanical bull. The guy controlling the bull was really just circling the bull around. I missed Joe's first opportunity because of my camera "operator" error. So I got this one which wasn't as good, plus Joe had had a couple of drinks beforehand. I'm surprised it didn't make him sick!

Today, we're taking the girls to the lake again. That is if Kristen isn't too hungover from celebrating her birthday with friends last night!

1st Official Day of Boating

Sunday was our first official day of summer, we got the boat out! Joe, Kaitlyn, and I (Kristen wanted to move more of her stuff over to her new apartment and get it set up) decided to go to the lake for the late afternoon. You know, just to get it out, get it set up, make sure everything was running okay, etc. We had a good time, just the 3 of us. We took some little sandwiches and some beer. Kaitlyn rode the tube for awhile and Joe wakeboarded a little. Kaitlyn is getting very adept at driving the boat (I hate driving it) so she usually drives when Joe is wakeboarding. Here's a short video of us just "chill-axing" on the boat while Kaitlyn is driving.