Mardi Gras 2011

This year we were again invited to Elk City, OK to participate in a Mardi Gras party. The pre-party is held at the home of Mrs. Billy Ray Gowdy (who was somehow famous before he died but I don't know what for - they own a lot of land in OK). Her son from a previous marriage is a friend of Joe's (that's the connection). The 7000 sq ft home is a party pad built for entertaining on several levels (lots of sunken areas) with lots of mirrors, windows, spiral staircases, waterfalls, greenery, oppulent mother-of-pearl inlaid stuff from the Far East, etc. The picture above was made in the living room area of the house. And the food is to die for. Jonathon (Joe's hunting buddy) and his wife, Rita, cook everything- authentic New Orleans food, shrimp etouffee, gumbo, bread, salad, and the cocktails, wine, and champagne are flowing freely. Here's Joe at the actual Mardi Gras party at the Catholic Church.

The Mardi Gras party itself is held as a fundraiser for the Catholic Church. They have a great dance band and everyone brings their own alcohol. It is a black tie event and you have to wear your mask to get in. Joe and I at the party. He was holding the camera out so he isn't smiling, he was concentrating.

He always borrow this mask from Mrs. Gowdy. He LOVES this mask. He looks like some Zulu King! hahahaha

This morning we went back over to the house and had brunch - bloody mary's, mimosas (I just had orange juice), quiche, bread pudding, fresh cut up fruit, toasted english muffins with jalepeno raspberry jam on top. Yum Yum! Of course, now my stomach is paying for this. And it definitely was not on the Weight Watchers Plan!

Wisdom Teeth and Spring fun on the Computer

Yesterday I had to make some gift bags for Jann to use in her University Women Association Board Meeting. So I made these name tags to go on bags Jann had purchased. I then tied them with some different colored ribbon I had. Jerome like them because they had flowers on them.

This morning I took Kristen to get her wisdom teeth out. She was very nervous (just like I was at her age) and concerned about the I.V. I kept telling her that the I.V. was the easy part! I think now that she's felt the pain for a couple of hours she's probably ready to agree with me. Anyway, she came through the surgery fine. When I went back to get her in the recovery area, she looked dopey and not very happy. Of course she had gauze in her mouth but I could tell she wasn't her usually smiley self. I get to gear up and do this again in two weeks with Kaitlyn. She's having hers out over Spring Break. I think Joe may take Kaitlyn since I laid some guilt on him. I told him it wasn't fair. I always had to take the girls to do the "bad" stuff like shots and doctors visits and he always got to do the "fun" stuff like take them skiing, and the beach, and Six Flags. He laughed and agreed with me but said, "when they're sick, tho, they only want you." Ah, the joys of motherhood!

Couponing

I know I'll never be the couponer that Lorna is, but maybe one day. This is what I got today for $68.69. But keep in mind that $24 of it is the Prilosec. I also used some Extra Care Bucks and coupons. Jerome is on top of the Swiffer refill box.

1 - 10.3 oz bottle of Dawn dishwashing liquid
2 - 40 oz Tide mountain spring laundry detergents
1 - 45 oz Cascade dishwasher detergent
1 - Crest 3D Vivid toothpaste - radiant mint
1 - 23 oz Olay body wash
1 - 2 mouth Bounce dryer bar
1 - 8 roll pack of Bounty Basic paper towels
1 - 12 double roll pkg of Charmin toilet paper
2 - boxes of 100 count Puff tissues
1 - box of 12 Swiffer wet mop refills
1 - 12.6 oz Pantene Color Preserve Shine Shampoo
1 - 12.6 oz Pantene Color Preserve Shine Conditioner
1 - Liter bottle of Listerine Advanced mouthwash
1 - 110 count Centrum Silver multivitamins
1 - 30 count pkg of Olay Regenerist Makeup Cleansing cloths
1 - 42 count pkg of Prilosec
1 - 5.25 oz pkg of Nutter Butter cookies
1 - 6.0 oz pkg of Chips Ahoy cookies
1 - 2.7 oz Secret deodarant

Another Update on School of Dental Hygiene

Yesterday Kaitlyn went for her interview at the OU Health Sciences Center. She looked amazing in her outfit with her black heels on. She dwarfed me! It didn't turn out so good in the end, however. They told her when she got there that she was lacking one class (which she knew and was planning on taking in summer school). The catch was she had to have completed it by SPRING semester. They told her to go ahead and do the interviews, take the tour, etc. She was devastated. She said she cried through her first interview. I can't believe that the people who are running the program even invited her up there for an interview! Did they not look over her transcript BEFORE sending out the letter? So this changes up several things and opens different options (what, I'm not sure yet). First, you only enter the program in the Fall semester - so this puts her off until Fall 2012. That means two more semesters of ???? classes including the microbiology class she was supposed to have taken. I don't know who to fault here - her advisor, who should have known this little prerequisite, or Kaitlyn, who changed her schedule around last fall so she wasn't taking two sciences at the same time, or me for not grabbing control of the whole situation and micro-managing it. She has to go to school and take a full load to keep her scholarship, might as well get a degree while she's at it.

Other options she may have are: just stay at the main campus and get a degree in zoology (what can she do with that?) This kind of messes up the living situation for the upcoming year. She and Michael and Kristen had it all planned out that they were moving to the city in May and all 3 living together. Okay, so maybe Kristen and Michael will share an apartment and Kaitlyn will visit a lot! Or if she gets her schedule set up right, she'd come down on certain days of the week for classes and stay with us but still live in the city with Michael.

Apply to another school (Baylor? - not sure how much out of state would be on that one!!!) and she would have to leave Michael here (don't think that will happen).

Change her major (again).

It's tough - she had the grades (3.92 overall GPA), the observation hours completed, the great letters of recommendation, and all the classes but one. Life is a school of hard knocks, but it's tough on the mom of someone who does the right thing, studies hard, has all the skills, and wants to excel. I just have to keep telling myself that this is a "Significant Learning Opportunity" for Kaitlyn. I believe things happen for a reason and I have to believe that God has a better plan for her and will help her figure it out over the next several months.

Update on College of Dentistry - School of Dental Hygiene

Kaitlyn got a letter in the mail yesterday asking her to please set up her interview appointment at the School of Dental Hygiene!!!! It will be one of the next 3 Fridays. She goes for 4 hours - there are three 30-minute interviews, a writing sample, a tour of the College of Dentistry - School of Dental Hygiene and some other stuff. We are so excited and she is nervous. I don't know why, she's at the top of her class with a 3.95 overall GPA and she just made a 91 on an anatomy test where the average was 70. Two girls she used to skate with are in her anatomy class with her. One was even assigned to her table (small world). Did you know they start cutting on cadavers the very first day of class? She said the "body" for their table was a 52 year old woman who was kind of overweight. Go Kaitlyn!!!

Champagne & Desserts

Tonight is the annual fundraiser for the University Women's Association (of which Jann is the president). It is called Champagne and Desserts - where champagne and chocolate and desserts are served then we see a play. This year's musical is "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." The fundraiser is for scholarships for OU students. Jann purchased me a ticket since I designed the invitation, tickets, name tags and place cards for the chocolates. Actually I was "volunteered" to do this. Anyway, Jerome thought he had died and gone to chocolate heaven with all the chocolates we had in the office today (that I drove 40 miles to go pick up yesterday). I personally sampled all 4 kinds - the chocolate mint ones were my favorite - tasted like Girl Scout cookies!!

Valentine's Day

Jann brought me tulips to put on my credenza for Valentine's Day. I'm sure she did it because she is tired of looking at my half-dead poinsettia from Christmas. It was the one I had placed on the altar at church in memory of Mack. Jerome wanted to be in the picture too since he's a Garden Gnome and all.

I also sat him on one of the few small patches of snow left in our backyard. Looked like the Matterhorn to him, I'm sure.