PIG HEAVEN

We are thrilled our family has moved closer to us and we can spend more time with Hubby's parents over in Razorback Heaven! SOOOOOOOOOOie! Don't even get them started, okay?

I don't know what they do to the water in Arkansas, but the Pigs rule and they want to tell you about it.... oh my gosh.... anyway I really did not know what I was getting into when I married!

:) Well ,I love ya anyway!

Another Thanksgiving to be grateful

As we celebrated Thanksgiving we were very grateful that my brother and his wife were not living and working in Mumbai, India (the old Bombay) during this siege of horrific terrorist attacks on the westerners living and working there. We have so many things to have been grateful for but this one was on the forefront of our minds this year. Now it is just going to be even more troubling to go work in another country than ever before. I hope that they stay close to home, but time will tell.

Pictured above is the historic Taj Mahul Hotel heavy attacked this past weekend in Mumbai along with several other sites in the city.

OKLAHOMA SUNSET

On our way home from our Thanksgiving festivities I took this photo as we were flying down the turnpike into Tulsa. I think the huge big sun going down is so beautiful. We do have some beautiful sunsets here. Hubby said none of them would turn out since we were in the car and I think these are very lovely!

Sheri, Mary and me.... HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Sheri, Mary, and me....girlfriends forever is what we are! I always think of them at Thanksgiving because it is their favorite holiday!

You know we were the cutiest girls in the area! ha ha he he ..... hey what are you laughing at?

We did get separated.... Mary moved to Wyoming in about 1979 to teach school, Sheri then was lured off to Nashville in 1986 to work for a friend who just made it big (Reba), and I stayed here working at my boring oil company job. Our lives are all so diffrent but we are close at heart. We went through so much as teens and young adults we will be close forever. You don't even want to get us started telling all our funny storys of that time frame.... Linda and Rita were part of the crew later on but I will talk about them later so be prepared girls! :) You aren't off the hook yet!

This is at a Christmas party at my house in 1986.... Rita, Mary, Jess, me, Sheri, and Linda.

I saw Sheri a month ago when she was in Oklahoma getting her mothers things in order and sorted out after her mom went into a care facility. Her mom and her sister, Mary, live in the southern part of Oklahoma and Sheri came up to visit friends after she finished there. She was just a wreck and sick, but it was a lot of emotional stuff going on. It is hard to see your parents go down hill and not be the parent we had when we were children. We all go through life's various stages from being young silly girls to now past middle age adults worrying about our parents like they used to worry about us when we were young (and silly). It is a hard transition going from being cared for to being the ones doing the care giving and worrying. Sheri and Mary have had to watch their dear mother deal with her share of health problems and it is heart wrenching. It is physically and emotionally draining, but their mom seems to be very happy at this stage in her life Sheri says. Mary, Me, and Sheri at Mary's daughters wedding about 5 years ago

Sheri & I so long ago I can't remember but I would guess about 1979 since my hair is short....Sheri gave me a perm in my long hair ( I wanted the Barbara Striesand "a Star is Born" look) and burnt it up....so she had to cut it all off.... :O
It has been short ever since.

So in this season of thanksgiving I give thanks for the friendship we have shared for close to 40 years.... wow that sounds unbelievable dosen't it! Time and miles keep us apart, but they are the sisters I got to choose.

Saga of the Basement Remodel

For the floor I chose 20 inch tile on the diagonal. It is pretty and the installer was really good, we would use him again if the need were to arise. I was going to use travertine at first, but we cut back and used ceramic instead. I think for a basement application the tile is a good answer for us. The carpet was nice and warm but this will be easier to keep clean. I will put down large area rugs and that will help with the sound and acoustics. I am using upholstered sofas instead of leather to help with that also.

We have to get the new ceiling lights figured out and then we can start on the ceiling. I really would like to put up a tongue and groove pine ceiling, but I don't think the budget will let us. The stock market has caused us to re-think the original plans for the remodel. We are cutting back on a lot of the plans, but we are going to replace the sliding doors to the outside. Those doors are 12 foot long! We will install 2 stationary windows and 1 set of french doors that are energy efficient and it will save enough on energy bills to make it worth the added cost. We will have the same amount of light just not such a huge hole in the wall! When they built the house in 1960 the idea for the original owners was to entertain in the basement with the doors wide open........that doesn't fit Oklahoma....too many bugs and mosquito's in summer! Actually I wanted to stop and not go ahead with this project, but we decided we needed to do it. My husband thinks I have no faith..but I do, I just like to be safe and not sorry later. You should have saw this place when we first looked at it! The basement was this old guys practice band room...it had orange shag carpet half way up the walls....with dark cork above it with a little gold foil wallpaper here and there for good measure....that was way back in 1986! We did not buy it then...we got it in '92. So I did not have to be the one to tear that out. Hey, one day I will tell you about the master bedroom..........

We have gotten the ceiling out and the mess cleaned up! Actually that has been done for a week but we have been shopping for the furniture and found a good deal on a wall unit for our TV that we don't have yet... :) Oh well details, details....Originally we were going to build custom wall units in. We found we can buy pre-built cheaper than building it in and in this economy we went that route. We will just have to store it until the basement is done. Right now is a good time to be buying furniture if you can, things are tight for them and they are offering some substantial discounts.

The one I wanted was way too tall for our basement ceilings.......oh but it was so beautiful, but it was 10 ft tall and our basement ceiling is only 8 ft tall..........! It is this one and I wanted in black....and it did have 2 more extensions on each side that this one did not show, oh well I could not cut the top off could I? So we settled on this one hubby wanted....and it fit, so what can I say....

Don't you just hate it when what you want doesn't work out and the one your husband likes does? Oh well, I think this one will suit us well and it has tons of storage. It matches my other old things and it will blend in well with my other pieces of furniture.

Later I am going to show you what I want to do to the fireplace. I am sick, sick I tell you, of that ugly ORANGE tile fireplace! Don't you love the fireplace storage I have? :) I swear I will take that out before I build a fire! he he

Wildwood Cover Model

My cover model came by for a visit. They had not been around for a while and it is deer season... I don't like to think about that, I just couldn't do it myself....I see those big doe eyes and I am all done. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and be safe.

Utah boy accidently killed at a school play

My cousin LuAnn discussing the young boy at his school play that was accidently killed by a stunt Gun used for effects in the stage play Oklahoma, in St. George, Utah tragically this past week.


http://www.kcsg.com/34533939.html

RAZORBACK HEAVEN

My hubby's parents are settled into their new place in "Razorback Heaven". I think they are going to be happy in the new apartment and it is a really nice area. Close to shopping, restaurants, and WalMart :). We are glad they are closer to us these days.

3 houses........

We have been spending most of 2.5 years remodeling a house for my mom to move into across the street from us, pictured above. My husband retired and we got that great idea when the elderly neighbor's house came up for sale about that same time. It was a huge job and actually we still are still not totally done on it. You know you always have little things to do, but the interior is done. It takes forever to get things just the way you want them, and we are slow and feeling older by the minute! :) During that little endeavor I had 2 carpel tunnel surgeries, my hubby had a knee surgery, and while he was still recovering and also working on the house...he broke his foot....Finally we got her moved in late summer a year ago, but we still had to get all of her 54 years of accumulation sorted out ,what you want and that that needs to go bye bye, and moved to the new house....then work on her house to sell it(pictured upper right). We haven't even started that yet... I am just about ready to start on the house I grew up in then......guess what........

WAIT A NEW YORK MINUTE!

Hubby jumps in and starts on our basement remodel! Hey we gotta get it going for our company to have a place to stay!

Okay, send me right on to the nut house will ya!

We are gutting it and starting over to give me some extra storage for my office and hobbies. It is very 1960's ugly and has the potential to be really neat. For months my husband would try to talk to me about making decisions on what I wanted to do and I would cry and say I don't know....boo hoo! I was just too overwhelmed! I have always dreamt of the perfect room for myself, but when it came time to do it....I just wanted to run! The basement has always been our guest quarters, it has a bedroom, bath, and a huge family room with a fireplace with a large window wall, but the main function of it's use is it is my work room + office. We are getting new furniture and will also use it as a media room. I am a gal of many interests, I sew, paint, scrapbook, make jewelry, upholster, on and on... it takes tons of storage just for my "stuff". I am totally misplaced now I don't know where anything is...at least my computer came up to the bedroom for now. Well we started tearing out the ceiling yesterday and just like always with a remodel, you never know what you are going to get into..... that is just a given! What seems easy turns out to be hard and what seems hard is usually easy. Well no one ever told us about this sort of a surprise......

Yes, that is hubby in his anti dust garb....who ever knew that a ceiling would be filled with tons and tons of sawdust! I mean tons and tons right on top of your head every time a piece of sheet rock comes down! Could you believe just how much first fell out when hubs pulled down that first sheet? No wonder I could never keep the house from being dusty! I guess when they built our house they would just sweep the sawdust from the sub floor installation down on top of the basement ceiling sheet rock....oh and there was mortar in it too from the upstairs fireplace... Now I know why you have to watch ever little thing when they are building a new house, I guess contractors thought why clean up when you can just hide it! So that has been hiding between our upstairs floor and the basement floor for 48 years! They must have been calling it insulation! So I am going to be vaccuming for the next 48 years to get it all out of the house!

to be continued................. :)

Love this digital frame!

For all of you out there looking for a nice size digital frame for yourself or gift giving I bought this one and it is very nice for the money. It is 11 inches with a plain black frame. The photographs are very bright sharp and clear and the size is great for a desk or credenza. I have an older one of a diffrent brand and this one is far superior. I also bought a 4GB memory stick for it and that will allow me to have tons of photographs on view, the internal memory of this frame is 128MG.

SmartParts 11'' Digital LCD Frame, Black

Sunday finest

J & Z looked so nice in this photo taken last week, sad news was Jay's dad passed away.

A tale of 2 sisters, twins that is...

Taylr and Karly are our miracle babies, they came into our lives with a bang and it has been that way ever since. We all fell in love with them the minute we first laid eyes on them, it was all done, my heart was theirs. My mom just melted all over .... Aunt Dodi was hooked, line and sinker.

Taylr & Karly


Now aren't those the cutest little squirts you ever saw! Okay, okay, I remember their mom was almost that cute! :)

Taylr was the the baby who always said she was my girl. I mean how can you argue with that,

she has good taste. :)

Karly always claimed she was my mom's special girl.... Aunt Dodi, she's mine!

Karly still whispers secrets and tells jokes to Dodi...... ha ha he he...!!!

those 2 have some kind of secret club I think....

I think the girls just did that to tease us... and try to get a buzz out of us telling us who was their favorite...it was funny, we would laugh, and we all have been accused of favoritism but that isn't so, we love each other equally. We are bonded for life!

Taylr and Karly's first horse show and
ribbons........1st and 2nd place lead line.

They are the cutiest little cowgirls aren't they? I know I think all "my"

kids are the greatest, but hey, they are and don't try to tell me that they aren't!

They have Annie Oakley in their blood too! He haw!

They used to love to play dress up and then do photo sessions. That was always the most fun

They dressed up in all sorts of things I had around the house. I have an old hat

collection... that was their favorite spot when they hit the door, then outside they would go

me armed with our trusty camera.

but how do you get from this....

to this ..............

Taylr

Karly

so quickly????? and how do you explain how much you can love kids that aren't your own. They may be my

cousins girls, but I love them like they are mine,

..........oh heck I love 'em more than that actually!

they moved to another state several years

back and we haven't had the time together we

used to share, but the love is the same!

miss you guys!

Cowgirls in Art and Life

I love Terri Kelly Moyers art work. I always envisioned myself as one of these girls that she paints...and the secret is I still dream about it at a-hum, 50 something years old! I could always see myself dressed like this and recreating Annie Oakley and riding a black leopard Appaloosa! Do you think that comes from watching too many Dale Evans and Roy Rogers shows as a kid with my brother, or is it all those westerns we watched at night as a kid with our Dad? I really don't know... but I will tell you I was ate up with horses and cowboys for my whole life! It is something about the romanticized lifestyle of the old West.

I nagged my parents for a horse as a kid, every waking minute....I knew if I kept at it hopefully it would come true ...daylight to dusk...nag, nag, nag. My aunt and uncle were living in New Mexico and had an extra horse to feed and they called and asked if I could have it! Oh my gosh I am getting a horse... they were going to bring Wendy to me for my very own! I just did not realize Wendy was only a yearling and I couldn't ride her yet. Well the story of Wendy is interesting, she was a wild mustang caught as a very very young foal...I will leave that for another story later down the line, but the jest of this story is this. My dad had been looking for just the right horse for me already. None seemed to fit the criteria in his way of thinking. We looked at horse after horse. No, K that horse isn't right for you, you have no experience and I don't like that one. I thought any horse with 4 legs was a great horse (I was 11 yrs. old). Then one night we were sitting down to dinner just a week after Wendy had arrived and the telephone rang. Mom answered and said let me get W, it was a different uncle telling my dad about a horse he might come look at. It is a little registered 3 yr old grey Appaloosa mare that my boss took in trade for an unpaid propane bill. We have her locked in the fence at work and you will need to come quickly to look at her before he sells her. We jumped in the car the next morning and drove the 70 miles to see her. She was locked in the propane tank yard on gravel, and she was the most beautiful horse I had ever saw in my little eyes. Well the rest of the story was history because that little mare came home to our barn. She had been mistreated before and was not broke to ride, so the challenge for my dad was on, to get her ready for a dumb little girl who knew nothing about horses! My daddy could do it, he could do anything! Well he did do it, he was a great horseman, and come to find out Tequila hated most men....uh oh..........my dad did fine with her, but no other men could ride her without an incident. The story was some teenage boys tied tires to her to make her buck. She trusted women and girls, just not men. It was so funny my grandma wanted me to change her name because it was Tequila! My Grandpa had to call her Twilla so he wouldn't catch any slack from Grandma! I loved that mare until the day she died. She provided me with tons of great memories and gave me lots of love and kept me out of trouble! I will forever love my little Appaloosa mare and she still lives in my heart!

my girl Tequila Twist

Okay now back to the subject I started out about loving Annie Oakley.....Well low and behold awhile back I discovered I am related by BLOOD to none other than Annie Oakley on my mothers side! I do genealogy and I found out why I must be so obsessed, it is genetic! She was always my idol as a kid, she could ride, rope, shoot a gun better than any man, had cute clothes, beaded gloves with the fringe on them.....cute little fringed skirts, that has to be it! I am not related to the King Of England, it was even better for me...Annie Oakley is my cousin, the Queen of the American West! How lucky do you get?

Annie Oakley

but then I have also found some other "famous relatives" out there too... like:
Butch Cassidy
John Wesley Hardin
Doc Holliday
Clyde Barrow
John F. Kennedy

Theodore Roosevelt

Georgia O'Keefe

Emily Dickenson

Jane Austen

and

Jimmy Hoffa
so really which genes are my predominate ones?

Kind of scary isn't it?

Galveston, Oh Galveston

Sunset fishing in Galveston. The kids are still down there working with the rebuild. The sunset looked very beautiful and serene, I can hear the waves now...... . Z you are such a cutie! Okay, I am very partial, but he is! It does my heart good to see that Oklahoma State hoodie!