A day in the life

Peacock at the Kelsey's Winery

2012-01-21T08:54:00.002-06:00

Saturday Matinee

2009-01-25T16:10:00.008-06:00

Yesterday Don and I went to see Clint Eastwood’s new movie
Gran Torino.
The critics gave it a B and the yahoo users an A. I'd give it a B
The audience consisted of people over the age of 50. In fact Don kept saying he thought that a bus from a senior citizen group dropped off a bunch of members to watch the movie. (they had not but it did kind of look like it) I had to finally remind him that most were probably just a ‘few’ years older the he and I. :-)

Clint Eastwood is probably best known for his role in Dirty Harry (you feel lucky punk). But my favorite were the westerns. He made a really good cowboy, remember Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. Fistful of Dollars, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, and my favorite High Plains Drifter all excellent movies.

He always played a macho kind of tough guy and this movie was no different, with the exception he played his age, he played an old macho guy. I thought it was going to be a shoot-em up movie with him being the old macho hero, the movie didn’t play out quite that way, he was still the hero, just not like you’d expect.
Another thing I noticed is the men in the audience really seemed to enjoy it, most were laughing out loud at all the name calling that goes on in the movie . It was pretty funny listening to them all cracking up. Guess I shouldn't be surprised they found such humor so funny. . I am in Oklahoma after all.
Gotta love those Okie's

A Year in Review with Pictures

2009-01-06T21:26:00.004-06:00

The Gazebo

2008-12-25T20:30:00.028-06:00

This is my favorite place in town.

Every 4th of July, Labor day, Veterans day and Memorial Day the city decorates the gazebo with flags. In the summer they have free concerts here. It’s a great place to rest during a walk or bike ride, there always seems to be a little breeze flowing through. It reminds me of simpler times when life was less stressful. And it makes me glad I live in a small town.

Every so often you’ll see people there having a picnic, a birthday party or even a wedding. Actually Casey, Connor and I celebrated his 10th birthday there. I enjoy the Gazebo all year long, but my favorite is Christmas time. Every year they decorate it a little differently. We’ve had many pictures taken there through the years

Here are a few of them.
Connor, 2001

This was the first Christmas after 9-11. The tree was decorated with flags. It really lifted my spirit.

Derek, Delaney and Zoe, 2002

This was the first year Don and the boys moved in. It was a good year.

Tim, Casey and Connor, 2003

This was their first year as a family. They were married May of 2003

Connor, 2005

2006
The kids, 2007This is probably one of the last of all of them together for a long time.

Derek, 2008 His first Christmas home from the Navy

Connor's Christmas at Granny's

2008-12-24T16:59:00.018-06:00

This year I won't be seeing Connor on Christmas day.

Casey and Tim want to start a new tradition of staying home for Christmas. He'll be going to Tim's family's Christmas Eve, spending the morning at his house with Tim and Casey and in the afternoon he goes to his Mimi and Papa's house to celebrate with that side of the family. He should be back home on friday. I hope to spend some time with him then. Connor and I decided that he would open his gifts at my house on the 23rd. So thats our new tradition

Look Whose Livin' on Tulsa Time

2008-12-19T13:07:00.019-06:00

Derek went stand by on an earlier flight out of O'Hare which was a good thing because his original flight was cancelled due to weather. He got up at midnight got everything ready and took the first shuttle to the airport at 3am. O'Hare cancelled 300 flights. My heart goes out to the Sailors who's flights were cancelled and their families.

He's home.

Cousin Mike

2008-12-10T18:30:00.014-06:00

Mike and Michele

My cousin from Wichita was in town on business and was able to spend an evening with us. We’ve not seen him in almost 4 years. His father and my mother were brother and sister.

It was a nice evening. It felt good to be around family.

He’s a very talented guy, he has a beautiful voice, is a gifted musician and is very artistic. Not to mention a really nice person. Somehow I missed out in the gene pool though, he got the voice, I got the red hair, he has a passion for music and art, I like to eat. . .(sigh).
He also brought Michele with him, his live in girlfriend. That was the first time I’d met her. I like her very much. They make an awesome couple. I sense they are both deeply in love. I'm happy for them.
Here is a video of them singing bluebird. Well, not the whole song because I kept stopping the recording by accident. The video part of my camera doesn’t take a very good video but I think you’ll get the idea. At one point in the video you'll see Mike kind of smile and glance over at Don. Don had started singing harmony with them. It sounded good.

Thanksgiving with Friends

2008-11-30T08:29:00.031-06:00

Ritchie and Lori invited Don and I for Thanksgivng dinner.

My good friend Linda and her husband Roger were also invited, along with another friend of Ritchie's and his partner.

Ritchie, Linda and I worked together in the call center 12-13 years ago. They have since left the company. But we've all remained friends.

The dinner was delicious; the company was the best, lots of laughs, a little karaoke and many good memories.

Our host and hostess, Ritchie and Lori.

My friend Linda. One of Linda's many talents is cooking a mouth-watering turkey. Take a look at this 20lb bad boy. The side dishes prepared by Lori were scrumptious. Everyone pitched in and helped.

Don and Ritchie singing karaoke. Don close to a comatose state but enjoying the show.A picture is worth a thousand words.

Connor's Progress Report

2008-11-25T20:28:00.004-06:00

He gets it from me.

10th Anniversary

2008-11-23T10:19:00.024-06:00

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow.

And that is exactly what we did.

Our gifts of love.

Beautiful cards, roses & perfume for me, Titleist ProV1 balls for Don. .the balls the pro's use. (I'm just a romantic at heart).

She misses her boy

2008-11-09T08:50:00.015-06:00

Derek and Zoe have always had a special bond.

She still sleeps in his room every night and is waiting patiently for his return.

Less then 6 weeks Zoe girl and he'll be home for Christmas.

Zoe and her boy

Some pictures of the two of them

The Italian Stallion

2008-11-02T09:14:00.019-06:00

Connor was Rocky Balbo for halloween.

He's got all of the Rocky movies.
He can talk and act just like Rocky.

He's a natural.

Maybe it's the Italian blood. ;-)

Yo, how you doin'?

Here's a picture of Don and Zoe handing out candy to the trick or treaters

Zoe watching a little TV waiting on the next bunch of trick or treaters

Last Game of the Season

2008-10-26T18:57:00.005-05:00

We were the home team.

I'll spare you the details.

They Finally Win!

2008-10-24T07:51:00.051-05:00

Connor has played football for the same team for the last three years. They're a great bunch of kids, and good little players. Tim is one of the coaches along with 4 other dads. There is a lot of team spirit, camaraderie and really good coaching. The team also gets incredible support from the families with lots of cheering and rooting from the bleachers. It's pretty cool. But even with all of that they hadn't won a football game this year, and over the last three years they've only won two that I can think of. They don't make many touchdowns either, until last Saturday they had only made one this year. But hey, it's not all about winning right?. . . right. . whatever . . it sucks to lose. . .but it's FREAKING AWESOME to win and they DID this last Saturday when they played a team from Collinsville. It was sooo exciting.

Here are some pictures of the game of the year. .a game that will not be forgotten by anyone who witnessed it.

Ahhh, the sweet taste of victory.

I don't know how to make music play with the slide show, but if I could it would be Queen's, 'We are the Champions of the World' maybe you could hum it to yourself while you watch the slides. Thats what I do

All I can say it's to bad Mike Gundy wasn't there to witness his future player in action

Connor turns 11 today ~

2008-10-19T19:50:00.007-05:00

I think he's had a good birthday. He had a party at the lake with Tim's family. He came to my house today for a little cake and to open his gift from from all of us. Then tonight Tim's best friend and his family are having a BBQ birthday party for him.

He's a special boy and much loved by all.

Especially by his Granny :-)

The Pool

2008-10-08T18:52:00.263-05:00

Don and I have always dreamed of having a pool. Don loves the water and has surfed, scuba dived, broke state swimming records in high school and enjoys swimming laps. I like to float on my back. We never really gave getting a pool a whole lot of thought because of the expense and having kids at home. But last June a friend told me about his neighbor selling his above ground pool for $200.00! The price was right, so without much thought and being Don and Nancy, we jumped on it. Don had to go over and help the guy take the pool down. It was hot that day really hot. Don got a terrible sunburn. It took hours to bust the pool down, little did we know at that time it would takes months to put it back up. Did you know that the sides of a 24ft pool weighs approx 400lbs when rolled up?

We had a lot to learn.
The first thing that had to be done was have the cable re-routed. And then had to have all the utilities marked, because when you put a pool up and your yard slops like a small hill you have to have it dug up to get it level. (who knew) Before you can dig you have to have the utilities marked they do this by putting different color little flags all over the yard and spray paint. Interesting.

And you also need electricity to run the pump and filter to the pool. It's a good idea to have an outside outlet. We live in a house that is so old that when it was built nobody ever plugged anything in outside. And I don't think they had above ground pools then either. We had to install an outside outlet. .by the pool. . and hire an electrician. .but we did save some money because Don and Derek dug the 75ft trench from the house to where the pool would one day be.

It was really hot that week-end.We had electricity finally by where the pool would someday be.

Ok, with that being done, the next step was to dig up the yard. It was obvious to big of a job for Don to do. Derek had already left for the Navy and they wouldn't let him come home to help. Not that we asked. . . but I did say out loud a couple of times that I wished they'd give him back just long enough to get it dug up :-/ Then Toby a guy (notice I didn't write friend) Don works with spoke up and said hey, I've worked part-time for a guy that installed above ground pools for a living, I've put up probably 25 pools, dug up a lot of yards too. I'll help ya. . . .AWESOME!!!!! Don was like great when can you help. . . . . . . . .ohhhhhhh, can't be this week-end I have to go to the store with my wife. . . humm, next week-end. . . . ahhhhhhh no, family reunion. . . . . .Ok, Toby what about the following week-end. . . . .nooooppppppeeee kids got a ball tournament. . . . Toby kept us on the string for about 3 weeks and finally ask Don "don't you know someone that can drive a bobcat, I'm gonna be tied up for awhile?!?" So we called our local rental equipment place and they gave us a lot of guidance. . .basically they confirmed we had no idea what we were doing.

Something else we didn't know, it's just about impossible to find someone in the middle of summer to come and dig an area for a pool. It's their busiest time of the year and they're in great demand and booked for months. Thanks to our friend Dusty she was able to call the guy that dug the area for her pool 8 years ago. He had since gone commercial, but because Dusty had recommended him he would do it as a favor and $350.00. The thing was he didn't know when he could do it. He'd squeeze us in while he was at other jobs here in Owasso. He said he'd call a couple of hours before he showed up. The problem with that was in order for the guy to get his bobcat in the back yard, Don had to take the fence down on the side of the house. And with the dogs that really presented a problem. So after waiting on the guy for about a week, Don called him and explained all of this and the guy graciously called the night before he came. Don was able to take the fence down the morning of the dig. But it took a couple of weeks before the guy could do it. . .So we waited.

Don never lost his positive attitude. He was excited. He was getting a pool someday.

It took the guy less then 45min to dig the area. I was at work when he came.
Before and After

Zoe was stressed
We tore her yard up and she couldn't figure out why. Then she thought she had it figured out

The circle was there for her to have a place to poop. So from then on that's where she did her "business"

Now that the yard was dug up it was time to "level" the area. The guy that did the dig tried to get it as level as he could. But in order to do it right you have to rent a leveler (again, who knew?) But before that happened the rains came. .it was like a sign or something. . . it was August. . . in Oklahoma for Pete's sake. It NEVER rains in August. But this year it did. It rained for days and days. Leaving us with a huge mud puddle and a dog that thought she was suppose to to poop in the muddy circle. What a mess.

So we waited for the rain to stop and the yard to dry out.

Once the rains left Don took a day of vacation , rented the leveler and spent the whole day leveling the pool area and getting the pavers in the ground. Oh, you didn't know you have to have pavers to put up a pool . . well, yes you do and here's the deal they have to be level too (who knew)

Here he is standing on leveled ground.

Ok, at this point what we needed was 7 tons of sand and 4 men. . . or one big wonderful son-in-law with his own dump truck.

Fortunately I had the son-in-law.

Timmy came to help. We couldn't have done it with out him. And he brought his truck filled with 7 tons of sand he's wonderful. . . did I mention that ?And so it began. . .. .
On that hot August day with Don in the lead, Tim, Casey, Connor and I started putting up the pool. It would take two days. Don and Dusty Hays helped later that day and the next and were absolutely invaluable.
Against the odds, the snickers behind our backs, the doubting Thomas’s, the horror stories of busted sewer lines (didn't happen), doubling house insurance (didn’t faze it), City ordnance requiring 6 ft fences (not needed) the abundance of dirt we were supposedly going to have after the dig (excess from the dig came in handy) we threw caution to the wind, laughed in the face of all who doubted us and went full speed ahead.
And with the help of family and friends we put up a pool.
And here are the pictures to prove it.

Seaman Cox

2008-10-08T18:40:00.003-05:00

Sailor's Creed
I am a United States Sailor.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and all who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I proudly serve my country’s Navy combat team with Honor, Courage and Commitment .
I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.

In Loving Memory

2008-09-01T04:01:00.003-05:00

My Mom, Lucy

November 4,1923 - September 1,1993

If I had Only Known

If I had only known It was the last walk in the rain

I'd keep you out for hours in the storm

I would hold your hand Like a life line to my heart

Underneath the thunder we'd be warm

If I had only known It was our last walk in the rain

If I had only known I'd never hear your voice again

I'd memorize each thing you ever said

And on those lonely nights

I could think of them once more

Keep your words alive inside my head

If I had only known I'd never hear your voice again

You were the treasure in my hand

You were the one who always stood beside me

So unaware I foolishly believed That you would always be there

But then there came a day And I turned my head and you slipped away

If I had only known It was my last night by your side

I'd pray a miracle would stop the dawn

And when you'd smile at me I would look into your eyes

And make sure you know my love For you goes on and on

If I had only known The love I would've shown

Artist Reba McEntire - Album For My Broken Heart

This song was played at mama's funeral

Derek Takes the Oath

2008-07-14T18:55:00.000-05:00

Dani, 2nd Lieutenant with the U.S. Air Force flew in from Florida to swear her brother into the Navy. What a truly special moment that was, I'll never forget it.

Derek just called about 20 minutes ago, he's landed safely at O'Hare. He's got a 45 min shuttle ride to the boot camp. They told him he probably won't be able to sleep much outside of a few cat naps here and there until 10pm tomorrow night. He knows it's going to be a tough 9 weeks, the first week being the hardest. We don't know when we will here from him again. I do know that he will be able to come home for Christmas.

Celebrating Casey's 29th Birthday

2008-07-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

We celebrated at Olive Garden tonight. I gave her a gift certificate to the Purple Glaze. She and Connor spent the day painting their chosen pieces of pottery. They'll be able to pick them up next week, it will be fun to see how they turn out.
Here is a video of the Olive Garden waiters and waitress singing to Casey. And some pictures of the evening.

Casey turned 29 today at around 4:28pm :-)

Rock n Roll Don

2008-06-25T18:14:00.000-05:00

2008-06-23T19:50:00.000-05:00

Life changing events. . . .

Derek,
You graduated tonight and your Dad and I were so proud of you. Before we know it July will be here and you will be leaving for the Navy. You've got a wonderful adventure ahead of you. You are going to be building a strong foundation for the rest of your life. You're going to see places you've only read about and meet people from all over the country. And most will probably never heard of your home town.
Once you leave things will never be the same around here. You’ll never be the same. We’ll never be the same. We are going to miss you terribly and you’re going to miss us along with your friends, your dog, your room, your truck, your computer, your town, and your Dad’s grilled steaks. When you come home it will be for ‘visits’, and there is a good chance you may never live with us again. You’re starting your new life and going out on your own in the world. I’m so scared for you. I pray for your safety and I pray that we’ve taught you the things you’ll need to know in order to survive. You’ve been a joy to us and loved deeply. There won’t be a day that goes by that I won’t wonder how you’re doing, and say a prayer for you and worry. As time goes by we'll get used to not having you around and that's the way it should be. And you'll survive all of this a lot better then we will and that's the way it should be also. Your home comings will be much anticipated and cherished and I know I'll be looking forward to the first one the day we leave you in OKC.
I'm so very proud of you and am thankful for our time together as a family.
Love,
Nancy
(written May 15,2008)

Derek Graduates

2008-05-21T16:49:00.000-05:00

Derek Graduated May 15th at the Mabee Center in Tulsa. His mom, sisters and brother were able to attend, they drove in from Wichita. It was very stressful. But everything went well.

Here are some pictures taken, I'm not much of a photograher.

You'll also note that Don has some good lookin kids :-)

Derek and Dori, Don's youngest
Derek and Delaney, Don's two boys
Deven, Don's 3rd daughter with her boyfriend

Mother's Day Post

2008-05-11T08:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Casey and I spent the day together to celebrate Mothers day. We had lunch at the Sushi Train then went to the Iris show. And spent a little time walking though the Tulsa Rose Garden. She gave me the perfect Mother's day card. ( had to choke back the tears), but the best gift by far was being able just to spend some time with her.

When I got home Don surprised me by having a dozen red roses waiting for me. Which I must add are absolutely beautiful.

And when Derek got home from work, he brought me a dozen pink roses for Mothers day and a card that again brought tears to my eyes . He wanted to do something special this Mother's day he said because this will probably be his last one at home. . . . . I can't let myself go there right now, I'd be a blubbering idiot. I love him very much.

When I got up this morning Don had a card for me by my red roses, what a guy .

I'm not so sure I deserve all of this, but I'll take it!

A few pictures~

Beautiful Casey

Student of the Month

2008-05-10T10:42:00.001-05:00

Prom Night

2008-04-28T18:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday Night was Prom for Owasso.

It was held at the Oklahoma Aquarium

Derek went stag and danced the whole night.

He's a dance-in fool

We went to Los Cabos Friday night for dinner to celebrate Don paying off his car and to show Derek how to get to the Aquarium. There is a 70 cent toll. So that was the main thing for all of us. "Don't forget to take 70 cents for the toll"

Saturday night he's dressed and ready to go, I took pictures.
And in all the excitement he leaves. .. He's been gone about 20 minutes and I remember the toll, he was just approaching the exit when Don called. Don told him just to run it, so he did. They hung up and a few minutes later Derek calls again. He's forgot his ticket to get in to the prom.

Soooo......

Super Dad, finds the ticket in his back pack, jumps in the car and drives 20mins one way to give him the ticket. He saves the day or night in this case.

That's not the first time Don has come to his rescue. He never complains or gets aggravated with him he just does it so his boy will have what he needs. I'm not sure at this time in his life, Derek truly understands how lucky he is to have a dad like Don, but one day he will.

Guess that's what its all about. .

parenthood

MS Walk 2008

2008-04-20T07:46:00.000-05:00

Casey, Connor, Don, Sally (Connor's new puppy) and I walked in the MS walk this year for Cox. Don and I have walked in the past, but this year Casey and Connor decided to join us and really enjoyed it. My employer encourages employee participation, and who knows with our help one day they may find a cure. My department was able to raise almost $1600 this year between the silent bid auction with items donated by our contractors and the lunch fund raiser put on by my department and organized by yours truly. The walk was a lot of fun and we got a little exercise to boot! Here are some pictures of the walk.

Casey, Connor, Sally and Don
The walk took place in a beautiful neighborhood.
Sally at the rest area
This is such a cute picture

Sally got a lot of attention. Lots of people wanted to know what kind of breed she was, I think we answered different each time.

Connor found a walking stick at the rest area
Sally with Connor's hat on

At the finish line without the walking stick ;-)

Resting after the walk, tired puppy and boy :-)

Our Cruise

2008-04-02T18:31:00.000-05:00

Don and I went on a cruise to the Western Caribbean. We left Sunday March 2 from Galveston and returned on the following Sunday March 8. The ports were Jamaica, Cayman Island, and Cozumel. We had a wonderful time, the ship was unbelievable! Here are a few of the 785 pictures I took :-)

Proud Parents of a soon to be Sailor

2007-12-29T12:41:00.000-06:00

Derek Joined the Navy!

He scored a 97 on Asvab test. He will go into the Navy's Nuclear program. Boot camp will be in Great Lakes, IL . After boot camp he'll do 1 1/2 years of training in Charleston, South Caroline. He'll have the equivalent of an associates degree when he finishes the Nuclear Program. After his four years of active duty, he plans on having a bacholor degree when he goes into inactive duty for two years.

I'm proud of the descision he has made. He'll be shipping out (as they say) July 14th and I get a lump in my throat everytime I say that or in this case write it. I know this is what happens, kids grow up and move away, sometimes you're ready for it and sometimes you're not, in this case it's all happening a little to soon for me.

Christmas Time - Then And Now

2007-12-04T18:47:00.000-06:00

Halloween

2007-11-20T18:18:00.001-06:00

Notice his red ribbon- 3rd place for best costume at school

A few pictures of Connor on Halloween. He's a big OSU fan. He got a hugh amount of candy and a lot of attention with the costume.
GO COWBOYS!!

Connor turns 10 today ~

2007-10-19T12:15:00.002-05:00

He and I made his cake together. He wanted a golf theme cake. I think we did pretty good. :-)

Ten years ago today I became a Granny to a precious baby boy. And it's been a fun ride ever since!! I love you Connie do do head.

Everything is back to normal.

2007-09-25T17:30:00.000-05:00

Derek had a date

2007-09-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

Derek had a date last night with Lisa, a team manager on his football team. He had a good time. Here is a picure of him before he left. Handsome devil ;-)

TIGGERS HOME!!!

2007-09-22T09:41:00.001-05:00

Tigger found a whole in the privacy fence and got out. He was gone a whole week, from friday to friday. We were all just sick with worry. Apparently a woman that works at the YMCA during the mornings found him in the Y's parking lot and took him home. She has 5 kids, one dog (spayed female Sheltie) and until Tigger came for a visit a pet chicken. Her brother saw the lost poster Don had placed on Reasors bulletin board and called her. She was happy to have found his owners as he kept trying to mount her spayed female dog and he killed their pet chicken. I gave her a 50.00 reward for her trouble and the chicken. She was going to take him to the pound until her brother called her. What a nightmare for her and her family! How can something so adorable be such a handful! I'm just thankful to have the little trouble maker a/k/a chicken killer back home!

Jesse Tessalina

2007-09-03T17:52:00.001-05:00

Labor Day week-end

2007-09-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

Its been a good week-end.

Friday night Don and I rode a Red Carpet Charter bus to Stillwater to watch Rams beat the pants off of the Patriots.. Go Rams!!

Saturday my sister came over to spend the week-end with us. It was the most time I've spent with her in the last 12yrs. It was good to be around her.

Casey and Tim came over and had dinner with us saturday night. They are such a neat couple. I'm just so proud of them. It's hard for me to beleive that Casey is my daughter, she is just amazing.

Dani called Don saturday and her divorce is final. She had spent the day on the ocean with friends she met during her Air Force training. I think Dani will be just fine, and I think Matt will too. Down the road I believe they will both be happier. She'll accomplish a lot in her life. It will be fun to watch.

Drew left her husband and has moved to Wichita with her mom. She and Miss Jesse came by for a short visit on their way to Wichita. Jesse is just an adorable child, she is just precious.

We had a lot of fun. Connor and Casey also spent the same night with us. We had a packed house and Don and I both enjoyed it.

First Post

2007-08-19T08:49:00.000-05:00

Woke up this morning and decided to start a blog about my daily life. I think it might be fun to do, just probably not very interesting for those of you who will be reading it.

Here's a few pictures taken this summer~ :)