Day 31

I was cooped up in my office (aka the guest room) today catching up on reading, but I did take this picture out the window:

See how nice and dry our driveway is compared to everyone else's (and the icy street)?  I'm definitely enjoying Patrick's shoveling obsession!  :)  Also, while he was out this afternoon, he brought home the new Domino's pizza for me to try:

I thought it was good, but then again, I liked Domino's before, too.  Anyone else have an opinion on the new Domino's?  I have lots of leftovers if you need a taste test!  :)

Day 30

The aftermath of the storm continued today.  Patrick was once again out shoveling (etc.), and I even joined him after he explained that I could hit my car to get the ice off.  :)

Yeah, that was fun.  :)  I stopped to pose for the camera, but then I cleaned off the top of my car all by myself.  (Granted, Patrick came along after me and did the hard part, but still, I helped...)

 

Finally, a shot of the side of our neighbor's house.  I just love how the snow is clinging to the brick!

Day 29

It's been snowing most of the day today!  These are from this morning.  Our neighbor's porch:

Crazy icicles!  (Our porch didn't have icicles.)  And the snow in their border grass:

 

A view out across the street from our front porch:

I took these next 2 around 4:00 while it was STILL SNOWING!!!

 

At this point we had roughly 5 inches (I think).  The shallow snow at the bottom right is from my friend Candace's car, which had been there about 4.5 hours until just before I took these pictures.  Now, the view across the street in the other direction (from the garage door):

At last check, it was still snowing, too!  :)  I SO love watching it snow!  As long as people are safe, bring on the snow!

Day 28

A lovely ice storm hit today.  (For more on that, see Patrick's blog.)  I ventured outside shortly after 6:00 (after the ice quit falling but before it was totally dark) to take a few quick shots from the front of our home:

Looking across the street.  See how clear our driveway (right side) is compared to the rest of the concrete?  My frozen-precipitation-mover (aka Patrick) was out in full force this afternoon!

Ice, ice, everywhere... poor tree!  At least he's not bent fully over like he was during the 2007 ice storm!

Since Patrick's car has better features for driving in ice, he got the garage, and my car got frozen.  Poor Herbie!  (By the way, if you're good at "Where's Waldo?"-type activities, see if you can find Patrick!)

Day 27

Look what Patrick brought home for me to see today:

It's the 2010 OU Visitor's Guide!  Why is this exciting, you may ask?  Because Patrick is featured on page 9!

Day 26

My poor phone had a rough day today... shut itself off once and fell on the floor twice!  Oops!

Day 25

Bye-bye, Old Computer.  You served me well for quite some time, but I could not handle your frequent Microsoft Word crashes, system lags, corrupted files, and wondering whether you would boot up tomorrow.  Perhaps you can be restored to "backup laptop" status in the future...

Hello, New Computer.  Nice to meet you.  Hopefully we will be good friends (and not mortal enemies) for the next several years!

(Please ignore my mess in the background of both of these!  :) )

Day 24

Yeah, so that whole "working on change via the laptop" thing didn't work out so well.  Apparently I've been a PC for too long, and with a dissertation to work on, now was not the time to try to be fancy.  So, today this guy came home to live with us:

Day 23

What do you do when you need something out of a box that's covered in cobwebs (and a real live spider) and don't want to lug out the vacuum?  Break out the dust buster!

SO glad my parents gave me this beauty for Christmas!  :)  What a life (or sanity) saver!

Day 22

My computer has been cranky for a long time, and today I finally had to borrow one of Patrick's old laptops.  I really dislike change.  I'm working on it.  Baby steps.  Today, the laptop step.  Boo.

Happy Friday!

Day 21

Continuing the clock series (see here and here), here is the third (analog) clock I can see while in my office -- the clock tower on the OU campus:

(Sorry for the picture quality.  I guess the our building's exterior windows don't get cleaned much!)  Before I had the other two clocks in my office, I relied on this one to get me to class on time.  (It required less effort to look out the window than to glance at my watch or computer screen.)  After the big ice storm a couple of years ago, the clock stopped working for several months, and I always felt disoriented.  Fortunately, it is up and running (and mostly on time!) now.

Day 20

Not to be outdone by yesterday's clock, here is the other "math" clock in my office:

My mother-in-law gave me this beauty for Christmas a couple of years ago, but you can also get it here (and lots of other places online).  This clock runs "conventionally" (so, yes, I took this picture at 7:30 this morning).  Answer to yesterday's brain teaser:  3:25.  Congratulations to Emily for getting it right!  :)

Day 19

(Warning:  This post may get nerdy.)  Ahhh, my pi clock.  Once I saw it and learned how it worked, I had to have it.  I got this beauty at a conference last August (but you can also get them here), and it is now proudly displayed in my office at school.  The time actually runs counterclockwise around this clock, starting with 2*pi (also known as 0 on the unit circle) as what is normally 12 o'clock.  Any particular multiple of pi/6 is that hour on the clock.  (That is, 11pi/6 is 11:00, etc.)  Knowing that, see if you can figure out what time it was when I took this picture!

Day 18

Here's what was in our "swag bags" from the dentist today!

Day 17

One of the highlights of a Fort Smith trip is always my in-laws' miniature Dachshund Ivy.  She LOVES to sleep wherever it's warmest and HATES having to wake up before she's ready:

See that look she's giving me?  I did finally get her to sit up and look at me:

 

 

She still wasn't thrilled, though!  Finally, a picture of Ivy in her favorite spot -- anywhere near her Patrick!  :)

Day 16

Patrick and I were graciously offered two tickets for today's men's Razorback Basketball game vs. Alabama.  We had such a good time at the game (and just being on the U of A campus in general).  Here's a shot of the floor during a timeout:

Love the Razorback in the middle -- it feels so much like home!  :)  And, there was more good news -- the Hogs won!  Woooooo Pig Sooie!  :)  Here's the final scoreboard:

Day 15

Today Patrick and I headed up to Fayetteville, and I got to have lunch with my great college friend Sarah.  We met up on the U of A campus and got a few shots near Old Main (courtesy of a professor in her department who happened by and was willing to take them for us in exchange for a guilt trip on Sarah to participate in his seminar this semester!).  I couldn't choose, so you get three pictures today!  Here we are behind Old Main:

We also went around to the front side of Old Main and took a couple of shots:

 

 

 

Day 14

Got to shop and have dinner with my great friend Emily tonight!  Three guesses where we went... :)  (By the way - check out the awesome artwork featured on the menu!  Emily and her husband Jon at Beaty Photography shot those pictures!)

Oh, and for all three of you that are devoted blog fans, I wanted to let you know that I am posting the Day 5 picture today.  Enjoy!

Day 13

Getting ready to go!  So much to do!  :)

Day 12

Back to teaching (and the annoying alarm clock!) today.  My students seem like fun, particularly given that the class meets at 8 AM, so I am optimistic about the semester with them!

Day 11

One of the things I hate most about doing a big house-cleaning is that I get overwhelmed by the number of tasks to be completed.  (Keep in mind that I am very detail-oriented and count each teeny tiny bit of cleaning as a separate task in each room.)  So, a few weeks ago, it occurred to me that I would feel better knowing I had it all organized somehow AND perhaps I would be less averse to cleaning if I felt it had more structure.  Thus, a spreadsheet was born, and today I share it with you.  The columns indicate various types of chores, and the rows correspond to the different zones of the house where different chores need to be done.  I've even ordered the chores so that I don't accidentally, say, vacuum before I clean out a nasty light fixture.  Then, as I do the chores, I can highlight the ones that I've completed until the entire sheet is a different color.  :)  I do so enjoy crossing things off a list!

Day 10

I'm not sure if you can see what I'm pointing at, but it's a small, sort of yellowish spot on the bathroom wall.  I spent time last night and this morning cleaning this and other similar spots and trails off our bathroom walls, doors, and trim.  The best thing we can figure is that the family who lived here before us must have had a little boy.  :(  Yes, we've lived here a while, but I never remembered to clean the walls when I had cleaning products out... until last night.  Fortunately, the Lysol wipes have eradicated the problem.  :)

Day 9

Because weekdays tend to be really busy during the semester, Saturdays are laundry days at our house.  :)

Day 8

Went with Candace, her daughter, and the Holt family to the OU Women's Gymnastics meet tonight against Florida.  Here's a picture of the team just before the awards "ceremony" started:

(Thanks to Candace for taking that one!)  Good news for all who dislike Florida or like OU - OU won!  :)  As they say here in Oklahoma, Boomer Sooner!

Day 7

Patrick's newly organized dresser!  He finally decided that the pile of clean clothes on top of it was too much for him to handle, so he gave in and allowed me to reorganize the drawers today.  He complained that he wouldn't know where things were, so I said I'd label the drawers.  He was amazed that I was serious, but while he was gone today, I found several different colors of Post-its and went to town.  :)

Day 6

The impending cold and possible winter precip means today was a perfect time to make taco soup!  I got this recipe earlier this season from my friend Page's cooking blog.  It's SOOO delicious!  It's good on its own, but I also like to eat it with cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.  Enjoy!  :)

Day 5

Meet Abi and Eli -- the children of my good friend Krista and her husband Jeff.  I had lunch with these two fabulous kiddos and their lovely mom today at Chipotle.  (Yum!)  Krista was gracious enough to share this picture from her camera after mine decided to die during the photo shoot.  Hopefully the Walmart run for new batteries will keep me in the blogging business!

Day 4

So, my friend Candace and I were good girls today and went to the gym!  Here we are in our lovely post-workout state.  (At some point this year, I will post a picture of us when we aren't all gross so you can see what we REALLY look like!)

Day 3

I found this bag of peanut butter cups yesterday when I cleaned out the pantry. I knew they'd been in there a while, but I figured they were still okay since they'd been sealed up.  Wrong.  There's a reason candy comes with an expiration date, boys and girls!  Needless to say, these went in the trash.  :)

Day 2

Wooooooo Pig Sooie!  Razorbacks win the Liberty Bowl!

Day 1

Hello all, and welcome to my 365 blog for 2010!  I have realized recently 1) that many of our friends and family members don't have any way to know what our lives here in Oklahoma look like AND 2) that I have far too few pictures of our loved ones.  SO... this is my attempt to catalogue our lives and collect pictures this year.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 365 concept, the idea is to take and post a picture each day for an entire year.  To kick us off, I give you not one but two pictures representing how I kicked off the new year today!

I spent the evening "putting away Christmas".  All that's left now is the bare tree, which is totally Patrick's department. :)

Before this evening's un-decorating, I spent the day finishing things I'd started throughout the break so far.  This is the puzzle my parents gave me for Christmas, which I finally finished this morning!  I also finished a book and some projects around the house.

Happy New Year!