Day 151

Another part of the energy-use survey we're participating in is this little guy, who is currently located on our fridge door:


It's actually pretty amazing - it tells us what our current rate is, how much energy we've used per month, amount of electricity cost per day, what the rate will be the next day during peak hours, graphs to track usage, and lots of other cool info (if you're a numbers geek like we are). It just started working about a week ago, and the study starts tomorrow. Hopefully it will help us save money on our electric bill during this hot Oklahoma summer!

Day 150

I tried to let sleeping dogs lie this morning, but Sadie caught on that I was taking this picture:


Notice that Ivy has her "baby" with her - she's at the end of another false pregnancy. In other news: Before I left town today, I got to have lunch with the Marshes. The girls and I got "Sisters" pictures frames for Christmas, and I think this has been the first chance we've had to take a picture to put in them! I'm glad it came out well (and thanks to Ryan for taking it for us!).

Day 149

It was tough to get a good shot of her, but I wanted to feature my sister-in-law Michele's dog, Sadie. Sadie is part Dachshund and part Yorkie (so she's called a "Dorkie"). She spends a lot of time at my in-laws' puppy farm (aka their house), so Sadie and I have gotten to know each other better the past few days. Here's our Sadie-Bug:

Day 148

I spent some time at my parents' house today, and when I went out back after lunch, I noticed their yard really looked beautiful. So, these are the pictures you get today. :)


I love the tree cover all over their backyard. It reminds me of pictures of the rain forest! There was also some late-blooming azalea and a big pot of hydrangeas:



I loved these plants in a small bed near a walkway:


And finally, my brother's "cigar plant" (seriously):

Day 147

Having a great time in Arkansas! Emily and I had lunch today and then decided we needed ice cream:

Later, I followed Ryan over to Kyle and Meagan's to hang out for a bit, and then I had some delicious WingStop wings with my in-laws. Yum!

Day 146

Andrew and I went shopping today, and we needed a break mid-afternoon. I thought the cup of water I got at Dairy Queen / Orange Julius looked really funny since the straw was like 3 times taller than the cup. :)

Day 145

Got a lot of use out of this guy today...

Day 144

I saw this at Walmart today and had been wanting to try it, so I brought one home:

I didn't quite have enough milk, and my blender didn't behave very well, so I ended up with a mostly blended up smoothie that I ate with a spoon out of a bowl! However, the flavor was still really good, and supposedly it's really good for you. (Hey, they featured it on The Biggest Loser this season, so it must be healthy, right?) It was a little expensive for what you got, but it would make a great cool treat for summer. :)

Day 143

Look what I found while I was cleaning today... this was SO super-cool like 15 years ago! Do Lisa Frank products even exist today?

Day 142

About a year and a half ago, my brother-in-law introduced us to the wonders of the TV show House. We borrowed his DVD sets of Seasons 1-3 shortly thereafter. We got the first season back to him fairly quickly, but still have Seasons 2 and 3. (Sorry, Ryan!) I have been determined to get them back to him, so I have been watching 1-3 episodes per day for the past week or so. I'm near the end of Season 3, so hopefully these will be ready to go back next week!

Day 141

Today, Candace came over and helped me sort through my clothes to determine what needed to be donated. Here's the pile we came up with:


Candace also showed me a different way to do my eye makeup. This is post-workout, but maybe you can at least see the idea. (Sorry, I'm not wearing any other makeup, so I'm a bit shiny.)

Day 140

Today, I discovered a five-year-old oopsie. I am still cleaning on our master bedroom closet, and I needed to sort through all the cards from our wedding five years ago. Inside one of them, I found this:


Yes, that's an unused gift card that I found inside an open card from a family friend. Apparently when I went through the cards immediately following the wedding, I accidentally stuck this one back in the envelope instead of in my bag of cards. To make matters worse, Linens'n'Things is now out of business except for their website, which will no longer accept their old gift cards. Ooooops. So, we're essentially out a wedding gift (and my pride). At least it wasn't worth too terribly much! :)

Day 139

Central Oklahoma got pounded by severe storms again today, so I spent another evening at the National Weather Center with Patrick. At one point, we were officially under a tornado warning, but the storm was going to our south, so we went up to the building's observation deck to watch the storm. This is a blurry picture due to the rain and the fact that I used my cell phone to take it, but it at least gives the view we had out the observation deck windows.

Day 138

Red Beans and Rice. Thank you, Zatarain's, for making my kitchen smell so yummy today!

Day 137

One of today's cleaning projects: washing hairbrushes and combs.

Day 136

Poor Patrick... with all the crazy weather going on this week, he's been running himself ragged with Vortex2. He finally crashed this afternoon on the futon in the office at home.

Day 135

In the effort to get the house cleaned up now that the semester's over, I spent 20 minutes scrubbing the microwave this evening. At least it looked good when I was done!

Day 134

Patrick left a box of cereal on a particularly ant-prone countertop this morning when he was in a hurry. Here's what I came home to this afternoon:


See all the black dots on top? I busted out the spray cleaner on the box and immobilized the enemy. Muahahaha!

Day 133

I got to hang out with my friend Ann and her daughter today. This picture is from our lunch at Panera. (Yum!) Ann was my first officemate in grad school, so we have been through a lot together - teaching, taking classes, and various life events. We can't always get together as much as we'd like, so it was great to find time today to catch up! :)

Day 132

Now that the bulk of my Spring semester is over, I've slowly started "spring cleaning" - which I do every May because my house has accumulated so much YUCK over the academic year. Today's project: cleaning out the refrigerator, including washing all the shelves and drawers.

Day 131

First, a picture of our "tornado damage" from last night. We were so blessed to have essentially nothing happen to our house! There were just a couple of pieces of siding down:


Also, this morning I made brownies for my students' review session today. They tasted good, but I only had 7 students show up, so I ended up taking the leftovers to the National Weather Center so Patrick could share them with all of his weather friends. :) (Hey - if I had brought them back to the house, I'd still be eating them!)

Day 130

I made it to the gym this morning over to discover that my iPod was dead. :( So, it spent most of the rest of the day attached to the mothership.

On a side note, the weather is not looking good in our area and beyond - everyone please be aware of the weather tonight and stay safe!

Day 129

The culinary streak continues... blueberry muffins this morning!

Day 128

I've been on such a baking kick the last few weeks! Today's feature is a chocolate chip pound cake. Problem is, I can't eat this whole cake!!! Anyone in the area want some?

Day 127

Today, Lynn and I went up to MACU to turn in grades. Since I am taking next year off (and who knows what will be going on after that!), I decided to commemorate the event by taking a picture of my faculty mailbox. Today was bittersweet, but I know I will appreciate the time to work on my dissertation next year.

Day 126

I've been waiting for a nice day when I could find a parking spot near the top of the parking garage to take pictures like these. Here's one of my building from the top level of the garage:

And here's one looking down the street toward the rest of campus:

Day 125

I have been waiting for this blog post all Spring! From my office window, I have a good view of what I have always called "The Rose Garden" on campus. Today, I needed a break from working on my paper, so I went outside to get some shots of the garden in bloom! :)

Approaching the garden from my building

Getting closer!

Entering the garden through the archway...

...although these flowers on growing on the trellis don't look like roses to me!

The roses came in several colors...

some growing alone...

some growing in groups...

...and some just starting to open up to the world!

If I weren't allergic to Oklahoma and prone to sunburn, I could have sat out there for quite a while today! (Yes, yes, I am a weenie when it comes to these things...) I also took a picture of something I found amusing today. Never before has the height of my laptop on the desk been an issue for me, but today it just felt too low. Solution? Put some of those big books I have around the office to good use! Muahaha!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Day 124

Not sure if you can see the dark spots on these floor tiles by the back door, but I promise it's not just my lack of housekeeping skills starting to show. The ants are officially here. Boo. Anyone have a good, less-toxic-than-bug-spray way to get rid of them?

Day 123

I had a couple of important things quit on me today. #1: My mascara. After dealing with flakes irritating my contacts all day long, I decided the tube was old enough to get tossed. Bring in the replacement!


Also, I tend to cook more than I need when I cook so that I can eat the leftovers later. I cooked extra carrots tonight and stored them in my wonderful stain-resistant container:


Except... see the big crack? I did, too, but up until now it has just been slowly growing and not leaking liquid. Apparently today was its last straw, and I now have a big wet spot on my wood table. :( Needless to say, this guy got tossed as well.

Still working on the paper, and hoping nothing else decides to stop working today! :)

Day 122

Another weekend, another paper to write... those yellow sheets are going to be the death of me! Those are my professor's feedback on the first drafts of all my papers this semester. I have to incorporate her comments into final drafts OR justify why I didn't do it. And write another paper. And it's all due Thursday. And it's worth 30% of my grade... *sigh*

Day 121

First day of Vortex 2 for 2010! Good luck to all those involved!