We Remember

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic loss of 10 men from the OSU family.  I will never forget hearing that a plane had crashed after the basketball game in Colorado that night.  I sat with friends glued to the T.V. and praying for everyone involved. As the OSU family, we vowed never to forget.  Since then, in January, especially when there's a ball game in Colorado around this time, it's always heavy on my heart for the families that lost their loved ones.  So this post is to honor the 10 men that lost their lives. 

These are the inscriptions for each person that is put on the Memorial

Kendall C. Durfey
Television/Radio Engineer

August 1, 1962

Kendall Durfey, 38, a producer and engineer for the OSU radio network. Born in Hyde Park, N.Y., he moved to Oklahoma in 1977 and graduated from Oral Roberts in 1984 with a communications degree. He earned a master's degree in communications at OSU. A wonderful Son, Brother, Husband, Father and Friend. Kendall bound us together with care, affection and generosity. His humor, talent and intelligence will always linger with us. Thank you Kendall.

Bjorn G. Fahlstrom
Corporate Aviation Pilot
February 13, 1970

Loving Son, Fiancé and Friend remembered for his endearing smile, ambition and vitality. A commercial pilot, educated in Sweden and USA. Bjorn, you are forever in our hearts and memories. All our love, Viola, Sten and Jacqueline.

Nathan Z. Fleming
Scholar/Athlete

September 11, 1980

Loving Son, Brother, Friend. Joy to God and all who knew him. Leader, encourager, lover of life. All Big 12 Scholar/Athlete. Nate put God first, others second, himself third. We love you. Sarah, Drue, Mom and Dad.

William R. Hancock III

Media Relations Coordinator

April 6, 1969

Will was brilliant, generous, kind, genuine; a musician, humorist and wordsmith. His warm smile touched everyone. He left Andie and us all too soon, but we’ll meet in Heaven someday.

Daniel P. Lawson, Jr.

Scholar/Athlete

July 28, 1979

Danny, your Presence will always be felt. God gave you to us for twenty-one precious years. We thank Him. Our Son, Brother, Grandson, Cousin, Uncle and Nephew. You are greatly missed. Your loving family.

Brian W. Luinstra
Athletic Trainer
July 26, 1971

Beloved Son, Loving Brother, Devoted Husband, Nurturing Father. Born with a caring nature, sense of humor. Blessed with honorable character, principles, integrity. Memories of you fill our hearts with love.

Denver R. Mills
CPA by Profession, Pilot by Passion
January 31, 1945

Beloved Husband, Father, Brother and Friend. We celebrate your life and the legacy you left of unconditional love, dedication and generosity. You are and always will be our hero.

Pat Noyes
Director of Basketball Operations
July 11, 1973

Our Beloved Pat. You touched so many lives in a short time. Your presence made Oklahoma State a better place. We’re proud you are our son! Love, Mom and Dad.

William B. Tietgens (Teegins)
Loved by Many
July 26, 1952

Voice of the OSU Cowboys, Oklahoma Sports Hall of Famer, eight time Sportscaster of the Year. His family, friends and fans will always remember... “He shoots, he scores, heee’s fouled!”

Jared G. Weiberg
Student Assistant

March 9, 1978

Jared is a beloved son, brother, and friend who placed others before himself, gave help to those in need, lived passionately and hugged affectionately, loved his family unconditionally.  We love you.

(source)

There are several articls that I have read through and looked at these past few days.  This is one of my favorites.  There are videos too.  It's a long article but definately worth reading...I was balling in my office while reading it, it's so touching and makes you rethink your own life.  Make sure that you tell everyone you love that you love them.  You can lose them in a blink of an eye.

OSU played Texas last night in Stillwater and they had a Memorial at half time.  Mike and Joanna were able to attend and Mike said it was very touching and great to see Eddie back home.

Wee Bit Wednesdays

I've seen seen this a few times so I thought I would link up in this weeks.  Just some random thoughts.

{one} how tall are you?

4'11'' and 5/8ths...yes, 5/8ths!

{two} besides bills, what do you spend most of your money on?

Nothing really that fun...groceries, a little house decor here and there...but really I'm a tightwad!

{three} what are your three favorite websites?

Blogger, Facebook, 365 Project

{four} what brand of tennis shoes do you prefer?

My favorite is Mizuno, but currently I have Saucony...The Marines issued these to my brother and I found some at Marshall's for really cheap...so I tried'em and really like them.

{five} what food can you absolutely not stand to eat?

There are lots, but probably Sushi or Salmon.

{six} How many pairs of jeans do you own?

3-4 that fit and 2-3 that I hope to fit back into!

{seven} if you could have any job, what would it be?

I love my job as a Recreation Therapist.  I love working with kids with behavioral health problems because it's a new adventure everyday.  We have good days and bad days, but it keeps me on my toys and reminds me to stay young at heart.  With that said, if I couldn't be that, I would want to be a Professional Photographer of sports, nature, and people and a Veterinarian.

{eight} have you ever ridden in an ambulance?

Nope, thankfully.

{nine} how many pillows do you sleep with?

We have 6 sleeping pillows and 2 decorative pillows on the bed...I sleep with one under my head and one next to me...Mike sleeps with three and Remi sleeps with one.  Yes she is a super spoiled doogie!

{ten} on a scale of 1-5, how organized are you?

Mike would probably say 2-3...I say a 4.  I like things to be organized and I know where my things are...but others may not see my organization skills the same way.

Okay, your turn! Link up Here!

What's Cookin!

What's Cookin This Week...

Mom's Pancakes...didn't get to them last week

Blackened Chicken with Baby Zuchini

PW Beans and Cornbread

PW Chicken Spaghetti

Full Moon Chicken Tortilla Soup

What's on your menu this week?

Have a happy week!

Bowling, Bowling, Bowling!

My Weekend!

After a busy Friday and Saturday of cleaning, laundry, getting caught up on 365, dishes, going to my Great Uncle Owens funeral--celebrating his wonderful life, and running around town with mom, I met up with Mike and some friends at Andy B's for some Glow Bowl bowling!  Super fun, although I stunk it up in a major way...although I did meet the goal every game...60 for the first 75 for the second and I think I got around 85 or 90 the third game.  Honestly, I always seem to bowl better the more I have to drink...I didn't have anything to drink, so I blame my poor scores on my lack of alcohol!  I also got some fun pictures too!

Today has been pretty productive.  I finally got the Christmas decorations down!  I feel our house grew after taking the tree down! vacuumed, Mom made super yummy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls--I had two! Mike and I worked out, I made dinner, 365ed, Mike did the dishes-such a great husband!, and watched some T.V..  Headed to bed to get ready for my week!  Hope y'all have a fabulous week!

Good Night!

365

365 -Saturday and Sunday

Day 207 - Yummy Food!

Green Bean Bundles for dinner tonight! I got this recipe from my good friend Julie and I don't know where she got it.  But the yummilicious recipe is super easy too!  Thanks for the recipe Julie!

Ingredients:

Bag of Fresh Green Beans, trimmed

4-5 Slices of Bacon (I recommend cooking them slightly)

1 Tbls Onion, finely chopped

3Tbls Butter or Bacon Drippings

1 Tbls White Wine Vinegar

1 Tbls Sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Cook Green Beans til crisp-tender. Wrap about 15 bean in each bacon strip; secure with toothpick. Place on foil-covered baking sheet.  Bake 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees.

In skillet, sute onion, in butter, til tender.  Add vinegar, sugar, and salt.  Heat through.  Transfer Bundles to serving plate and pour sauce over.

Enjoy!

Day 206 - STRIKE!!

Mike and I went bowling with some friends Saturday night and had a blast during Glow Bowl!!

A Give Away...

I'm trying to win! And give my Shutterbug Friends a chance to win too!

I've been wanting a new neck strap for my camera for quite some time now and Megan is having a give away with Eclectic Whatnot with some of the cutest neck straps around!

My favorites are P.S. I Love You and Just My Luck!

Head over to Megan's blog to see how to enter!

365

365

Wow, so it has been a while since I have actually stayed on top of the taking the picture, getting it on the computer, then downloading and getting it on the blog.  Hopefully I can keep it up!

Day 205 - Taking the Color Out

A Monochromatic look of our "Grandson" Clock that Mike's Grandparents gave us as a wedding gift.  I love how you can still see the pendulum swinging.

Project 365

Project 365 - 55% Complete

Day 204 - Glistened Pathway

It started snowing around 10:30 Wednesday night, so a little after midnight, Remi and I went on a beautiful Snowy Night Walk.  I caught the glisten in this pathway.  It reminded me of they life paths I've been on in my life...good and bad and made me smile.  I love the paths I've been on and look froward to the many more Glistened Paths the God has in store for me.

Day 203 - A Bit-O-Sunshine

 This is on my way home from work and I've been wanting to stop several times and finally did...it's right off the Highway, so it's not the safest stop, but I got really far into the grass and thankfully didn't get ran over...I did get honked at though! Haha

Anywho...every time I drove by I just thought the sun light made the flag look so majestic among the industrial field its in.

Day 202 - Triangular Tulips

I was looking for Triangles today and saw many in my bouquet of Tulips.  How many do you see?
Also, I love how you get surprises when you go to process your pictures...I have no idea where that beautiful blue background came from, but when I plugged it into the computer and the picture pulled up, there it was!

This is the one I use for the project but the other two I just thought were really pretty too!

 Day 201 - Your thought of Tag

I think of Remi and Nellie's Tags on their collars.

Day 200 - Two Complimentary Items

Salt-N-Pepper!  In my snazzy little Salt Cellar from Savory Chef in Tulsa.  It's the most fun little cooking boutique.

Day 199 - Saving Grace

My Heating Pad! When my back or stomach are hurting like the did on Friday and Saturday...My best friend is my Heating Pad. It always makes me feel so much better!

Day 198 - Your Fired!

You can read about the story here.  After some thought and talking with friends...I may just Fire them!

What's Cookin in Kelly's Kitchen

A long while back, I was chattin with some friends and we started talking about weekly dinners.  I always felt so overwhelmed when I went to the grocery store. I would have certain things I wanted to get and then would pick things up that sounded good and would spend a fortune!  Then I got home and felt like I still didn't really have anything to cook.  So during our talk, my friends talked about having a menu.  They would only buy for the week.  I'm sure many of you already did this...but for me it was an AaaHaa moment!  How genius!  So I tried it and it worked!  It made everything some much easier and cheaper and less wasteful...sure there are times that I don't make a weekly menu, but I love it when I do.  So I'm sharing my Weekly Menu with you!

What's Cookin in Kelly's Kitchen..

Andouille Pasta
Bacon Wrapped Chicken and Green Bean Bundles
Steak Quesadillas and Guacamole
Michelle's Meatloaf and Sweet Carrots
Mom's Pancakes

What's for cookin in your kitchen?

Have a wonderful week!

53%

I am 53% complete!  I can't believe it!  I've been taking daily, well almost daily, pictures for over 6 months now.  Go me!  Only 47% left.

Day 197 - Morning Frost Flakes

Before I left for work this morning, I saw these delicate little frost flakes. It's been pretty chilly here in Oklahoma---7 degrees this morning (and I know that's not too cold compared to my northern friends), but the are predicting a little warmer weather this weekend.

 Day 196 - American White Pelicans

These beautiful birds are making a rare stop on the Arkansas River in Tulsa this year.  I was enjoying my drive home from work on Riverside and saw them and immediately pulled over and spent 45 minutes walking up and down the river bank enjoying their company and taking over 100 pictures of them.  I counted between 60-65 of them.  You can read about them in the Tulsa World Newspaper.

Day 195 - 2011's First Snow

Tulsa's first snow of the year.  It was really more of a dusting, but it was fun while it lasted.  It's still been pretty cold so there are traces of it still lingering.  The big pretty fluffy flakes came at night and I didn't wish to play around with my camera in the cold, so I went out the next day.   

Lesson Learned

So, today I learned a couple of lessons.  A couple of months ago (Octoberish) I had a doctors appointment and paid my $25 co-pay.  I didn't even have anything done while I was there...I was just there to talk to the doctor!  No test, no exams, no checkin me out, just talkin!  In fact I waited longer than I actually talked to my doctor! Then got a bill about a month later for $43 something (insurance paid like $11).  I'm really bad about opening our mail, unless it's fun mail.  Majority of our bills are online, so there's not really a big need to open the mail right?  Well, I was just being lazy and forgot to send my check in to the doctor. 
Yesterday I cried...I got a certified mailed letter from my doctor that said we have found your balance to be uncollectable and have written it off and you have been dismissed from the practice!  I. Was. Fired!  from my own doctor!  I didn't know they could do things like that.  So I cried to Mike and was so embarrassed.  I mean who gets fired from their doctor?!  He told me everything would be fine to just call them and see what they say.
So this morning I tucked my tail between my legs and called them at 8:15.  They of course ask for your name so they know who they are talking to and I'm sure my name had a BIG RED FLAG next to it.  I asked for the billing department and they transferred me and this lady just knew it was me and that I hadn't paid my money.  So she came off as a polite hardass.  I told her my name and apologized immediately telling her that I screwed up and received her letter and was seeing if I could pay the balance and reverse the dismissal.  She said that typically they don't but she would for me (I'm sure I'm not special and she says this to everyone).  She also told me that when this happens that you have to write a letter to the doctor to see if they will accept you back into the practice!  Thankfully I didn't have to do this, because she said it wasn't the doctor that dismissed me it was the business office.  So thankfully, I was re-accepted back into the practice, I thanked her and was so excited, I ran back to the bedroom and woke Mike up telling him my good news...I really felt like I had just been accepted into college or something! 

So Life Lessons Learned today...
1.) I definitely work in the WRONG field, I mean I would love to charge 85 bucks to talk to a patient for less than 10 minutes!
2.) Open your Mail!
3.) Pay your Balance!
4.) Don't mess with your doctors, they really want their money!

I'm so glad Mike was right, but it was so hard begging for forgiveness and being at the mercy of someone you don't even know for a stupid little lazy mistake! 

365

365

Some pictures you've seen, and some have a few because it's really hard to just pick one sometimes.  Hope you have a Terrific Thursday!

Day 194 - Kitty Play

Nellie enjoying her new dangle toy thanks to my SIL for the PetsMart Gift Card from Christmas.  This took quite a while to actually capture.  I set my tripod up and used my remote while I dangled the toy.  I love they way she is sittin and looking up at the toy getting ready to attack.  She will drag this new toy around the house to play with it.  It's quite comical!

Day 193 - New Plates!!

Actually my new obsession, Anthropologie!  Holy Smokes, I really think they got in my head and made this store just for me.  Too bad I can't really afford it!! But the plates were kinda reasonable so I got'em! The placemats are from Williams Sonoma.  They were on sale for only $6!  What a steal, huh?!  And the candles and candle sticks are from Pier 1.  I love our new table, which my parents got us for Christmas and the whole set-up is complete!

Day 192 - Sweet Friends and Sweet Babies!

Love these girls and their sweet babies boys!

Day 191 - Mr. Cool

No description needed for this one!  Isn't he just so cute!

 Day 190 - Melt Down

Jackson had a melt down, but it was short lived during our little photo shoot.  He was happy as a lark only a few minutes after this picture!

Day 189 - A Mother's Love

Julie and Jackson...I love the sunburst in the background!

Day 188 - Drool!

This boy LOVES to drool!  I had several pictures with strings of drool and I just thought it was so cute...just as long as it's not on me! :)

365

Day 187 - Puppy Kisses

We took Remi over to Derek and Kacy's to play with Lola while we watched the Fiesta Bowl.  They played and ran around the table 1000 times. They had so much fun and stopped to give some Puppy Kisses!

Day 186 - Puppy Friends

Remi and friend, Lola could barely sit still long enough to get a picture.  Lola who is 4-5 months old is pretty much bigger than 1.5 year old Remi!

Day 185 - New Years Day...

or EARLY morning.  Some of the yummy beverages we rang in the new year with friends.  Happy New Year!

Day 184 - New Years Eve

My favorite Bubbly!

Day 183 - Family

Mom, Dad, and Granny at Christmas morning Brunch

Day 182 - Christmas Bokah

Day 181 - Stockings

Day 180 - Turkey Carving

Mike carving his first holiday turkey with a little help from his dad.

Day 179 - Model

OSU stocking that Judy and Jack sent us for Christmas for OSU Game Days.  Remi is a fantastic model!

Day 178 - Merry Christmas

I took this outside the church as the midnight bells were ringing for the birth of our Lord.

Day 177 - Christmas Eve

Boston Avenue United Methodist Church Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. I look forward to this service all year! It's beautiful!

365

Project 365

Some of these you've already seen in previous posts.  But enjoy the new ones.

Day 176 - A Child is Born

Out of a Children's Christmas Book that I got my friend Amy who is expecting a baby in August and Mr. Jackson for Christmas.

Day 175 - Christmas Gifts!
So with all the letters you seen in my project, I made Christmas Gifts with them for family and friends.  I love the way the turned out and everyone loved them too!  If your interested let me know!

Day 174 - Color Explosion
Out at Rhema's Light Spectacular...playing with my zoom and timing.

Day 173 - Million Dollar Fudge
Making my second batch of fudge for the Christmas Season.  I used a vintage action because this recipe is my Granny Mackie's (my great grandmother).

Day 172 - Cowboy Cracker!
Our OSU Cowboy Nutcracker!

Day 171 - The Laundromat!
So, our little Remi plays so hard and while she's fetching the 'crack' ball, she doesn't let anything get in her way. That includes grass, which I'm pretty sure she swallows (and if you have pets, you know that grass makes them throw up). Well, she threw up on our comforter twice. So I took her with me to the laundromat to clean our comforter. She wasn't really a fan of the laundromat. But I did get a cute picture!

This is also my first time to play around with actions...and I love them!

Day 170 - Stocking Tips
Different Perspective from below!

Day 169 - Christmas Lights!
Lights at Rhema.

Day 168 - Light Explosion
Playing with my zoom and timing again at the Rhema Light Spectacular!

Day 167 - Ducks at Sunset
I was out at the river and caught these ducks enjoying the setting sun on the water.