Those Important People...

In life, you have those people that are your go-to people in certain situations. For instance, if I want truthful fashion advice, I call my mother (not sure if most people do that!). For a good laugh, I call my brother or my cousin. For a dose of what college life was like, I call my sister. For a great listener, I call my dad. And for good, truthful advice, I call my best friend.

What makes this best friend of mine so amazing is that I know I can tell her something that I'm worried about or what is bothering me and she can ask me questions that make me think about the bigger picture. I like to see myself as a person that can see an issue from different viewpoints... except when the issue is myself!

As an example... Today, I told my best friend about Matt's latest idea for our lives (he has many and they change daily!). He has wanted to go back to school to get his master's for awhile - this has always been a constant! But the question had always been where to go and when to do it? When I first moved to Tulsa, the plan was for him to move down here next summer and find a job and possibly go to school at ORU. Well, now that this school is one lawsuit away from the loony bin, he has moved on from that idea! His latest thought has been to go back to school at Wichita State. It would be free (paid for by Coleman) and somehow, someway, they do have a good business school... amazing, I know! So... that means that if I could find a job in Wichita, I would move back next summer... if this is what he decides to do.

Truthfully, I don't have many issues with moving back to Wichita. I love Wichita! I actually miss it... its one of those places that you can't wait to leave, but once you do, you can't wait to get back! Not sure why...

Anyway, my main concern with this is what will people think of me packing up and going back to Wichita? Do I look like a big loser that can't stay in a job for longer than a year and can't stay away from Wichita for longer than a year AND can't live without her boyfriend?! These were the questions that I posed to my best friend and this was her question to me: Who exactly do I think all of this looks bad to? Probably (hopefully) people you care about the most only want what’s best for you/you&Matt … The other people probably don’t matter that much, right?

The basic answer to both of those questions is that it shouldn't matter what others think... I should do what is best for me and what is best for me&Matt. It's a hard thing to learn, though. Obviously, I haven't learned it yet! It's hard to do what is best for yourself when you are a people-pleaser.

But I like her way of thinking... and once again, she made me look at the bigger picture. Now what seemed like a scary idea doesn't seem so scary anymore...

What a gal! :)

Cattle Sales and Life

I know nothing about cows and I have never been one to fight that. To farmers, they are cattle... to me, they are all cows. The spotted ones -- yeah, those are chocolate milk cows.

Now, I do know that the spotted cows don't really produce chocolate milk, but it drives Matt insane that I say that to him. This weekend, he tried to teach me that they are called holsteins... can I just say that calling them chocolate milk cows is way better than what they are really called!

Anywho, all of this cow - cattle... whatever - talk is being brought up because the Clark family had their big "Cattle sale" on Monday. Hillcrest Genetics. That is the name of their company... all I know is that they had 450 cows - or head of cattle to be politically correct - to be sold and most of them were sold so it was a successful day.

I was not around for the big sale... I did go home Sunday to see Matt, which didn't happen until 7ish that night. I called at 5:30 and told his brother that it was getting dark soon and shouldn't they be done soon -- no, he says... when it gets dark, they bring out lights. Geez.

Grandma Donna had wanted me to come out on Saturday and help peel potatoes, something I have probably only done once in my life and it was probably in Sally Whited's kitchen for a 4-H cooking class I took (that obviously didn't teach me very much!). Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it), I had to work Saturday. But I was guilted later that night when Matt says to me, "Well, you can come out tomorrow afternoon and help out if you want. I won't be around, but Chelsi (Michael's girlfriend) is coming out to help." Chelsi, I love you dear girl, but you are KILLING me... and making me look bad so we've got to try and get on the same page, friend!

It all comes down to the fact that I am a townie. I am not country. There is not one ounce of country in me. I hate dirt roads, I hate gross insects that only come into your house when you live on a farm, I don't like to hear animals howling at the moon in the middle of the night, and I like clean water (I only say that one because the one time I had to stay on the farm, they had smelly water and its freaked me out forever!). I know this is something that is troublesome to Matt since he can do both town and country - but he knows me! He knows that I don't like any of the above...

I hope he knows what the word compromise means because if I ever have to move back so he can take over the farm, he will be doing alot of it! I've already requested all roads be paved.

Feasible, right?

It's Rough Being a Red Neck... I mean RUF-NEK

What is the world (or the state of Oklahoma) coming to??? :)

NORMAN -- The University of Oklahoma is disciplining the OU spirit group the RUF-NEKS for violating the student code of conduct.

OU said in a release Wednesday that the discipline includes banning current members of the RUF-NEK group from participating in official university events.

OU’s Office of Judicial Services began investigating the group after getting information the group hazed and mistreated pledges and misused alcohol at club events during the current semester.

OU says the hazing included sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, demeaning actions, and the potential for physical harm.

OU says RUF-NEK pledges and former pledges will be allowed to continue with the group through the end of the football season.

The group will then be reorganized during spring and placed under the direction of the athletic department.

The RUF-NEKS are known for driving the Sooner Schooner and firing shotguns during football games.

OU President David Boren says RUF-NEK alumni will help drive the Sooner Schooner for the rest of the football season and the current and former pledges will be given an opportunity to fire the shotguns.


PS. I'm still cheering for the Boomer Sooners when they play OSU this year... I hope they beat them by a million, trillion points.

PPS. Not even kidding that when I typed in 'RUF-NEKS' in google images, this picture is what popped up!

Missing My Peeps...

Last night, I got to meet up with Brittney in Owasso for a lovely dinner at Chili's. I worked with Brit at Wichita State in the media relations office and then we lived together last year. She is finishing up her fourth year in the office and will graduate with her undergrad degree in December. And she just recently got engaged to Robby Rob.

It was so great to see her... we hadn't seen each other since my last day in the office before I left for Tulsa five months ago. So it was great to get caught up! Unfortunately for us, we were mainly connected through work. But as I have said many times before, everyone in the media relations office had become my second family since we saw each other more than our real families! We talked about what all was going on in the office, Larry (the boss man and Mr. Procrastinator)and the 'new guys' who joined the office after the departure of myself and Tomarra.

After our dinner and chat, we headed our separate ways. It was great to see her... and made me miss all of my Wichita people even more than I already do. I was lucky to see Tami on Tuesday when she made the trip with the volleyball team and I did get to see everyone else a few weeks ago when I stopped in the office before we left for Vegas... but I just miss them. They were such a big part of my life... and still are.

Thanks for meeting me for dinner, Brit!

P.S. The Hills' clan is invading Stillwater, OK this weekend.... watch out Bullet!

A Day in the Life of a Sick Person...

After my four hour stay in the hospital yesterday, I'm really contemplating if having children is an option anymore. How do women actually lay in those beds, hooked up to 10 different monitors, for sometimes up to 48 hours? I could barely stand it for four!!!

Yes, I was in the hospital yesterday. I woke up at 2 a.m. with a bad case of heartburn that by 7 a.m. when I finally called my boss to take me to the hospital was hurting so bad I could barely speak (those that know me realize this is hard for me to do!).

They hooked me up to different monitors, started an IV, took a chest and stomach x-ray and did an EKG. Its so much fun that they do all of that to find out that nothing is wrong with me... though I know something is because I have this piercing pain in my chest!

While in Vegas last weekend (that was the surprise to my mom for her 50th birthday!), I got really sick one night and was never able to really recover from it. Pretty nauseous all week.. not even pasta sounds good to me, which is a food group to me and is basically all I eat! I had gotten better and was atleast able to eat sandwiches. But now, I'm back to not being able to eat anything... not because I'm not hungry and not because nothing sounds good. I'm starving, actually. But I'm afraid to eat because I just don't want to end up back at the hospital!

So... they concluded that I had Acid Reflux and a urinary tract infection. I'm taking three different medicines to cure this problem and they better work! I'm missing my sister's initiation into Kappa this weekend which pisses me off more than anything in the world. I made the decision that I have to have a daughter (which goes against my first paragraph) someday so I can atleast force her to be a Kappa and take her through initiation!

All in all, I'm still alive... and I hate hospitals!

Apologies...

OK, OK... so I must apologize to those of you that read this blog and are KU fans. I believe this to be only one person (she wasn't an outwardly open KU'ian when I first met her or our relationship probably wouldn't have lasted this long... :)

In my last post, I did refer to K-State beating KU by a certain amount of points. I did feel that it could happen, since KU played the easiest schedule in Division I football four games up to the K-State game. How could anyone truly know what kind of football team they were going to be until this weekend?

But a person must give credit where credit is due.

I'd like to give major props to coach Mangino for wearing black to allow the camera to slim him down.



OH... and nice win.

:)

Birthday Weekend....

As many know, my birthday is probably my favorite day of the year. It's in a tie with Christmas (which is probably not a good thing to say out loud or to even think!).

This year, my birthday was on a Sunday... for future reference, Sunday birthdays aren't so much fun. Saturday birthdays are the best! I guess you could say that we really celebrated my birthday on Saturday. My fam + Matt but - Jord all came down. My mom and I wreaked havoc on Woodland Hills Mall then went back to my apartment to watch the K-State/Texas football game. And what a game it was...

I felt very confident about the Cats chances in Austin, but I felt it not safe to speak out about those feelings because, as we all know, I have bad luck and I knew the second I said anything, I would jinx their chances! So instead of me saying anything, my brother felt the need to tell anyone and everyone that we were going to win by two touchdowns. I warned him... be careful who you say that to. You'll never hear the end of it if it doesn't turn out the way we hope...

Well, he called after the game to say, "I TOLD YOU SO!"

It ended up being a great day for football by 10 pm that night. Many ranked teams fell and the Cats jumped into the polls for the first time in a few years. A very nice feeling...

Now its on to KU... I will not spill my feelings on this game, but just let me say that I REALLY hope we cream them by 40 or more points because I'm SO tired of hearing about them. The announcers for the K-State game this past weekend actually said out loud that the K-State/KU game was going to be more exciting than the OU/Texas game. Gimme a break!

Anyway... good birthday. New purse. New clothes. New fan... from Matt (yes, a VERY random gift, but to be fair, it is a cool looking fan...but that's about all I'm going to say about that gift!).

This Sunday is my mom's big 5-0... we have a big surprise for her, but I'll keep that quiet until AFTER it happens. That lady is Sneaky Sneakerson and probably reads this blog religiously, but acts like she doesn't even know I have one!