Our New Floor

We installed a new laminate floor in our breakfast area, kitchen and laundry room last weekend.  Kath, click on her name,  gave the name of the flooring that she used and so we went and got some samples and oh, is it ever beautiful.  Thanks Kath for the information.  Here are a few random shots from the beginning to the partial finish before everything is put back together.
Just beginning.  We are finally getting rid of our ugly white ceramic tile.  I could no longer keep it clean.  One thing I don’t like is a dirty floor.
We’re getting there.  Look at the mess on  the countertop and the fridge in the background.  Oh, but it will be worth it.

We’re just about done, all we lack is the trim.  The appliances have all been put back in their places.  How does all of that dirt get underneath things, like the dishwasher?

Here it is with all of the trim put on.  It is so pretty and makes our rooms look so much cleaner and put together. 

I would like to get some new rugs since we have had these for ever.  I will have to look at my budget first.  I think the floors turned out great.
Now, guess what we have today, one inch of ice with about 12 inches of snow on top of that.  Here is a picture of the parking lot at work.

This is ice, no snow yet.  This came last night and early this morning.  This is one reason it is so difficult to drive here because we have so much ice underneath our snow.  Here are some more pictures of the  ice.


When I left work today, the snow had already begun to fall and it looked like we were in a snow globe while we were inside, but once we got outside, it was a different story.   If it keeps this up, we will have to get warmer clothes.  This is one of the coldest and snowiest winters I can remember.
This is another weekend and everyone stay warm and cozy and have a very safe weekend.
Maxine

My Hometown!!! and Baby It’s Cold Outside

It is so cold outside.  This is the coldest I can ever remember.  Our high today was 15 with a –5 wind chill.   Our high tomorrow is 9 with a negative wind chill. OH MY!!!  Next week though, back into the 40’s.  I’m just thankful that we are not getting the snow the states up North are getting.  I really do feel for them.  We would be stranded for months if we had something like that.
I haven’t done anything special in the way of decorating or putting my house together in any special way since Christmas and the New Year so I thought I would show you where I was raised.  I always like to see other parts of the country.  The part of the country where I was raised is totally different than where I live now.  In Western Oklahoma the wind blows, a lot, and what few trees there are, all lean to the north.  If there is anyone from that part of the country that is reading this, I am sure you will know what I am talking about.
Here are some pictures of the countryside. This picture is  rather blurry but there are lots of windmills to get the water out of the wells for the cattle.  This is cattle and wheat country.


These pictures were taken at Thanksgiving and this is a flock of wild turkeys that was crossing the road.  There were probably 30 in the flock all totaled.
This is just one of the many fields of cattle that are grazing on the green wheat that will be harvested next spring, probably late May or June.

There is a lot of drilling for oil and gas in this part of the country.  They have to go down around 35,000 feet on some of the wells but they are great wells.  This is called the Anadarko basin.


This is a picture of my 83 year old mother, soon to be 84. She gets around so well, still drives, keeps her own house and manages her own affairs.  She was born and raised in a German Mennonite community called Corn, OK. It used to be spelled Korn but during WWII the spelling was changed.  Her father immigrated from Ukraine and this is where they settled.  When she and my dad married they moved from this area  but she still has several relatives and friends here.

These are some pictures of my home town. Don’t laugh at the name, and no, it wasn’t named after a cow.  I went to school here through the 8th grade and then I had to transfer to an area high school.  I am a very small town girl.


My sister got married in this little church, many years ago and this is where we went when I was at home.

I played many a basketball game in this gym and also ran lots of laps getting ready to play basketball. I think small towns have lots of advantages, in some ways.   People are always ready to help in any way they can in any type of situation.  There are also disadvantages but I think the good outweighs the bad.

This was one of the local grocery stores.  It is now closed along with all of the other businesses; except the co-op elevator.  That is one of the sad things about going home; but there are larger towns around.

This is the house I was raised in.  It looks NOTHING like it did when we lived there.  My parents always kept it up, the yard was immaculate and everything was so pretty.  They sold it right before my father passed away 28 years ago and this is what has happened to it.
My sister and I  didn’t walk to school, we had to ride the bus because we lived out in the country.  We would get on the bus about 7 in the morning and get to school around 8.  It was fun except waiting in the cold for the bus.
I hope you enjoyed my part of the world where I grew up.  It is nothing fancy but it is home for me.
Have a safe and warm weekend and I’ll be back later.
Maxine

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We had  a white Christmas this year.  The first one we have had in many years.  I know to some of you our snow wasn’t very much but we have ice under our snows so it makes them very dangerous.  These are pictures of Christmas morning.
 

My cousin’s car is in the driveway and when they left, late Christmas day, they had to really scrape the windows and let it warm up for awhile.  They came Christmas Eve evening when the weather was “OK” and when they left Christmas afternoon, what is normally a 2 1/2 hour drive for them turned into a 4 1/2 hour drive for them home.  Unfortunately, our roads are not kept clear because we don’t have the equipment to do that. 
We had a quiet New Years Eve.  We didn’t even see it in.  Our daughter and her husband went to see his family this year so we kept 2 of their 4 dogs.  This can be very interesting when your dog is blind and one of theirs is a pup and is quite rambunctious.  They are good dogs though.
 This is my daughter’s Shar-Pei that she had before she got married.  he is really old.

Our dog is the one in the red sweater, his OU sweater.  The other one is their youngest. He just turned a year old. These are our grand dogs, you might say.  They both went home yesterday.
This morning we woke up to more snow.  I am not a fan of winter but we have no choice in this.  It is a pretty snow though.  Here are some more pictures of our snow taken today.

It doesn’t look like much but it will turn to ice by tomorrow, just in time for everyone to go back to work. 
I have a terrible head cold and tomorrow is my birthday so I hope I feel better by tomorrow.  I never get a cold like this one, but it hit me this year.
I am hoping that all of you have a very blessed 2010 and I hope to meet more people in blogland.  It has been a fun time getting to know everyone.
Maxine