Ruh Ruh Roker Face

Earlier this week, Emi and I participated in Rokerthon 2017! I wasn't sure what to expect from the description of the event, but I had friends there and also, AL! We got up way early, getting to the stadium before the 4:45 deadline, and the wind was whipping around already. The students were giving out breakfast burritos, water and Kind bars (yum!). We were ushered to a specific section to sit and await further instruction.

Sometime later, a guy came by and handed out Roker Faces. I ended up wearing mine like a turtle shell when I needed to put my hands in my pockets (or take a selfie).

Ah, November...but where did October go?

A Lifetime Ago

This photo is from twenty years ago when I worked on campus as a Student Analyst in the computer labs. A group came into the lab one day to get pictures of the staff (and lab) for the Administrative Affairs Annual Report and I just happened to be on duty in the Dale Hall Tower lab. I remember being in my station and the photographer asked me to move to a public computer to pose.

This picture ended up in the report which I recently dug out of my bookcase after a co-worker and I were discussing that we used to work with a guy who was recently killed by a train. I was trying to get a mental picture of this guy because I only saw him a few times (I worked in the labs and he worked in the computing center) but no such luck. I did see pictures of people I used to work with though. My how times have changed!

This picture evoked a lot of thoughts like:

• Look at all that hair!
• No more four eyes (Lasik 11 years ago)
• Nail polish...ick!
• Again, look at all that hair!
• Tucked in plaid flannel shirt? (No doubt tucked into my bleached Guess jeans which were tucked into my Cole Hahn range boots. SN: I JUST threw those boots out this past year after leaving them outside for way longer than is recommended.)
• Question: Where did that carefree girl go?  Answer: She's still here! (behind the furrowed brow)

Throwdown - Pioneer Style

Yesterday was a good day to be in Norman, OK. Pioneer Woman spoke about being active in the media world to OU students and alumni and I had the pleasure of seeing her in person. I already felt like I knew her via her blog and I've cooked so many of her delicious buttery recipes. I got a good look at the cool boots she's giving away too so keeping the fingers crossed...

After Ree finished speaking I rushed home to get the Best Lasagna Ever started (after seeing a glowing recommendation for this lasaga on Tuesday on She Likes Purple I stocked up on the ingredients on the way home to make on Wednesday). I only made a few changes due to time constraints and the fact that I have 3 kiddos who may not like it too spicy.

I substituted Italian style sausage for the hot breakfast sausage (it was easy because the Italian style sausage was right there next to the hot stuff); I didn't cook the noodles ahead of time; I used fresh Italian parsley and I cut down the sauce simmer time to 25 minutes from 45 minutes. I was tempted to use ricotta cheese vice cottage cheese (for authenticity) but I stuck with the cottage cheese and have no regrets. It was much cheaper and the cheese didn't TASTE like cottage cheese (not that I would have minded) in the cooked lasagna.

It worked out very well because my kiddos were circling the kitchen as I was assembling the lasagna and asking when dinner was going to be ready. I let them sop of some of the meat sauce with some bread to stave off hunger pangs and THAT was delish ... like Italian sloppy joes...

Later on we watched Ree put a hurt on Bobby Flay on Throwdown and that was very inspiring for me for the next week's meals... yum!

Boomer Sooner

Even my Sooner Spirit couldn't help the guys today...

Boomer Sooner

One of my good friends, Dee Anne and I went to the OU-Washington game today and it was a fun time. She won free tickets and we had some really great seats for what turned out to be a really good game. After the game (which we won) we headed to O'Connell's for some post-game refreshments and ended up getting Josh Heupel's autograph at the post-game wrap up show. How sweet is that? I immediately surrendered it to my hubby when I got home.