Marvelous Monday Update 5/19/08

School
I am finally FREE! Last Tuesday was my final class and test in B Law II. I think I did OK on the test. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will get a B for semester grade. I made a beeline for the bookstore the next day to sell my book back. I walked out with $93... not bad for a book that cost me $125 to begin with.

I just found out I got 93% in my Access class, an "A". Woo Hoo!

In a few weeks, I'll starting UL classes with my transfer college that has accelerated programs. All semesters are 8 weeks long, with classes lasting 5 hours each time. My textbook for Investments class came in the mail yesterday. Before the start of the semester, I have to "invest" $50K and keep track of my portfolio through the semester, reporting any changes. Anyone know of an online portfolio tracker?


New Motto
Trisha Yearwood's "American Girl" song is becoming my motto:

Phone rings, baby cries
TV, diet, guru, lies
Good morning honey
Go to work, make up
try to keep the balance up
Between love and money

She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X's and O's
Got a picture of her mama in heels and pearls
She's tryin to make it in her daddy's world
An American girl
An American girl

Slow dance, second chance
mama needs romance
And an live-in maid

Fix the sink, mow the yard,
Really isn't all that hard
If you get paid

She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X's and O's
Got a picture of her mama in heels and pearls
She's tryin to make it in her daddy's world
An American girl
An American girl

Well she's got her God
and she's got good wine
Aretha Franklin and Patsy Cline

She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X's and O's
Got a picture of her mama in heels and pearls
She's gonna make it in her daddy's world
An American girl
An American girl
She's an American girl

She used to tie her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X's and O's
Got a picture of her mama in heels and pearls
Shes gonna make it in her daddy's world
Shes an american girl yeah

Well she tied her hair up in ribbons and bows
Sign her letters with X's and O's
X's and O's, X's and O's


Weekly Accomplishments
• Mowed the yard TWICE. Maybe I should say I mowed the dandelion field that is supposed to be my yard.
• Dug out THREE large thistles with my handy dandy weed digger (mentioned in a previous post). That thing works great!
• Planted grass seed in areas that the plow guy chunked the grass out.
• Changed the oil in my car - Yes, I do it myself.
• Trimmed hedges that surround my entire house. Gotta love power tools! Had to use an 8ft step ladder to trim the top of one, and guess what? I didn't fall off the thing! (Who'da thought trimming bushes would make my tushie and thighs hurt?)
• Unpacked all the boxes marked "garage" in search of my hanging planter basket. It wasn't in ANY of the boxes. It was hidden behind a bunch of crap, I mean junk stuff stacked on the "work bench".
• Rearranged/organized stuff in the garage.
• Attempted to replace window well covers, but ended up with skinned knuckles instead. It was a short-lived project when I found out my 9v drill won't sink screws into brick.
• Re-did 1/2 the flower bed on the north side of the house.
• Planted 2 hanging baskets, and one container arrangement.
• Gave myself a pedicure, but it was ruined after all the gardening I did wearing sandals. Yes, I know... smart. LOL


Gardening
A gracious lady from Freecycle gave me all these perrenials.

Irises, Hostas, Periwinkle
Mums & Lily of the Valley

These I bought last week:


Hostas... Tomatoes... Lobelia. Forsynthia are in the plastic bags. I was driving down a street and a sign near someone's sidewalk said: "Free Forsynthia" so I stopped and got them. They're pretty tiny, so I put them in gallon pots and will see how they'll do.

This is what the north side of the house looked like sans all the dandelions I removed last week.


I had to first remove 2" of rock that was used a mulch and hasn't been maintained in many years. Plastic was sticking up through many places and soil was mixed in with the rock. I carried the rock by bucketfuls to the backyard where I dumped it behind some of the hedges. My thought is that maybe it will help to keep the soil from washing away there. After most of the rock was removed, I had the wonderful job of digging up the ground which was mainly clay. Then came peat moss, topsoil, and manure. The entire time I was wishing I had one of those mini cultivators! Six hours later, this is what I came up with:


I still have the other half of it to do. I'm not sure what I want to plant in that area. These flowers are growing there, and as usual, I have no idea what they are.

Columbine, maybe?
For the next 2 hours, I planted most of plants from the Freecycle lady and mowed the yard. By the end of all the yardwork, my ENTIRE body hurt. I think the only parts that didn't hurt were my face and my toes. LOL I think I overdid it... :(


Deal of the Week
On a whim, I stopped by the thrift store. I found a Sunbeam Oskar with food processor and salad shooter/shredder/chopper attachments. It had a price tag on it of $1.99! Right next to it on the shelf was another one for $3.99 but it only had the food processor attachment. I half expected to get it home and it not work, but it DID! I looked online and they sell on ebay for $40-139. Last summer, I bought a cheapo chopper for $14.99 and promptly took it back because it sucked! I am SO happy with my new find. Can't beat the $1.99 price tag!




Freebie of the Week
Last, but not least.... Here's a stitchy freebie:








Pumpkin Scissors Fob
by Jeanette Douglas Designs