Marvelous Monday Update 5/10/10

How was everyone's Mother's Day? I gave my Mom her gifts on Saturday, and the look on her face when she opened the Kokeshi Doll was priceless. In her asian accent (It doesn't sound like an accent to me, lol) a little above a whisper she said: "Ohh... Kokeshi!" Then she asked if I made it. She really liked that I changed the colors to her favorites and promptly found a spot to display it.


GARDENING
Spring weather is here. One day it's sunny and 79F and the next day it's pouring down rain. Great for the plants and flowers! Here's a few shots of my spring gardens:

Columbine
Fern
Hens & Chicks
Hostas
Purple Tulips
Striped Hostas
GIVEAWAY
Kathy over at Shawkl is hosting a giveaway and a studio award. Go on over and wish her luck with her new shop opening.


YUM-YUMS
Over the weekend, I tried a new recipe: Chicken Parmesan. It was quick. It was easy. It was tasty! The chicken was very juicy and tender. Mmmmmm!


As a side dish, I made sauteed green beans (frozen from last year's garden). They were yummy, too!


SCHOOL
Last week, the instructor got a stupid, crappy "brainstorm" idea to allow the students to "own the knowledge". What does that mean? We have 3 groups of students that were formed at the beginning of the semester for our group project (more on that later). To "own the knowledge", the instructor decided that each of our groups should take a chapter from the textbook and teach it to the class. Oh. What. Fun. I managed to get through my portion of the chapter relatively unscathed. LOL I do have to say that I felt sorry for some of the younger students who clearly have not had much speaking experience. A few merely read portions of the chapter word-for-word.

This week is the last week of the semester. Not only do we have the final exam, we also have to turn in our group research paper. Our group's project is called: "Toxic Troubles: The Global Issues Surrounding E-Waste" I've sent it to a few people outside my class to see what they thought, and all have said it's very well written (*big grin*) and they didn't realize what kind of problem it is. If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to email it to you. In addition to the written paper, we also have to give an oral presetation complete with power point. Oh. What. Fun.













The final exam is a 2 1/2 hour timed exam, to be taken online. Six chapters. I studied most of the weekend and plan on taking it tonight. Oh. What. Fun. (I hope I do as well as I did on the mid-term)

The upside is: After this week, I get a two week break before the next semester starts up again.


STITCHY STUFF
I was able to do absolutely NO stitching this week. :( However, I did get to visit a thrift store and what did my wandering eyes spy?

This is stitched on 18ct off-white aida. The stitched portion is about 5.25W x 11.5H, framed and matted at 12x18. There's a date stamped on the back "Apr 1991" which I'm assuming is the date it was stitched. Anyone know who the designer is? Or, what the design is called?

Unfortunately, it was framed without glass so the fabric is a bit dirty, but I think I can wash it and then re-frame it. I think it'll look great hanging on the wall near my hutch!

I almost forgot.... I paid a mere 79cents for it!! (It really is sad that so much work went into this and it ended up at a thrift store for less than a dollar.)