Marvelous Monday Update 5/23/11

CELESTE
Doggie breath. Bleah. I had read that spearmint is supposed to help with that. While at the store, I saw these in the pet section:


They have spearmint in them. What dog doesn't love treats, right? Wrong.

Celeste: *sniff, sniff* (walks away)

Me: *thinks* (puts it on the floor, and walks away)

A few hours later, she hadn't touched it.

Me: *thinks to myself,* "I'll "trick" her."

Me: *crumbles the cookie and mixes it with her food* Feeling like the naughty scientist, rubbing his hands together.

The next day...

Would you believe the stinkin' dog ate ALL her food except for the cookie parts?! Not to be disuaded, I tried it again. Again, she ate all the food and no cookie. I was complaining to a friend, who told me to throw them out in the yard for the birds. I put two in the bird feeder, and threw two in the yard. A week later, the ones in the yard were still there when I mowed. Here it is two weeks later and the cookies are *still* in the bird feeder, untouched. My conclusion??? They must be some baaddddd cookies!


SCHOOL
While it's unofficial, I found out my final grade for my Investment class is going to be an "A".
I earned 97% in the class. Now, I can say I only have TWO more classes before graduation! I'll be graduating in November. Yay!


WORK
Job #2 has had financial issues since I started working for them last July. It's owned by two brothers. One hand doesn't talk to the other, so to speak. The financial problems have become more serious in the last two weeks. Suffice it to say, we (and by "we", I mean the employees) don't know when/if we're going to get paid from week to week. Last week (after not getting paid on Wed), I went in on Friday for 30 minutes before leaving because I refused to work an entire day when I didn't get paid from the week before. Two hours later, the secretary texted me to come get my check and cash it before there's no cash left. I ended up working a couple more hours to take care of payroll related issues -- I need the money, but I've had it up to HERE with not knowing whether we're going to get paid, and the bosses not letting the employees know that payroll will be late, etc.


STITCHY STUFF
Last week I wrote about how flower frogs (or scissor frogs, as we like to call them) are used by stitchers to store their scissor collection. As I mentioned, I have a small one on my end table that I keep scissors, seam ripper, and needle puller in. It's perfect since it doesn't take up much space. Due to it being small, though, I have to display my other pairs of scissors another way. Behold...

This hangs in my craft room,
formerly known as "the scary room".




P.S. If anyone is interested, I have another scissor frog on my stash-for-sale blog.





As I've mentioned before, I'm participating in a mailart exchange. I received my mailart early! Before I present the darling envelope, I have a story to tell.

When I went to the PO, I went to the counter first because I had to get some postage amounts for some packages I'll be sending out. I did that, and then went to get my mail out of the box. I was so excited by the fact I got mailart (and had a package being held behind the counter), that I left my keys in my PO box door. On my way back to the counter, I thought "Where the heck did I leave my keys?!". I asked the clerk if I had left my keys there. He said, "No." So, I gave him the card and said I had a package. He looks at me and says, "Did you leave them in the box door?" Duh! He told me to go get my keys, and he'd meet me at the side door to give me my package. The nice guy that he is, he didn't even laugh. As he handed me my package, he said to me, "That's what happens when you get old and senile!" He's older than me! LOL

Without further adieu, here's what Betty in Nevada sent me:


I thought it was really cool how Betty had the sunflower theme going on. :) She included a recipe for a cheese ball topped with sunflower seeds. It has bleu cheese in it, and since I'm not a fan I'll probably try a different cheese ball recipe and put the sunflower seeds on it. I do like how the tortilla chips makes the ball into a sunflower, though. Very cool idea. See the pink and brown bits in the upper right corner? Those are chocolate covered sunflower seeds! Of course, I *had* to try those right away. Yummo! I had to chuckle a bit at the sunflower seed packet... I *almost* bought some over the weekend. Glad I didn't.

Thank you, Betty. Everything was great :)

A couple of weeks ago, I showed my Rabbit Heart finish. Over the weekend, I made it into a scissor fob.

Rabbit Heart
by Alexandrina (Matrioska Biscornu)
Fabric: 22ct Hand-Dyed Purple Hardanger
Fiber: Anchor 112
Stitching Time: 3½ Hrs
Finishing Time: 1½ Hrs
Embellishments: Runched Ribbon
I also finished the mailart for the exchange I'm involved in, but no pics until it arrives at its new home. I also started the snowman ornament for another exchange.


TREASURE HUNTING
After the incident at J2 on Friday, I needed some retail therapy, so I visited the thrift stores in town. I found a few things...

Over a yard of pretty pink trim for 99c. I think this will be great for a pinkeep or a box finish.
Set of stamped pillow cases for $3. I'm not a huge fan of stamped projects, but the quality of the pillow cases is awesome, and I loved the trim. Plus, you can't buy a nice set of pillow cases in the box stores for $3!

Until next time,


(P.S. A big "thanks" goes out to Karen, who sent me both my siggie avatars.)