Marvelous Monday Update 8/29/11 (on Tues)

Hard to believe it's the end of August already? With my nose constantly in textbooks, I missed summer. Boo!

GARDENING
My vegetable garden didn't fare so well this year. With all the rain, the tomatoes split, got buggy, and rotted on the vines. Only one cucumber vine grew and I got two cukes off it. The spinach didn't grow at all. Again, Boo!

Despite the weather conditions, my flowers did great. Remember the sunflower seeds I received in an exchange from Betty in NV? They are taller than my neighbor's garage.


I was really excited last week when I saw the heads were finally starting to bloom and bees were helping the pollination. :)


My double knockout roses are blooming for the third time this summer:



THE BROOD
Celete must be getting older. I took her for a walk on the walking path near my house. In times past, she was able to do the whole thing, albeit a bit pooped worn out by the time we got home. This last time, she stopped about 1/3 of the way and had to rest. Three-quarters of the way, I had to carry her because she refused to walk. After a while, I put her down and she walked. Less than a block from home, she refused to walk again. Poor doggie. It wasn't even hot that day. I've decided to leave her home when I walk the path, because I don't want to be carrying the dog!

Here's a pic of her from last week where she was enjoying the cooler temps. She's also sporting her summer 'do.


Charley. What am I going to do with that bird? She has two issues going on, or maybe I have two issues with her. One, she is projectiling poop (Yes, poop!) all over the walls near her cage. I swear she sticks her stinky butt rear end up to the bars of her cage and let's it fly! I clean it up when I find it, but it's staining the paint on the walls. Any bird owners have that problem? Issue #2 is that she lays eggs and tries to sit on them... for weeks. She pushes them around in the bottom of her cage, and tries to shove her body between the bars to get closer. She's quiet during that time, but as soon as I clean her cage she's back to squawking unless I sit within eyesight.

STITCHY STUFF
Several of my readers have asked about the iStitch Stitch-Along (SAL). It's being hosted by Carol at her iStitch blog. Initially, she agreed to let 100 stitchers participate. Then she opened up 25 more spots. They filled up fast! I think I found out about it during the last 25 openings. Every two weeks, she will release another part to the mystery SAL. If participants stitched it according to Carol's instructions, it can be mounted on a box from Hobby Lobby as seen HERE.

Last Friday, Carol sent out Part 2 of SAL. By Saturday night, I had Part 2 stitched! What do you think?


I also started the ornament for HOE's "Words of Christmas" exchange. I finished the stitched part, and am almost done with the beading part. Then assembly and viola! Finished.

I received my HOE Lizzie Kate-themed ornament today! It came from Jayne at Jayne's Stitching Tales... all the way from the UK.

Thank you, Jayne!
It's adorable.

The postman was really good to me today! I also received the sweetest card from Glenna in KS thanking me for the great job I'm doing as coordinator of BFC in the ILCS group. She also included two skeins of floss... How thoughtful *big smile*. Thank you so much, Glenna!



SCHOOL
School is really sucking the life outta me up all my free time. Last week, we had our first quiz -- Luckily, we get to take them twice. The first time I got a "C"... Yikes. The second time I got 100%. Note to self, print the quiz questions and answers out when you take it the first time in case you don't remember how you answered the questions!

I have a 3-page "descriptive essay" on Monetary Policy due this week. (Let's hope it's not quite as descriptive as my last blog post!) Plus 3 chapters of reading (another 90+ pages), written assignments for each chapter, AND online postings.

Next week is midterm already! No re-takes on that bugger.

Until next time,