Thanksgiving and More

THANKSGIVING
I hope those in the U.S. had a great Thanksgiving holiday. This year, my sibling families scattered for the holiday, so it was just me, the BF, and my parents. I did something I haven't done in almost 25 years... Cook a Thanksgiving dinner! I did come up with a couple of tips for those who are a bit rusty, like myself:

TIP #1
When using the water method of thawing a turkey, it does not mean to drown the poor thing. After all, it's already dead!


This is what happens when I try to multi-task. I walked away to check my email while the sink was filling up. You know how it is... I got immersed in reading and then "Oh Crap!" Off I ran to the sink. I'm not exaggerating when I say: Five seconds later and water would've been running onto the floor! See how the water went over the right side of the sink and across the stainless steel portion of the counter? Luckily, there's a ridge around it!

TIP #2
When the store bought pie instructions say "keep frozen until baking time" and "let sit for TWO hours after baking", they really do mean it! I couldn't bring myself to take a photo of the resulting pie, but suffice to say I had one very runny apple pie.

Here are the results of my manual labor:


It looks burnt on top, but it really wasn't. The darkness is herbs under the skin of the turkey.


The BF made homemade baked Mac & Cheese. So yummy, and of course calorie free!

My Mom brought Udon (yummo). We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and biscuits. I ate so much my tummy hurt, LOL.

All in all, it was a nice Thanksgiving. I'm lucky I have people in my life who really do care about me - both in R/L and online. With the economy the way it is, I'm also grateful I have enough as I know there are many others who do not.

SCHOOL
I'm in the homestretch now... Week 6. Next week, I have my second paper due in addition to the normal textbook reading, postings, and homework. I'm not feeling so bad that I "don't get" and am not "digesting" the textbook reading assignments since my CPA coworker told me that she didn't get anything out of the auditing class when she took it.

STITCHY STUFF
Not a lot of stitching done last week, but I did finish Part 7 of Purple Garden. Only two more parts to go! I do believe I will make the December 31st deadline required by the SAL.

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.

I've also been stitching the bonus pin pillow chart that goes with the iStitch "Sew A Mystery" SAL I finished a couple weeks ago. There's not much to show other than the border, so I don't have a pic to share.

I've decided to participate in Daffycat's Totally Useless SAL (TUSAL) for 2012. I am so glad she posted the dates for the new moon, LOL.

Last week was my 6 year blogversary. I've been working on a project for one lucky reader of this blog. Stay tuned!

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 11/28/11

SCHOOL/GRADUATION
Last week, I had a surprise delivered to the office.

My BFF couldn't make it to the graduation ceremony so she had flowers delivered to the office, and mailed a card to me. How sweet is that?!?

I'm at the midway point in my final semester. I had a midterm exam last week. FOUR more weeks to go. Just four!

GIVEAWAY
Lesli at Fabulous Frogger is hosting a giveaway. The unique part of it is that the more followers she gets, the more things she adds to the giveaway. How fun is that?

STITCHY STUFF
Finally! I finished Parts 4, 5, and 6 of Purple Garden. Only 3 more parts to go.

Marvelous Monday Update 11/14/11

For all the wonderful comments regarding my commencement ceremony last week. Wow, I'm still amazed and thrilled at how many of you took the time to congratulate me!

STITCHY STUFF
Now that graduation is over, I'm settling into my routine again. I finished the last part of the iStitch Mystery SAL. I ended up frogging the initial box twice and finally decided to use one of the other motifs instead. What a bugger it is to frog over-one stitching. I highly don't recommend it!


I'm also almost finished with Parts 4 and 5 of Purple Garden. I ran out of the purple thread. One would think with as much floss as I have, it'd be there somewhere. Nope! After getting the needed floss, I went to town on stitching. Here's what it looks like now:


Last week, Shanda asked what the backs of projects looks like, so I thought I'd share mine here:

iStitch Mystery SAL

Purple Garden

Treasured Memories Quilt Afghan

Guess what? It's my blogversary at the end of this month! Six years ago I started blogging. Lots of bloggers celebrate by doing a giveaway amongst the commenters of a particular post. I'm going to do something different to celebrate my blogversary! Not gonna tell you what, though... that would take all the fun out of it, LOL. Suffice to say, I'm working on a stitchy project. Shhh! It's secret.

And now onto other stitchy news...

I have had Maia's Winter Majesty on my wishlist for a long, long time. Thanks to some retail therapy on eBay, I was able to get the UK kit for less than 1/2 the price it normally costs! Look at this gorgeous piece of art:

The packaging
What it looks like in its entirety
Look at that beautiful face!

YUM-YUMs
Have you ever had pumpkin muffins? I made some over the weekend and they are DE-lish. This was my first attempt at baking them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Absolutely scrumptious!!



TREASURE HUNTING
Oh Yeah! (I feel like the kool-aid pitcher guy. Remember him?) I found a hinged double 8x10 frame from the 1960's-70's that I'm going to use as part of a birthday present. More on that present to come in December -- I am so excited about it! Also found a desktop pencil holder like I bought years ago for my desk at work. Why is it when you buy a product in the store and really-really like it, it gets discontinued? Anywho, now I have one for my desk at home for a HUGE fraction of the cost I paid for the one I have at work. Now for the "good" awesome finds:

I flipped through every "project" in this book. The information and photos are great! Easy to understand, and even gives good tips on using various things around the house.

Wouldn't you like to "play around" in this workshop?? I would!

These are photos on the inside cover of this book:

Even though I know how to frame, there is a section in the book that talks about making your own frames. So you know me... Ms DIY... I figured it'll come in handy one day.

Years ago, I tried my hand at making Teddy Bears, and still have supplies to make them. The ones in this book are so adorable. It even tells how to dye the fur, which is really cool! The patterns are full size so it should be easy peasy to whip one or two up. Can you believe this gem was only 10cents?

If you love Victorian stitching, these older Leisure Arts books are wonderful! A couple of projects that caught my eye:

Kissing Ball
Isn't this pretty?
Victorian Santa Ornaments
Santa and his reindeer.
I really, really love this project!

Here's another ten-center. I mainly wanted this magazine for "The Stitcher" project in it.

All of the books/magazines (except for the Crafts Encyclopedia) above were purchased at our local VOICES used bookstore. VOICES is a domestic violence program in my area. Having had to utilize the program about 20 years ago, it does my heart good that my purchases are going to a good cause. If I can get my act together, I'll be gathering up the books I no longer want and donating them to VOICES.

The Graduate!

No, not the movie... silly people... Moi! I graduated on Saturday with a BSBA, majors in accounting and finance, minor in business management. It's been a long, stressful road, but I did it! I graduated Suma Cum Laude (Highest Honors, 3.9GPA) and made the Dean's List. Thank you all for reading about my trials and tribulations, rants and complaints. The comments ya'll have left me raised my spirits on more than one occassion, so THANK YOU from my heart.

Here's my graduation self-portrait. Yes, I actually took this myself! Don't I look "smart"?!

As commencement day arrived, I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. It wasn't until we lined up to walk into commencement ceremonies did I get emotional. A little girl came up to the graduate behind me and said to her, "You look SO beautiful!" and gave her a hug. I expressed to the grad how sweet it was. She explained the girl was her niece, and that she had told herself she wasn't going to cry. The grad, that is. I teared up a little at that point.

This was one of our speakers. He has a PhD in history and teaches at one of the other campuses. He spoke really well and it was his words that made me tear up again. Amongst other things, he talked about how the grads spent hours after their work day studying, and while family/friends enjoyed their weekends... grads spent their time doing homework. Everything he said was everything I'd been through over the past 2 years. I've missed out on more than a few things due to having to study or take exams.

Here I am being conferred my diploma.
After graduation, I invited my parents and the BF to my house for food. The BF gave me these beautiful flowers that he had the florist create especially for me. Aren't they beautiful?!

Not to be outdone, my Dad picked a petunia from one of my containers and gave it to me. LOL You'd have to know my Dad... That's his sense of humor!