RAK'd Again!

In today's mail, I received two leaflets from Debra in GA. I had commented that I liked oriental designs, and she sent me two leaflets!

Both were by Serendipidy Designs:
Orientals
Far East

Thank you, Debra!

Monday Madness 10/30/06

1. Small town or big city? Small town

2. Do you have a favorite childhood memory, and if so, would you share it? Playing “house” with my brothers/sister; Teaching my two youngest siblings how to hit a baseball; Teaching my sister to color inside the lines and how to make doll clothes

3. How do you calm down when something has really upset and/or angered you? Do you swallow it? Call a friend and rant? Go in the bathroom and cry? Punch a wall? Walk around muttering to yourself, complete with scary hand gestures? When I am frustrated/hurt, I cry. When I am angry, I silently fume.

4. What attratcs you to memes? It makes one think about things you might not otherwise think about.

5. How reliant are you on computers to get through your day? Very reliant. My job depends on them. I’ve had a computer at home since I was 18 and doubt I could get through the day without using it!

6. In a crisis, are you calm or do you panic? Calm.

Monday Madness

Freedom is Finished!

Stitchy Stuff
With almost 200 hours of stitching time, Freedom is finally finished! I stayed up until well after midnight on Friday night to finish it. It’s now washed and pressed, waiting to be framed. (This counts as #3 for my Project Challenge.) As luck would have it, Hobby Lobby is having a 50% off sale on frames this week. I may check out Michael’s too. For those who want to see the finished product, I won’t be posting a pic until after it’s framed. So you’ll just have to wait a bit longer!!

I started an ornament for an exchange I’m in. I’m stitching it over-one and have had to frog it a couple of times already. I find it’s easier to just cut the stitches out than to try and unpick them. It’s a strain on the eyes to do over-one, that’s for sure! I also worked on the Treasured Memories Quilt afghan.

Cooking
Over the weekend, I tried two more new recipes: Crockpot Southwestern Chili and Jambalaya Kebobs. Due to the ingredients I had, I changed the chili recipe so much that I’m not sure it’d be considered ‘southwestern’ anymore. LOL It turned out good, though. The kebobs turned out awesome, too! They were done on the grill.


JAMBALAYA SAUSAGE KEBOBS & RICE

2 small zucchini (about 6oz ea), cut diagonally into ¾” slices
1 red pepper, cut into 1¼” pieces
½ small onion, cut into 4 wedges
4 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 pkg. (16oz) kielbasa or cooked smoked sausage, cut diagonally into 1” chunks
1 large celery, chopped
2 c. cooked white rice
1 med. tomato, chopped
2 tbsp. water
Wood skewers

Soak skewers in water overnight. In large bowl, toss zucchini, pepper, onion, 3 tsp. olive oil, and 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning. Alternately thread vegetables on skewer. Place skewers on hot grill and cook 10-12 minutes until kielbasa browns and vegetables are tender crisp, turning skewers occasionally. Remove skewers from grill and put on platter.

In skillet, heat 1 tsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add celery and 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes or until celery softens, stirring occasionally. Stir in rice, tomato, and water. Cook 3 more minutes, or until everything is blended and hot. Serve rice with kebobs.

School
One of my group members was suppose to have the report outline to me last Wed. She came to class and said she'd email it to me by Friday. Friday comes and goes... No email. Saturday afternoon arrives and I finally get the email. I opened the attachment and what do I see? Garbage! You know... all those funky squares and odd characters... where there's suppose to be decipherable wording? Thank goodness she put her phone number in the email! I called right away. She re-sent it using a different file extension, plus copied and pasted it into the email (at my request). I spent a good 2 1/2 hours on Sunday writing the lab report on Prairie Diversity. I have a couple of questions for the instructor before the final copy can be printed.

Movies Watched
• Spanglish
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

2 Tests Down, 2 To Go

There is a woman who sits to the left of me in Ecology class. Picture this woman feverishly taking notes while the instructor is lecturing... writing down everything, and I mean everything he says. And everything he writes on the blackboard. Also picture this woman making note cards to study from. Really, there is nothing wrong with note cards, if they help. Now that you have this image in your mind... Know, too, that this same woman obsessed for at least a week over taking the first test. OK, so we take the first test and she gets her score back – she was VERY disappointed that she got a “C”. Fast forward to tonight when we got our second test scores back. She got hers before I got mine. I didn’t see her score, but after she lifted the edge of the paper to look underneath to see what she got, she did this little happy dance with her upper body and hands. So I thought to myself: She must’ve gotten an “A”. That was not the case. Later, I saw she got a “B” and barely one, at that. She was the last one to finish the exam, too. LOL People are funny.

That brings me to my score. Drum roll please... I got an “A”!! What really amazes me is that the questions I really had trouble with were the ones I got right. Go figure! The instructor tells us that the night class (meaning us) does so much better than his other classes. One of my classmates says that's because most of us work jobs and we take school seriously, unlike the "Daywalkers". So that’s 2 tests down, and 2 more to go.

My group also got our Aquatic Biodiversity lab report back. The instructor had them for 3 weeks before giving them back to us! My heart sunk to the floor when I saw all the red on every page! Apparently, this instructor likes to leave comments – and lots of them. When it was all said and done, we got an “A” on it, too! Talk about relief. All the students were becoming worried because we have another report due next week and the instructor said he’d get the first ones back so we could see what we did wrong.

I’m waiting for an outline from my other group members so I can write the next lab report. Prairie Diversity, here I come...

Stashy Day

A trip to the post office and what do I spy? A big package from my secret sister! Woo Hoo... a stash fix. It's tough, you know, being on a stash diet due to the Project Challenge! So I take solace where I can...



In today's package was:
• 3 charts: Good Yule by Shepherds Bush, Feather Tree Friends by Schoolroom Samplings, and Christmas Roses I by Mary Beale
• a mini note pad/pen and magnetic list pad featuring Santa and Holly
• sleigh bells decoration (nice sounding bells!)
• a lavender journal featuring what else but Lavender!
• 2 skeins of SSS floss from my wish list (Mocha & Rhubarb)

I think there was a theme to this package, don't you?? Sleigh bells ring, are you listening... In the lane, snow is glistening... And you know what else? She's very sneaky -- She puts MY address on the return address part of the envelope! Thank you, Secret Sister. Thank you.