Geology grade!

My final grade was a 74.1%!  Yay!!!  He gave me 185 out of 220 points for my final paper.  The topic was to find a local natural resource and write about the waste associated with it.  Since I live in a large farming community, I visited local farms, grocery stores, and restaurants.  There is approximately 1 ton a week of locally grown produce that is thrown away, not because it is rotten, but because it is bruised, not so shiny, etc, and the public prefers the perfect fruits and vegetables.  Our Brownie troop is working on a project now in conjunction with the local food pantry to pick up those fruits and vegetables before they are thrown away and distribute them to those who are hungry.  My professor told me "bruised fruits are not exactly a local natural resource and therefore difficult to argue as a proper topic, but you did write the paper well."  He MUST be a city boy!! 

Now, I just need to wait on my final grade for my Elementary Math class and I can order my diploma!!!!  Break time until April 10 when I start my Bachelor's in Elementary Education program.

On a stitching note, I've been working hard on 3 projects. I'm stitching an angel for a RR in one of my Yahoo groups.  I've almost got her done.  One more good day of stitching!

I made some progress on Coffee Angel.  I did another 10 rows on the left border and about five rows on her dress.  

In my Every Stitch Counts group, we are doing a monthly SAL with houses designed by Karen of Sunshine Stitches.  This is my January house so far.  I'm having a difficult time with it because I don't like the fabric I picked.  Since I want to make individual ornaments out of it, I'm thinking about using a different fabric for the rest of them.

Here is Mariah's little band of merry 'men'.  My friend, Carla, crocheted the outfits and sent her those and the dolls wearing them.  The brown and blue outfit also has a bag with it and we're hoping it will fit Mariah's Bitty Baby.  However, the Bitty Baby has taken a trip to see Grandma (read - Mariah can't remember where she put it right this minute!) so we can't try it on just yet.

Well, I need to go get ready for work.  Talk to y'all later!!



Ornament SAL

I've joined an ornament SAL with my stitching friends Meari, Pam, Shelley, and Mary Ann.  I'm trying to do 1 ornament a month and thought this would spur me along!  My list is:

JCS 2011 Ornament issue:

'Santa's Greeting'  - finished 01/15/12
Christmas Quilt
Good Tidings to You
Peace on Earth
Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches
Love and Joy
Here Comes Santa Claus
Noel Stamp Ornament
Robin's Christmas
The Gift
Merry Motifs
Christmas ABC

And the winner is. . .

Theresa from Every Stitch Counts!!!  Theresa, I will put the kit in the mail tomorrow. 

Another finish

I've had a very busy week.  I got to work an entire 11.75 hours!  I wish that they would either decide to hire me full time or tell me that they're going to hire someone else and get it done.  Most days I drive 1 hour to get there, work 2 hours, then drive 1 hour to get home.  Oh, well, at least it's work.

So far this year I've finished 4 items.  The 4th one I started this morning and finished a little bit ago.  I took several pictures and they all came out blurry.  Sorry!  It's an ornament from the 2011 JCS ornament issue.  It's actually the first one in the book.  I'm going to do at least one a month this year, but I haven't decided if they're going on our tree or will be gifts for someone else.

I'm working on a SAL with Karen of Sunshine Stitches designing a house every month this year.  Here's my progress on the January house.

I'm also doing a UFO challenge and right now the UFO I'm working on is 'Coffee Angel'.  I got another section of 10 stitches done all the way across this week.

I have one more week of school left.  Finals are next week. Then I graduate with my AA in Elementary Education.  I have a break until April 10 so I'm going to use that time to organize and get rid of a lot of things that we don't need.

I've also put out an ad for tutoring and homeschooling.  I've already had one parent contact me so hopefully I'll get a couple of students and can quit Office Team.

Well, till next time - how was YOUR week?

Doing happy dance & PIF

I finished LK's 'Housework Never Killed Anyone' this morning. I just need to find a frame for it now. 

This is already my 3rd finish for the year!

Ok, now for the PIF.  This chart and the threads for it were a PIF from my stitching friend, Carol.  Now, it will go to someone else.  If you're interested, post a comment with your name here.  On Monday, I will pick 1 name and that person will get the chart and the threads that are left.  All the threads are either GAST or WDW.  So, want a LK kit??

Happy New Year!

Well, the New Year starts off with a bang!  It's storming here, thunder, rain, horrible wind.  Unless it stops, we'll be staying at home today!

We're all doing well.  I'm working at a job that I like better than most.  It's not a teaching-type position, but it's good pay, fairly close to home and easy work.  And a full benefits package.  They've asked me about staying on full time, and I told them we would talk after the holidays, but it would be an awful lot to work 8:30-5pm 5 days a week (1 hour commute makes it 7:30-6pm), go to school full time, homeschool Mariah, and keep up with all the housework, etc.  I need to think about it some more.

Mariah's doing well with her homeschooling, but wants to be in a classroom.  I've started looking at alternatives to the local public school and found a Montessori school in Joliet that I want to look in to.

My class ends January 22.  I will graduate then with my AA degree in Elementary Education.  At that point, I can start looking for a teacher's aid position, which is why I'm not certain about taking the full time position I'm temping at now.

We've been working on the house - started doing repairs that we need to do before we can put it up for sale.  The hot water relief valve has now been replaced and the roof is almost fixed.  We knew that a new roof had been put on the summer before we bought the house - 2 1/2 years ago - so when we started seeing leakage around the back door and the front hallway we started questioning.  The roof near the back door was damaged in the hailstorm we had a few months ago and we're finally seeing the damage.  The previous owners built an entryway on the front that is enclosed, but not insulated.  Where the addition attaches to the house there is a gap and as the water runs off the roof, it's going into the gap.  Our homeowner's adjuster came out and allowed $1200 for repairs.  Rich and the neighbor (who is a roofer/contractor/all around handy guy) have been working on the repairs.  What they found was that the new roof was put on OVER the old roof and no vents placed in the new roof.  There was a good amount of mold and mildew between the roof and the ceiling and they sprayed and Killzed it.  The leaks are all taken care of, now they just need to put in new vents and spray again to keep the mold from coming back.  But that will have to wait for better weather!

Crafting

I've gotten lots of projects of all kinds done this last year.  Cross stitch, crocheting, and one-stroke painting have all been lots of fun.  I didn't get my projects that I had planned done, but there's always this year!  I'm participating in a couple of SALs this year, as well as a UFO challenge.  http://stitchersufochallenge.blogspot.com/

Other than that, I'm just going to play it by ear.  I've been selling jars of sugar scrub in various scents for $10 a jar.  I have a 2 month break between my AA degree and my Bachelor's program so I'm going to use it to take some sewing lessons. 

Right this minute, I'm rotating between:  1. LK's 'Housework Never Killed Anyone'; 2. a crocheted sweater for my niece; 3.  House SAL; 4.  a model stitching project; 5.  cards/gifts/etc.

Giveaway

My friend, Sarah, is having a giveaway on her blog  http://craftymoo-sarah.blogspot.com/.  Take a walk over and look!

And how has YOUR year been?