Sept 30, 2008

Today was very warm again. . .70's or low 80's. It was really quite pleasant. The trees are becoming quite striking, I'll try to get a shot soon.

I am enjoying the art class so much I continue to strugge with why I am torturing myself with organic chemistry and research paper writing classes. Hopefully, I will be able to pass these last two "drudgery" courses since I am so close to being finished. . .I have been toying with an art major/bio minor lately. I need to talk to my advisor and see if it is even possible.

The kids seem to be staying on track, but then again, I haven't really been able to watch them very closely as of late.

Ron is still enjoying his job, even though it wears him out.

Sept 28, 2008

Not much new going on here. . .The kids and I are busy with school, Ron is busy with work and both the vehicles are being temperamental just about now.

We went out to the show with Jim and Linda on Friday night. . .Dax and Ellie had the place to themselves as Kaili was at a sleepover and Adam was working. We saw a really funny movie. We continued to laugh and reminisce over doughnuts for quite awhile afterward.

I have two assignments due tomorrow, one of which is finished. The three older kids have a meeting later this evening at church, so I will work on the second one there. Ron and I should be passing in the driveway at around 6:30 since he will be getting home from work about the time I need to leave with the kids. I am having a great time with my drawing course. . .this is a picture of one of my projects.

We are still having very pleasant weather around here, warm days and cool nights.

Sept 24, 2008

Yesterday morning, Elizabeth came to me and said we had a visitor in the yard the night before. I asked her how she knew. . .then she informed me about the sizable gift this visitor had left. She went on to tell me she knew it wasn't one of our dogs, because we would have had to take a trip to the vet if it had been. For a sense of scale, the bottom photo includes the dogs (70 lbs and 50 lbs).

Fortunately our friend, Mr (or Mrs) Bear stayed out of our trash cans, but several of the neighbors weren't so lucky.

I am still crazy busy with school, and I'm sure I will be for the foreseeable future. I'm not quite caught-up with were I would like to be, but close.

The kids seem to be doing fairly well with their school work and the minimal supervision they are receiving at the moment. As the famous They say, "only time will tell."

The weather is slowly turning toward fall and more and more foliage is getting brightly painted. It is not quite freezing at night, but getting close. Today was cloudy and fairly cool.

Sept 22, 2008

I am glad today is essentially over!!! Monday's are a pain this semester. I had my draft research proposal due tonight, I got it finished with about 30 minutes to spare. Next week should be simpler,as I only have a small amount of polishing to do on it now.

Tomorrow morning I have an art project due and I am supposed to present another that is in progress for next week. So far the progress is a blank page taped to a cardboard drawing board. Maybe I will get a few ines on paper before bed tonight, as the bus I need to catch in the am is a fairly early one (7:20).

My husband and children think they are so clever!!!! We now have a new "F" word in our house. I mentioned that everyone was to have the jello with dinner (homemade pizza with a layer of zucchini) because it had fruit in it. No one eats enough fresh fruit around here, so I had put pink grapefruit and peaches in the cranberry flavored jello. Dax pointed out that I had said the "F"-word, and everyone thought that it was hilarious. Unfortunately, they almost view the two "F"-words with the same amount of disdain. I'll teach them to enjoy fruit, if it kills them!!!

Sept 20, 2008 cont . . .

This is my first art project. It is supposed to be 6 drawings of 2 different subjects. Each with different media, technique, scale etc.and composed into one piece.

I spent most of the day working on a draft proposal for English. I still have quite a bit of work left to do before it is ready to turn in Monday evening. I also worked a little on my Chem lab report and did a little yard clean up this evening.

I was originally planning to be on a field trip for the invertebrate zoology class this week-end; good thing we couldn't afford for me to go. I never would have been able to get the other work done that I need to.

Sept 20, 2008

Yesterday I did some schoolwork first thing in the morning then had a short day in class. The remainder of the day was spent grocery shopping with the family. . .so much for Ron's check!!!

After we dropped the kids and purchases at home we went to see "Righteous Kill" with Jim and Linda. It was not my favorite type of movie (very violent, some gratuitous sex), but the acting was excellent and it was an interesting story.

After the show, we met up with Jim and Linda again for a chat at "Timmie's" while Ron and I killed a couple of hours waiting for Adam to get off shift at 11:30.

The weather was warm and humid yesterday. . .

Enough stalling for now, I have a pile of schoolwork to do today!!!!

Sept 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Gary!

This is the underbelly of our new neighbor. I have no idea what type of spider he/she is, but we thought it was very striking looking. Its back has horizontal stripes. The whole thing is about an inch or so in size and has the stereotypical "orb" spider web.

Today was spent researching sources for a big English project I have coming up. I managed to do a couple of little sketches, some laundry and make a huge pot of beef stew, and start typing a formal lab report, but nothing else got done on the schoolwork front.

Tomorrow is a light classroom day, so I hope to make more progress on the books. The beginning of next week I have a large art project, a formal lab report, several readings, and a research paper "topic proposal" all due. I'm feeling the pressure crank up. . .

Sept 16, 2008

Today was a beautiful weather day. We worked on continuous contour line drawings in the horticultural gardens at school this morning. It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning. I came home and did some reading for invert class, then it was time to deliver kids to activities.

Ron and Adam worked. . .

All in all, a pretty low-key day.

Sept 15, 2008

Right now I am at school waiting for my last class of the day to begin. This week-end, we (mostly Ron) managed to get the trailer cleared out and put away for winter. The old dead Ford was literally pulled out of the macadam driveway and parked in the carport. Maybe Adam will start restoring it in the near future(?).

Last night and much of the day today, my inner-child had the matches out. My sleep was really deep, but broken by frequent restlessness; it felt as though I had been drugged. As a result, it has been a zombie day for me all day. Hopefully, I will snap out of it soon, I'm getting even less than usual done in this state. On a positive note, I did mange to catch the bus this morning!

This will be a late evening at school, then tomorrow is an early morning. It will be my first attempt at lugging all my art supplies on the bus. I have a large cloth bag to put my portfolio in and a backpack for the other stuff, so it should work OK, we'll just have to see how it all fits in the seat.

We have been enjoying really beautiful weather the last couple of days, although I have noticed some color coming out on the trees.

Another email

This is really good info, no if only I could learn to apply it better in my own life. . . .

Stress A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.' He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. ' 'As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.' 'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down Don't carry it home You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.' So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

---

Walt Handelsman (politcal animations and cartoons)

Check these out, some of the animations are quite funny.

Link

Corn Roast

Tonight was the annual corn roast at church. There were over 200 people there. Jim and Linda joined us for the festivities.
I actually did a little organic chem this evening while waiting for the festivities to begin this evening. One of the challenges I am looking at this term is the seduction I feel toward the drawing class. I am required to turn in a minimum of three sketches per week in addition to any "normal" assignment. These are my latest sketches. I am interested to see what I can do with it.
Ron and I met with the girls' teacher today, and they have both advanced to their next year. Elizabeth is now in grade 5, Kaili is in grade 7. I am hopeful Kaili will begin making up lost ground now.
Gas prices went up by 15 cents per liter overnight last night!
That's it for now. . .

September 12, 2008

I have been keeping my "main" blog at www.margrose.multiply.com. I thought it was cross-posting to this blog, but apparently not for the last few months. I hope to have remedied the problem now. If you are curious what the Hodacesek clan has been up to you can check that blog out. . .there are lots of pictures too.