A Short One...

I  just finished teaching class. I helped D change out the last catboxes and watered the food garden while he watered the flowers in the front yard. I'm bushed. I want time to relax with my  husband and the cats. 

For you beaders, please check out Elizabeth's bead giveaway! It ends tonight! Last chance to comment and get your name in the drawing! She has some fabulous beads in her collection, which has me drooling. (One of these days, I'll tell you about my drool-trails, which aren't as toxic as chem-trails.) Beads have that effect on me.  Elizabeth put together an eclectic mix of beads that are both cool and funky and fun. So if you bead a little or a lot--go check out her giveaway and leave a comment! 

We found critters eating up some of our plants, so now we have to get them off and out of the garden. It's OUR garden--not bugs! I'm not raising that food for them. Most people would reach for the bug spray or some other pesticide. Since I'm trying to protect my kidneys by growing my own food, I have can't use commercial pesticides either. I'm going to be pressing several garlic cloves into a spray bottle and let it sit for a day or two--making garlic tea. It should discourage most garden pests, and I'm hoping it works for these bugs.  

Tomorrow is a full day and I don't finish teaching until 8 in the evening. I finished some administrative stuff today so I'm hoping I grade papers in my spare time. And yes--I know I "stay pretty busy" but one of these days, we'll break down the A-Personality type (that's combined with a bit of OCD and anal retentiveness.)

Have a great week!
 

Catching You Up

 

This one of my favorite pictures of Merlin. He's sleeping on my beading table, basking in the waning afternoon sun, but covering his eyes. Some days, the sun does get in your eyes. If you look closely, you can see his fangs while he smiles. He's our smiling cat. If you want to see a goofy grin, just offer him some ice-cream. Vanilla is his favorite. 

The table was mine until the cats realized it was a perfect bird-watching, napping, and ambush table. They took it over, forcing me to bargain for the space underneath to store my rolling carts for craft supplies.

This has already been a week. I'm really tired and I have one more class to teach tonight. It's my late-night class, which means I won't be coming home much before 9:30 tonight. My husband told me he would meet me at the school to drive me home, but it's only 3 blocks. I'm sticking to my guns here and walking home. I'm happy to report that I'm not as exhausted as I was last week, so I'm acclimating to the new schedule! 

Walking home gives me a chance to come down, review the class, make mental notes of what needs to be included or deleted from the next lesson. Walking home gives me a chance to relax a bit before coming home to Harley demanding neck time; Lacey needing a cuddle because I was gone so long; Ava chirping about her evening; Cuddles and Gabby showing me how fast they ran the racecourse while I was gone; and Max giving me kitty-butt because I left and allegedly didn't tell him. *grins* It's not my fault he wasn't paying attention, but in a cat's view--it's always the human's fault. 

 

Anyway, I had an uplifting experience yesterday.  Remember the Bead Party I joined?  I received my beads from my beading partner! This isn't the best picture, but I just love the package she put together for me! It's blues, purples, and blacks--my favorite colors! I can't wait to create with these wonderful beads! I've already thought about making a necklace/earring combination or a bracelet/earring combination from this collection. Thank you Elizabeth!  

I did play with my beads Sunday. I bought these mocha colored poly-clay beads from Terri a while back. They've been sitting in one of my cases since. Last week, I read an inspiring post from Kathy over at Four Dog Day about using up crafting supplies on hand.  These beads kept itching at my consciousness after I read Kathy's post. On Sunday, I dug through some of my craft supplies to see what I had that would help me use these beads. This is what I came up with--and I really like it. 

It's different and lightweight and it's casual! Best of all, it gave me a reason to use that cute pendent and the picture jasper that I just love. The stringing material came from a small ball of fingering yarn that a friend gave me a while back. It was part of a bunch of yarn she grabbed for me because it was too good of a deal to pass up. This little tiny ball of yarn wasn't going to make anything other than a cat toy but it worked perfect for this set.

So what have you been up to this week? Catch me up! 


















 

Horse Out Walking

This week has been exciting and full for me. It's the first week back to school for the spring semester. I get new students and new class schedules. It's also significant because it's my first classes for the decade! That's just thrilling to me. Last decade I was a student--but this decade I get to teach! 

So between getting my syllabi wrapped up, answering students' questions about my classes, and thinking I was suddenly out of work, (in short there was a mix-up in school politics) and getting back to the grind--it's been a hectic week. I did manage to get one walk in with Mrs. C yesterday.  That walk was after I had been walked by a horse.

D decided to run to the store quickly before heading off to work, while I was still trying to resolve the am I working--or am I not working issue. When he came back, I had just finish posting my last class and went out to help him. He met me at the door with this cryptic comment: "Only in Las Vegas can you take a horse out for a walk." 

I looked over his shoulder and saw this:

 

 A few minutes later....

 Well it was obvious to me that the gentleman had business with the business when he came back around. So I offered my help in holding onto his horse for him. The horse, who is named Jonny and is 29 years old, had other plans. He wanted to go walking. When a horse his size wants to go walking, the best thing to do is let him go walking.  So we went walking up and down the block until the gentleman finished his business. 

It has been 23 years since I've been that close and personal with a horse. I used to work as a groom at a race track back in my crazy other life.  It was a nostalgic touch for me and it was nice meeting a new neighbor!