MCP Project 52: Week 1 - Something Around the House

Just because I *clearly* do NOT have enough hobbies, read enough blogs, start enough projects, take enough photos..etc, I decided to join yet another weekly challenge... and that is MCP Project 52: Photo a Week. So look forward to a weekly photo of something completely random!

This week's theme was around the house. So of course I had to include Gary, who has the all important job in our household (ie apartment) of holding down the floor. Good job, Gary! Just for kicks and giggles (and in pursuit of creativity), I went for the double greyhound shot. Looking at my photo now..I wish I had moved the bowl from the left side as I find it distracting from the look I wanted to acheive. Oh well! I present to you....my first Project 52 submission :)

Peace and Love...and TGIF!!!!!

P.S. Please remember that GRAPES and RAISINS are toxic to dogs (as well as an assortment of other things). Just thought I'd put that out there just in case you didn't know. <3

Draw! Sketch! Doodle! Weekly Challenge #1

I started a new blog (http://drawsketchdoodle.blogspot.com/) to challenge myself and whoever else wants to participate to improve drawing skills through a weekly assigment/challgenge. This week's challenge was to draw a shoe - any shoe! The shoe I chose is a very special shoe to me. I wore this shoe (and its mate) to my vet school interviews 3.5 years ago ^_^ So it's been with me through some important milestones :)


I used a regular old mechanical pencil for the pencil drawing and a micron pen for the other two sketches. My hubby says I shortened the shoe and maybe drew it a bit twisted ^_^ So there's room for improvement!


I would absolutely love it if you decided to take up the challenge this week and join me on my journey to learn how to draw.



Peace and love to you all! God Bless!

Happy New Year

So what did Chase and I do today??


Chase made a bundt cake...it stuck to the pan. How frustrating!

We had black eyed peas with ham for lunch. Favorite meal of the day :)



We ate at Addison's as the first stop in our A to Z tour of Columbia Restaurants! We ate their nachos and they were quite good :)

I did another hybrid project: a birthday organizer!! All the pages are in my Sweet Shoppe gallery. I had a lot of fun making it, although I cut myself with the paper cutter and bled on May. Maybe I should stick with digital...less bloodshed!

We ended the day by looking at highly decorated tree called the Magic Tree. It was quite wild!

A hybrid project to encourage healthier living

What the heck is a hybrid project? It's a project that combines digital scrapbooking with paper scrapbooking. I made this little mini-album to fit in my purse to remind me to eat healthy. I think I'll wait to start it until tomorrow though..maybe by then I'll have finished off all the sweets left over from Christmas! Credits are over in my Sweet Shoppe Gallery (link on side bar).

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 was tough. My grandpa fell early on the morning of Christmas Eve. We called an ambulance and he was taken to the nearest hospital. So George and I took over all the Christmas Eve Party preparations while we waited to hear news from the hospital. As soon as we found out Papa was going into surgery that evening, we went to the hospital to wish him well and give him a hug. Later that afternoon, the party went on as planned with the addition of a heart felt prayer for my grandpa.

The surgeons said everything went well and he should be on the road to recovery. Maybe he'll even be better than before, because the doctors found that he was anemic before the surgery which could have caused weakness. I'm hopeful that after identifying the cause the anemia, the 3 units of blood he recieved, and a repaired broken leg...he'll be feeling much better.

Christmas with my husband's family :) During our time here, I received news that another family member could be in peril. Let me just say I believe in the power of prayer, as the prayers for that person's immediate safety were answered that night.



Chase and I arrived back in Missouri this afternoon to find a rather unpleasant email from Chase's boss - turns out Chase is in trouble for going home over Christmas. We stayed an extra day and he accidentally missed a lab meeting. I hope his boss understands given the situation with my family this season. So pray that his boss will be merciful in the upcoming week...and that Chase will be very industrious with writing his journal artical...due this week. God help us!


So Christmas 2010 was a bit rough, but I feel blessed to witness so many prayers anwered over this season. Of course, the biggest blessing of all is the reason for season. I believe with all my heart and soul that God sent his only son, Jesus, to save sinners like me. I hope and pray you believe and accept Him too. Although this world is falling apart and seems full of sorrow and trials, there is a hope and peace that rises above it all.

Much love and JOY to all of you! God Bless!

WOYWW

What the heck is WOYWW? Head on over to The Stamping Ground to find out! I actually managed to take a shot this week of my latest project. I'm making my family members rice packs that heat up in the microwave. :) I don't know if I'll get them all finished, but I'm at least making one each for my brother and his girlfriend who were recently in a car accident. Thank the Lord that neither was injured seriously, but I'm sure they'll find themselves a bit achy in the upcoming weeks.





Here are some recent scrapbooking layouts I've done. Credits for supplies used are over my Sweet Shoppe Gallery (link in side bar). I'm working for a 40% off coupon in their monthly portfolio challenge... then I'm going on a SHOPPING SPREE in there (well...as much as one as a poor grad student can reasonably afford). PEACE and LOVE to all of you.... and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Well I'm off to rounds, and then I'm picking up hopefully 2 dogs that need to be delivered to their new homes (7 hours from here)! I LOVE finding homes for dogs!

All about FOOD!!

This week I planned out all my meals and made a grocery list ahead of time. So we have eaten well this week! AND I've cleaned the kitchen and all the dishes immediately prior to finishing our meals. For that, I'm giving myself a pat on the back. Now to keep it up and make it a habit!

This week's creations (and Ruby)


A siggy for the Sweet Shoppe forum!

Ginger pork

Vegetable oil
1 square inch of fresh ginger root, chopped
1# pork
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
package of stir fry frozen veggies
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
3 green onions
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine

In wok, heat the oil, add the ginger, pork, soy sauce, salt and sugar. Cook, stirring occationaly until pork is done (10 minutes or so). Add veggies and green onions and more soy sauce to taste. Cook until veggies are done. Stir in sesame oil and rice wine. Eat it up!

Ruby wanted to be featured in today's post (she told me so). She also says she's sorry for eating the angel ornament... she's been a very naughty dog! It's a good thing she's so cute!

Look! I've been scrapbooking again! Credits are in the sweet shoppe gallery (see link on the side bar).

Saturday Morning! Who Wants Clean House?

Random recent artwork:

Betta fish for my Colorful Betta Fish swap.

Greyhound Valentine!

Today is Saturday! It's a dreary, windy, cold day. Chase and I are sitting at the coffee table sipping our coffee and staring at the austere landscape out our back door. In a few minutes I'll start picking up my messy apartment. I just can't seem to get in the habit of keeping a neat house. How does one even go about developing that? Ah...how I envy the people who are born neat. Ok, ok..I know one goes about developing neatness...but it's so much work (answer: developing neat habits one at at time..and not sweating the small stuff). Chase and I have been a bit under the weather for the last couple of weeks, and I've let the apartment go. It doesn't help that our dishwasher doesn't get dishes clean, Ruby's favorite activity is tearing paper/napkins/tissues to shred all over the floor, and we're trying not to run the heat (so all my arts and crafts get moved to the common room). But today I'm going to whip it into shape! Hahaha....then maybe I'll start on developing some habits of neatness...but what first? Well I'm off to a mini-craft fair :) Maybe I'll come home and paint a bit!

Clementine and James Herriot-like Adventures

Yesterday, Chase and I went to meet Clementine, the Chinese Crested/Beagle mix that Will and Lauren are adopting as a companion to Marcel (link on the sidebar). She is such a sweet cutey! I'm so happy she's going to a good home.

This past week, I started my Food Animal Rotation (I made an A in Pathology!!!) and started out on ambulatory service. Aside from marching out to farms in my bright pink boots (which always get a second look if not a comment from the client), I feel just like James Herriot! It's fun to work the cattle and try to figure out just exactly what the farmer is trying to say. Of course, I'm stil standing by my "never touch a cow again" promise once I'm out of vet school...but it is fun now!


Peace and Love.

Just a normal day in November

Today is just your average November Sunday afternoon, but I thought I'd share some pictures just the same.

The dogs are peacefully snoozing.

General Iroh is zooming around his new tank. We felt sorry for him enduring the cold. After all the poor fellow is an ectotherm, and 55F is hardly a suitable ambient temperature for him. Anyway, I hope he perks up a bit with the new heater and bigger tank. I know 10 gallons and a water heater seem to be a bit much for one solitary betta fish, but Chase and I felt obligated to take care of the creature we bought.

We snapped this photo today. I wanted a Thanksgiving photo of the two of us, but we never got around to it. So here is our Sunday-after-Thanksgiving photo. :)

Snow Buntings

Chase dragged me out of bed this morning in pursuit of this lovely little bird. We found 5 of them and they were kind enough to be still for a photo.

It's back to the daily grind tomorrow as I have finals on Monday and Tuesday... therefore I have to study tomorrow. I can't wait to start the next block! And I really, really don't want to study!!


Peace and Love!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This Thanksgiving marked the first time Chase and I have celebrated this holiday apart from our families. We had fun, but both of us really missed our family. I've been itching to watch The Incredibles or Blindside all day...probably because they are movies about family. We had a lovely evening just the same. All of my friends came over, and we all worked together to make an excellent Thanksgiving day meal. I made the dressing/stuffing.

Chase helped me put up the tree!!

Beth and the turkey!

This is our fabulous meal (a huge meal for just 7 people). We had mashed potoatos, brocoli, cheesy potato casserole, cranberry salad, salad, dressing, bread, texas sheet cake, apple pie, and pumpkin pie! We also had an assortment of drinks, however I stuck to plain ole soda b/c I was on call. I came in second at a game of scrabble, and kicked some booty at Uno... Now Chase and I are sitting enjoying the peace of the evening...he's watching football, and I'm working on a take home toxicology test

and that's the whole evening!

I'm hopeful I won't get called for the rest of the night too! I enjoy sleeping so much :)