Where has the time gone?

I have been crazy busy the past several weeks working on classes, new policies for classes, cleaning up the curriculum and meetings. Ugh, the meetings. Well, I have made it through the first week of classes without pulling my hair out and I hope it will be smooth sailing the rest of the way. The ID computer lab is giving us fits. First the computers are slow, old and out of date and won't run the software correctly. Then we have had trouble getting the image correct. I am hoping this to shall pass. At this point, I don't know where we would find the funds to buy new computers.

Design Star

I have to find something to replace Top Chef with until Project Runway comes back and I hit upon HGTV's Design Star. The premise of the show is to find the next HGTV show host. I missed the first episode but I have figured out that Tracee is the villain of this seasons show, apparently she doesn't play well with others. This weeks challenge was to design a blank room with the essence of a country that they found in their empty paint can. There were seven remaining contestants so the odd designer had the advantage of choosing the country they wanted to be inspired by. Michael was the lucky designer to get to choose the country he wanted and he chose Spain since he had been there, knew the culture and etc, etc, etc. Michael instead of designing a room spent most of the episode laughing at or making fun of Tracee. In the end Michael was sent home, crying for his mommy. I guess what goes around eventually comes around, huh Michael.

"Who are those guys"

The U.S. Postal Service recently announced their 2008 commemorative stamp collections, including a 16 stamp collection commemorating the works of designers Charles and Ray Eames. I have been waiting patiently since January for June to come so I could pick up my set of stamps. Woo Hoo, they finally made their way to my local post office on Friday. I stopped by this morning to check to see if they were in and the postman said "yes we received them on Friday, who are those guys anyway?" I grinned and told him they were furniture designers. I love Eames chairs, I painted little watercolors of the plywood chair to give this years seniors as a good luck present. It is my goal to one day own two of the plywood chairs.

The Wedding!

My oldest daughter was married this weekend. It was a lovely wedding that took place at a local photographers place. Jennings Creek is located in Warren County, KY just west of Bowling Green. It is a beautiful setting with a wooded area and creek that is used to photography area high school senior pictures.

My daughter should become a wedding planner. She planned everything down to the smallest detail. Her invitations were in blue and two shades of green, representing the sky, trees and grass. The dinner napkins were bound with a strip of blue or green with twigs attached to the band. She took plain clear votive cups and decorated each differently with the outdoor theme such as painted leafs, the stripes on the wedding invitations and blue polka dots. Each aisle chair had a tin cup that held a single hydrangea. The bridesmaids selected their dresses that fit their personality. Every guest took home a memento of Strawberry jam that my Aunt made. She did a wonderful job and I am very proud of her.

Alas,it's now official I am 50!

Well the dreaded day has come and gone: I am now 50. Surprisingly I feel no different. There wasn't the magic fairy that came overnight to give me more wrinkles or age spots. Yes, I check my hands every morning for the dreaded age spot. My daughters treated me to a surprise party or in their words "a gathering." It was a lot of fun.

Tired, Tired, Tired and more Tired!

I have been a little weepy all week partly due to lack of sleep and mostly because I am sad that the senior class is leaving. They are a great group of talented women and I will miss them dearly. Our last class was yesterday and we reminisced a little about when they were freshmen. This is the first class I have had all four years. Ellie, a student from South Korea, came in late and was in a panic thinking that she needed to turn in her project to me in class. "I haven't slept all night trying to get this finished" We burst out laughing since the project is due next week. She is so much fun!
I am on the Landmarks Association board and we met for our monthly meeting yesterday. I had received an e-mail earlier in the week asking me to consider taking the VP position and I had agreed to do so not knowing that I would end up in the president's position. EEEK! what have I gotten myself into?

What a Week

This has been a crazy week in Kentucky. We printed the senior projects on Monday and Tuesday and installed them at the KY museum. The installation went well, it was actually a lot of fun. The seniors were layed back and hilarious. Poor Ellie, had worked nonstop for three days with little food and sleep to get her boards done. They really worked as a team to get everyone's work hung.
What I had planned to be a successful week at the university started off on the wrong foot. My guest speaker from 3-Form changed the date on me. She has been hard to get a hold of, I think she was hoping I would go away. The bright spot was a visit from the Sherwin Williams rep who talked about color trends for 2008. I love the colors and how they were used.
I am looking forward to this weekend, I am traveling to Louisville to see my daughter. My youngest daughter is in school at U of L studying electrical engineering. I also plan to do some shopping. I found this great blog on this shop that carries european antiques. I can't wait to see what she has.

Weekend Fun

Yesterday was a great day. I had breakfast with my oldest daughter Sarah and my husband. We went plant shopping in the cold drizzly KY weather. Sam and Sarah cleaned out the fish pond and I have 42 fish now. We had a mishap last year when Sam poured in the wrong chemical and killed all but two fish. So, I am happy to see the pond being productive over the winter. Our day ended with supper at our friends house. Randy and Denise are good friends that have had a couple of trying years with illnesses. Randy is recovering from a mini stroke, and has quit smoking and now eating more healthy. We love them dearly. Randy is a master cook and supper consisted of grilled chicken, grilled potatoes and onions and a grilled veggy medley. We ate, talked and laughed.
This morning I am checking e-mail and doing laundry while Sam continues to work on the outside to ready the house for spring. I will have to take photos when it is finished.

Earthquakes

Well, the scariest thing of nature in Kentucky to worry about is the occasional tornado. This morning I was awaken by vigorous shaking of the sofa I was sleeping on. I jumped to my feet about the time my husband was opening the bedroom door. At 4:30 in the morning, one can not make sense of their environment. I was more worried about it being a storm and never thought about an earthquake. Hmmm, don't those happen on the west coast? Let me tell you, I could not live in California. My husband opened the front door, calmly walked back upstairs, announced it's an earthquake, opened the door and promptly went back to sleep. This just makes me crazy, the man has no problem sleeping.
At 10:15 this morning, we felt an aftershock of 4.5. I have been amused by the chatter on facebook this morning from former students and present students along with my 19 year old daughter Samantha, who thinks this all fun.

Waiting for slow websites to load!

I teach interior design at Western Kentucky University. I love teaching and it amazes me how talented my group of students are. My problem solving class recently completed a new project using Photoshop, newspaper and fonts to create four self-portraits. Here is an example of one of the student's work.

When you want to get work done it never fails something will always get in the way. I am beyond frustrated right now waiting for blackboard to load so I can look at student projects. For those of you that are unfamiliar with "blackboard," it is a Internet course site where you can teach online courses or enhance your face-to-face course. I love working with blackboard except when it runs slow.

1st week of April

My husband and younger daughter have been in Costa Rica on a mission trip with our church Living Hope all week. I had received word last week that practically everyone on the mission trip were stricken with a nasty stomach flu. Costa Rica has an interesting practice of allowing thier pharmacies to dispense injections. Not sure I would want the local Wal~Mart giving me an injection.