What started out as a fun turned into a little competition with a great big reward.  I am a college student at the best school.  Mid-Continent University, Mayfield, Kentucky, has a program geared toward adults returning to college to obtain their Associates or Bachelor's degree.  They had proposed a T-Shirt Contest for each class.  We received our shirts and brain stormed what was we going to do to have the best picture that would earn the most likes.  We decided to go downtown and take our picture at either the fountain or the caboose.  Ronnie was put in charge of the sign.  We knew he was artistic but we had no idea how much so. When we all arrived down town that afternoon before class Ronnie, being the great guy he is, had already set up the camera on a tri-pod, had the sign ready and all we had to do was jump in the shot.  Becky's husband Doug, came to push the button for the "award winning photo".

Ronnie was put in charge of the sign.  

We knew he was artistic but we had no idea how much so. 

After MCU posted the photo on their Face Book page we went to work trying to get the most votes.  At the end of the contest we only had 196 votes, we knew this was not enough votes to win.  Then they started announcing the winners, honorable mentions and then our picture appeared on FB with the "most votes by teachers"  We won! ok it might not of been by likes but at that point it didn't matter.  WE WON! to us that was just as important as winning.  But at the end it wasn't really about winning or losing we had had a blast doing this!

Jackie, our MCU counselor, came to visit our co-hort and let us know we could either have a meal catered or go out.  We chose going out.  We also wanted to invite a guest.  Jackie told us that would be ok (our guest had to pay for their meal).

We chose The Keg since it was in Fulton, the town we meet in to attend class.  All I can say about this evening is it was a BLAST!  Thank you MCU Advantage for putting on the Photo Contest and taking us out on the town.

We had the private room too! 

Here we are as a group along with our guest.

Here is our group photo.  

Sorry to say we was missing two of our group members.

We played Dirty Santa and this is the ornament 

I won.  Every year I will hang this on my

tree and remember the "Photo Contest Dinner"

 Doug & Becky 

We also decided to take pictures 

by the Christmas Tree

Lisa & Darrell

 

We also made it into the MCU 2013 Calendar

Winners or losers of the Photo

contest, we are already winners 

with friendships like these! 

Would love to win the giveaway

I have a funny story, i have been wanting to try my hand at painting, no i'm not talking about painting a wall, i'm talking about on canvas.  By no means i'm not an artist, i do not even like my own hand writing. If I have to hand write something I always try to get my daughter, Caitlin, to do it or maybe one of the secretaries in the office.  With all the neat whimsical paintings on Pinterest it's made me have an itch to do it, but I also knew there wouldn't be much hope for me to have anything come out of this "itch" .  Last Saturday Caitlin, Chase & I all had hair appointments, but it being Saturday we didn't have to be in a hurry.  I did my daily morning routine checking out FaceBook to see if anything exciting had happened in our little town overnight.  Scrolling down I saw a group of ladies had been to a nearby town, Murray, KY and they had done exactly what I had been wanting to do "paint on canvas" and I know some of these ladies wasn't artistic either.  So after stalking these ladies about their painting as to where they done it at, how much it cost, & etc we was almost late for our getting beautiful appointment.  So here we was sitting in the beauty salon and Jessica is talking about having some type of party in the salon on Sunday afternoon.  I thought who would want to have a party in a salon?  They continued to talk about how to arrange the tables, moving the stations, salon chairs. Well I kept on listening, since i didn't have anything else to do while Jessica worked her magic and was washing that gray right out of  my hair, as they talked back and forth among the beauticians and other customers who was there getting beautified.  I still couldn't understand what kind of party was they having, so me being me I just asked Jessica and she said that her mother was going to become a representative for Pretty In Paint Parties.  Was it true, they was going to be painting on canvas?  I couldn't believe it! Here was my chance!  So again me being me I just asked Jessica if it would be alright for me to attend.  She was more than glad to have Caitlin & I there too.  When we got to the car to leave, Caitlin said "mom I can't believe you are going to "crash" their party".  I laughed because she thought i was going to actually "crash" their party.  I explained to her that I asked if it was alright and I also explained that when someone has a party they are selling stuff and they do not care for anyone attending.  So Since Caitlin didn't want to "crash" the party I immediately called my friend Lynnitta & Becky.  They were both excited about it, but Becky didn't know if she could because she was having her grandchildren over and Lynnita didn't know what her husband's plans was for the day.  Later Becky called to say that she wouldn't be able to make it.  I thought I was going to have to give up on something that I had always wanted to do, because no one wanted to go with me.  After church Lynnita called and said she could go. . . my dream was going to get to come true after all.
Lynnita and I met at the salon along with the rest of the ladies, we did not know anyone except each other & Jessica, but they was all very nice.  Yes by now we was having doubts if we could truly do this, but the representative assured us we could do it.

We started out drawing a sketch. . . mine the one on top, as you can tell mine pencil sketch is a hot mess, how was I ever going to do this?  Lynnitta's was so neat and you could tell what it was.

Then we was instructed to fill in the back ground first with a sponge brush, then filling in closer to our pencil outline with a smaller brush.  Again Lynnitta's is so neat, I think she has done this before.

My suspicions are proving me right . . . she has done this before!

So here is my final canvas painting.  I am slightly proud of it because in my opinion it turned out WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL,  I LOVED IT! I actually done it.

Here is our group picture, I think everyone's turned out terrific   Each one is as individual as the one that painted it. Lynnita has other obligations with her church and had to leave early, one of the helpers is holding her painting on the left of me.
Now that I'm an expert I've been stalking FaceBook & Pinterest to find  other paintings to paint.  I know I don't have enough wall space to hold all the paintings i'm going to paint.

1. What are your hobbies?  I have a very unusual hobby, Geocaching it is a high tech treasure hunt using GPS.  I also enjoy sewing, knitting and reading.
2. What are your favorite colors?  Red
3. Do you collect anything? No.
4. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? No
5. Do you have any pets? Yes, Lizzie she is a Shih-tzu 
6. Coffee, Tea, or Chocolate I prefer hot chocolate.  I do not drink any types of coffee. 
7. What do you like to read? Christian Romance novels 
8. Do you prefer Cookies or Candies as a sweet? Both 
9. What is your favorite holiday treat? Having down time, not being in a rush to go here, or do that. 
10. Describe your favorite holiday tradition?  There are many holiday traditions and I love them all.  It would be hard to pick which one was my favorite.  Trimming the tree, baking cookies, watching for Christmas lights as driving down the road and going to a bigger town to view their Christmas lights.  
11. Did you believe in Santa as a child? Yes! 
12. When do you open presents?  Christmas Morning of course! 
13. Do you put up a tree and when?  Yes we always had a tree.  As a small child i can remember it being so cold and walking all over my uncles farm to find the perfect cedar tree.  Then we would bring it home and it always looked smaller in the field.  Dad would have to cut it to fit into the house.  Since the tree was real we would always have to wait one week before Christmas Day. 
14. Does your tree have a theme?  No, I enjoy using ornaments that mean something.  A lot of my ornaments my children has made. 
15. What has been your favorite gift to give? I enjoy giving the simple gifts.  to receive? Someone's time to spend doing special activities. 
16. 
    

It's looking like that time of year again.  I am so looking forward to another great year of Secret Santa Swap.  I still remember a lot of the items that my secret Santa sent last year.

"I Love My Job!" My friends hear me say this often.  During the last two weeks I have had the privilege of teaching Beginner Canning Classes.  Today we learned to use a pressure canner to preserve low-acid foods (green beans, carrots, etc). Last week I taught how to use the water bath method to can tomatoes.  I used the water bath method last year when I decided I was going to have my own garden (yes I planted over 25 plants and had tomatoes everywhere).  But today using the pressure canner I was a bit nervous and felt unprepared. My supervisor from another county, Sara, had agreed to come help teach the class since I was uncomfortable.  In preparing for the class I took the new canner out of the box, read instructions, and prepared the canner just as the instructions said.  During class everything was going great.  We had blanched the green beans, put them in the jars, then had the pressure canner loaded and ready.  Until (yes the dreaded until).  As we begin to heat the canner pressure is susposed to build up inside, the pressure wasn't building.  OH NO, it wasn't working like i had always been taught.  Thankful momma Sara  that's what we sometimes call her because she is like a mother to all she works with, was here we decided it was losing pressure around the guage.  So here we had to decompress the canner and we discovered a gasket had been broken.  So after fixing that we reassembled the canner and thankful what we did worked because it started holding pressure, our beans finished processing.  Everyone was so excited about the results and getting to take the a jar of fresh green beans home.  They will be so good this winter.  Yes "I Love My Job"!

Can't believe it's already the last part of March.  I have been so busy with work, school and family activities I forget about this New Thing I am supposed to be trying . . blogging. . .so to catch you up here it goes.  At work we have been doing lots of nutrition & cooking programs with the youth. This year we are going into the Preschool classes and doing a program that's called LEAP.  I read them a story, do an activity and then let them taste something that they usually don't get to try or maybe have never tried.  They have gotten to try bean dip, salsa and spinach.  You would be surprised that they actually do try it (oh did i mention if they try it they get a surprise).  In the 3rd grade classes we use curriculum called Professor Popcorn.  We start out teaching about MyPlate, and then we break it down into categories and teach a little but more in depth about each one.  After each lesson they also get to have a snack.  I have also been teaching basic cooking class with the 4-H Agent.  In this we teach them how to properly measure, read a recipe and most importantly how to clean up after they cook.  As with this they get to eat what they cook.  They have made mini pizzas and cookies.
School has become awful busy.  I just finished my basic computer class and this week I am beginning my Office 2010 Computer Class.  I know I will learn a lot.  In my classes I do a whole semester in only five weeks.  I'm already wishing with this computer class we could slow down because I just don't think i'm going to be able to comprehend as much as I want to.  I want to know how to do every little bit, if that's even possible.
In my spare time I have gotten to do some Geocaching.  We have been to some very interesting places in our local area.  If you don't know what Geocaching is, it is a high tech treasure hunt. If you would like to know more you can always check it out on geocachng.com.  My sister and i are planning on going to a Geocaching Event the Memorial Day Weekend, it's called Geostock X. I can't wait.  It's always fun to learn new techniques and since you are only known as a code name you can put a face to a name.

I attached a picture of a travel bug.  This is used in Geocaching.  You can see where all they travel to.

MY New Do . . Decided to opt for something different, haven't had my hair this short in several years.  Like me my hair was stubborn and my hair dresser couldn't get the dark hair to take red highlights so she had to lift the color and then put the red back in, I think it's a little light brown instead of red.  Maybe next time.  I'm already enjoying it and i know it will be great this summer, with all the hot weather and summer activities. 

Lizzie is part of our family too!

Just had to share this family photo.  I love it that our dog Lizzie wanted to be in the picture and when Justin picked her up she gave him sugar and the photographer captured the moment - priceless moment!

The New Year

Wow, can't believe today is already the 9th of January.  Yesterday I celebrated my 46th Birthday.  I tell everyone i'm just 36.  I had my last son when I was 36 and I said I wouldn't have anymore birthday.  But it's all well and good.  You are only as old as you feel and I do not feel 46.  Tonight will is the first night of my second semester of college.  I finished my first semester with 3 - A's & 1 - C.  I was very proud of myself.  I do not do well with math and that's what I made a "C" in.  I was hoping for at least a B.  That would of put me on A&B honor roll. Ok honestly I just wanted my mane in the local paper for making Deans List.
With a new year there are always new starts, since i don't like to say "New Year's Resolution" I just try to make some great changes.  Hopefully I'm going to get better at this blogging.  I keep forgetting to do it. There's really no excuse, I just forget.  I'm also trying some new starts in my spiritual life. And as always I always try to make changes in being a better mom & just all around better person.
I know everyone is on a "Pinterest" kick and i've been bitten too.  So I cleaned up my sewing room this weekend.  I am going to make my son some St. Louis Cardinals curtains.  Darrell & I painted his room (I only rent so I had to go back with what color it was) but can't wait to see how they turn out.  I'll post pictures (if i just don't totally forget).  Well until next time.

This is our family picture at Christmas 2011, my mother, sister, brother, my children & niece & nephew.  Since it was a Sunday we went to Church to celebrate the birth of our savior.  My family surprised me and they was all there.  We always do lunch at my house. Then afterwards the kids get to open their gifts.  It was a wonderful day with family & of course lots of food.