Chaos anyone?

If an empty desk-top is the sign of an empty mind you now have a visual of my insanity. Needless to say, my obsessive-compulsive is desperately seeking Valium.
Six weeks and counting.

Too Cute Not To Share

Angie sent these pictures of the girls getting their hair cut and they were too cute not to blog-share. Bryce was here yesterday and we had to sit and go through them at least ten times. I am so glad we will get to see everyone next weekend; it has been tooooo long!

The Home Stretch

In two months and one week my time at Dixie College will come to a close. Amber, Adam, and I will all say good-by to academia - at least temporarily for some of us. I am excited. . . and not. I have done things that I wouldn't do because there were deadlines and tests. I don't know if I can keep that spirit of motivation or even if that would be a good thing. My floors will be cleaner and Kent's meals more predictable but there will be many things I will miss: the delightful energy of the students; my interaction with professors; the gong of the campus bell; the smell of the art building. I will look forward to: holidays not simply seen as an interruption; losing that guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach when I am not being productive; making cards again; sewing; spending time with family; finding things other than school to worry about when the lights go out (ha).
So, it is over and I did what I did. I could have done better in some places, outright failed in others, and was occasionally the top of the class - kind of like life. When the final gong sounds we bundle it all up and give it back to the Lord.

Celebrating 80 Years Young

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A Halloween Who's Who

I haven't put out holiday decorations since moving to St. George; the only exception being a $5 dollar 1 foot tall lighted Christmas tree from WalMart. This year as Dad was looking for black cloak he discovered these Halloween figures. I know we did these as a family, but I can't remember who painted what. If you recognize your little critter please let me know so I can write your name on it. It was such fun when we did these and I want to make the memory more complete.

Day of the Dead

My 3D class is doing a huge Day of the Dead display. It will involve all the students and take up the entire foyer of the art building. These 5 terrariums are my donation to the morbid cause. The Spectrum is supposed to do a story on our project. (I know, we are a small town).

I had a 3D assignment to create something from pop cans. Because I have been studying Medieval Manuscripts and have done significant reading in the Aberdeen Bestiary, I decided to make a phoenix. Following is a definition from Wikipedia of what a bestiary (best-ee-ary) is and a quote from the Aberdeen Bestiary describing a phoenix. Enjoy your history lesson for today.

“A bestiary is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God, and that every living thing had its own special meaning. For example, the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus. The bestiary, then, is also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature. The earliest bestiary in the form in which it was later popularized was an anonymous 2nd century Greek volume called the Physiologus, which itself summarized ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists.” Wikipedia

“The phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird that lives for upwards of five hundred years, and when it observes that it has grown old, it erects a funeral pyre for itself from small branches of aromatic plants [frankincense and myrrh], and having turned to face the rays of the sun, beating its wings, it deliberately fans the flames for itself and is consumed in the fire. But on the ninth day after that, the bird rises from its own ashes.”

“Our Lord Jesus Christ displays the features of this bird, saying: 'I have the power to lay down my life and to take it again' (see John, 10:18). If, therefore, the phoenix has the power to destroy and revive itself, why do fools grow angry at the word of God, who is the true son of God, who says: 'I have the power to lay down my life and to take it again'? For it is a fact that our Saviour descended from heaven; he filled his wings with the fragrance of the Old and New Testaments; he offered himself to God his father for our sake on the altar of the cross; and on the third he day he rose again. The phoenix can also signify the resurrection of the righteous who, gathering the aromatic plants of virtue, prepare for the renewal of their former energy after death.” Aberdeen Bestiary

If you are interested you can access the Aberdeen Bestiary at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/index.hti