And the survey filled out!!!!  Now I just have to wait to hear if I need to change anything else.  I pretty much have a free weekend this weekend since I got my work done.!!!!  Hope your Halloween was great!  I had about 30 kids begging at my door...

I just toured my friends sights... I have not visited all week.  To busy finishing my work.  it is nice to see everyone is doing great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn

This is challenging..my PDF maker of course is not working... so I downloaded it... but then if couldn't load if I had the old one on my computer... so I deleted it and the program turned off my computer... so I think I re-loaded it again... and again.... don't ask me it have taken me hours to get ready to make a PDF.... Hope your day is grand... Love and kisses, Marilyn

This morning I finished editing my final draft.  I re-did the cover page and abstract for submittal... I guess my committee needs to sign it too???? No Elizabeth called and said that Dr. R is wrong...  Once Terry gets that back to me, I will try to send it off to ETD.  Elizabeth also said get ready to be frustrated!!!  Getting it on line is not easy.  So I am imaging putting my patients on like a muffler.  I will try to do this Sunday and Monday... so I have time to muck it up... before it is actually due on Monday.  hmmmm  Good plan...

Hmmmm my horoscope for today.... "What changes have there been in your life since this time last year? Take a good look at your life and think about the events that have taken place. What have you accomplished? What decisions have you made? And most importantly, how much you have grown as a person? Try to make changes by following your intuition. Even though it seems stressful and sometimes painful, dear Gemini, change means growth!"

There have been a lot of changes to my life in the last year and an amazing amount of changes in the last five years.  Hmmmmm I have grown so much as a person by challenging myself, but also by realizing how unique and special I am.... (that sounds like Mr. Rogers, your so special... Marilyn) and letting all of this flow through me... opening myself to life with all of its pain and everyday celebrations had been totally amzaing. 

Hope our day is grand. Love and kisses, Dr. Marilyn (tee hee)

A couple of days of editing, putting it up on line and I done.  Hope your day is grand.  I am finally able to wear my winter clothes here.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

I am now Dr. Marilyn just have to get my dissertation on line in the next two weeks and I will be hooded in December...  Yeah... I was on pins and needles all day yesterday... so I emailed my chairs at 9:00... going have your read it yet?  at 11:05 I got and email that confirmed that my dissertation was fine and Joe looks forward to the hooding ceremony in December... Yeah!  I danced around the bedroom for about 45 minutes.   Hope your day is grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn   

Friday we spend the day in Atlanta looking at design and architectural firms.  It was great to see three innovative firms.  It rained most of the day, but Steelcase had provided vans, so no one got lost we dashed from building to van and back again... it was a informative, fun yet exhausting day. 

One of my students drove me home... in the last hour of the four hour drive she was white knuckling it... through a torrential rain storm... to Savannah. She did a great job.  The four of us talked all of the way homw.  When I got home, I ate dinner and hit the sofa for some snozzing tv watching.... waddled off to bed at 11:00 and then couldn't get to sleep (because of the random snozzing... silly).

In the morning, I had to be at school to do SC*AD Days.  Talking to prospective students about our program, facility and that kind of stuff.  I enjoy that kind of thing so I had a good time.  Ryadi and I also spent some time working on the floor plan for our display for the accrediation of our program.  When I got home I did another snozzing tv watching session.  Then I went to Kr*ger to go grocery shopping. 
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I love to bake Christmas cookies... but don't want to eat them all myself... so I make them and give at least half to my student, more to my neigbors and friendly other... So I bought the stuff to make cookies and my regular groceries.  Then I started making the non-bake ones.  Granola Peanut Butter Bars and Cholcolate (my spell check isn't working again) Peanut Butter Bars... 

Yesterday my sister Connie came over at about 9:30 and we talked.  We went for a walk on the canal nature trail... I am so upset I didn't take my camera.  After all the rain, we had the most amazing mushrooms... all over the path.  We walked until Eliot her dog started drinking swamp water... Not only is he skunky faced (he ran into a skunk out west) but he now smells fishy too.   When we got home I made lunch and we sat on the deck and talked...  and then we went inside and I may another four batches of cookies, while we talked.  Ooogy Googy Chewy Bars, and Pecan Turtle Bars.... and I made the dough for roll out sugar cookies and Scotch Short Bread.  All the recepies are in my recipe blog below... Yummy desserts... I think is the name of the blog.  Connie left just before dark.  It was a wonderful day. 

I hope that your weekend was grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Came home last night in the pouring rain... It was a good trip.  The students learned a lot.  Marilyn

Next two days...  See you Saturday... Marilyn

and am happy to be in Savannah where it will be 69 today...Hmmmmm Marilyn

Well this morning is the first morning since I have been here that I don't have anything to do before I go to school.   Hmmmmm  I was going to say it feels good, but actually it feels weird. 

Heading to Atlanta tonight with Kathy.  We are taking our students on a field trip tomorrow to Interior Design businesses and to see office design.  So they can make their office designs look more real.  It will be exhausting, but fun.  I am riding with Kathy tonight and we will stay at a hotel.  Then I will ride home with students tomorrow.  I have to be back to do SC*AD Days on Saturday.  

Thanks Carole for the support ... I can hear Miss Catt purring, now...

Hope your days are grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

The last few times I handed in my dissertation, I was too tired or too busy to worry.  Now I am getting nervous about their response.  This time I really worked to make it the best as I could... and it is judgment time.  hmmmmm the worst that can happen is they say it still needs work... which has happened so many times before.  Why worry.  I am so hoping it is good enough to go forward.  I think it is also right now I have my grading done and no other distractions... so have time to worry.  hmmmmm

Hope your day is great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

There is something amazing going on with my students... they are understanding that their good designs could be great with some more work and they are throwing out adequate floor plan designs and starting over with their plans to get great designs.  You tell them once you have things worked out... but are running into some problems... if you just junk what you did and start over you can get the new design done in half the time, but it will be so so so much better... I have said this over and over for years, but very rarely do students take this leap of faith.  They continue with their old plan with bandaids trying to fix it.  This term 4 out of five groups have junked their plans and redesigned them... and they are amazingly great designs... and they have done this on their own.  Wow!

 

Why is it when you hear something new that is despicable that your step father has done to another person in the family and even when I already know that he was a pedophile, had sex with most of my high school friends and raped my best friend when she was seventeen.... manipulated, mentally abused and vilified my husband and my sisters husband... then why is that that when I heard about some other atrocity that I still react with so much anger and pain... as if it is happening again for the first time... Woke up at about three and couldn't get back to sleep for hours... So angry and ready to seek justice....

HE IS DEAD... I am so happy he is dead... he can no longer do these despicable acts.

Maybe pouring this out  here will help me adjust to this new dimension of his evil.  Marilyn

I tried to sleep in this morning I was up in the night with family bullsh*t...  Something my sister told me was done to her by our step father... so now I need to get to school.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmm spending the day grading...

Yesterday I saw my sister Connie and her friend Allison.  Connie is thinking about moving down here for the warm weather and ocean.  Then I went to Violets first birthday party... it was fun.  Hope your day is wonderful.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmmm used to start every Saturday morning  with that phrase... but I haven't done it for a while... Have I not been relaxing with coffee on the sofa?  hmmmm I guess not.  It feels good to only have grading to do.  I am taking today off and then will finish my grading for midterms, tomorrow.  I was writing poetry and making a list of who I need to invite to my party.  I could invite about 50 people from B'burg, Savannah, Michigan... hmmmmm

I made really good progress in my personal growth this week.  I did something stupid... not thinking.... and in my life before, I would chasticize myself for three days about how dumb I was. I guess I felt that if I didn't beat myself up enough I would do something stupid, again... This time I acknowledged my dumbness.  Let the tape run in my head for twenty minutes and then told myself to stop... it wasn't that terrible... get off my back... and I DID!  I still feel badly about my stupidity, but did not chasticize myself for days on end.  Wow what an improvement. 

I tell my students to not try to perfection, but strive for excellence.  Perfection is never possible to achieve, there is always something that goes wrong, even a little wrong, and it can ruin your perfect event.  But here I was beating myself up for not being perfect.  Accepting my faulability without excessive chasticiation was amazing.  Where is the spell check here?  For some reason it is not working.

I am going to clean my house on my first weekend after my dissertation is done... well almost done... There may be editing left... It is not done until they say it is done. 

My sister Connie is arriving today and Hannah is having a first birthday for Violet this evening.  So it will be a day of celebration.  Hope your day will be wonderful.  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

I have spent so long with writing deadlines hanging over my head... I really do not know how to act.  I am mailing my proposal to Neo*con this morning... and my urgent to do list dropped to none... I got my dissertation done last week, did my ID*EC proposal for Monday, Neo*con for Wednesday... now what just wait to hear for all three.   hmmmm

When I took the mail to the mail box (no checks included in the mail, thank you) I noticed that I need to weed my flower beds... maybe I will be able to work on that this weekend.  And get my house clean for company... hmmmm longer term stuff finish painting the living room and oh yeah my bedroom isn't done.  Hmmmmm 

I guess I can find other stuff to do... but to not be in the process of writing is just plane weird. 

I am in a delemma (why isn't this spell check working, I know that isn't spelled right).  I can rent the pool for two hours at $125.00 and have the whole pool to ourselves until 9:20 PM, no drinks... The Rec Center is open until 10:00 and only costs $65.00, but no wine.... the University Club at $135 to have wine and have the party last until 10:00 PM.  Squires we can have drinks but it closed at 6:00 I don't know what the room rental is... because 6:00 PM is too early. The Student Life Center at no cost, but the party needs to be over by 8:00 PM.  Hmmmm I have until next week to decide what to do as I cannot book anything until I know I am graduating, for sure... If rooms get booked that will help my decision making.  I could be happy with any of these directions. 

 Hope your day is grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmmm  So I am mostly caught up. 

My students presented today and three of the teams did an outstanding job.  The two that did not attend class Monday did not get the feed back and their projects were okay, but not outstanding.  The ones that had the feed back are so excited it is so much fun to teach such creative and excellent students.  I will grade these over the weekend.  I don't know what it will be like to not have writing to do.

Hope your day is grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmm just when we though we would get rid of unwanted phone calls and mail... it turns out to be bogus... hmmmmmm Hope your day is grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

I don't know what I am going to do with myself once I finish all of this stuff on my plate.  A normal life without writing deadlines... hmmmm well actually I will have writing deadlines, for articles and presentations, but I am not sure I have had a normal life where I can relax for days on end in forever.  Nawwwh I am sure I will find new deadlines and keep busy.  As my regular readers know, I am not one to laze around. 

I have been working on my graduation party this morning and my proposal for Neo*con. 

Graduate Life Center has free rooms to students, but closes at 8:00 on graduation night.  Squires Student Center costs money and closes at 6:00.  Both of those would not allow wine... Ahhhh wait... the Graduate Life Center does have a room for rent were we could drink at $400.00 and it still closes at 8:00. hmmmmm

I have not heard from the University Club.  I cannot get the German's Club phone number to ring through. 

When I was in Blacksburg there was a birthday party for someone about the age of 5 at the pool... and I went... boy, if we can't drink... what about the pool, since I met half of my friends at the pool... they have a hot tub and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg and the party could go until 10:00 hmmmm just like five year olds... or is that adults???  Time will tell. 

Oh yeah... for those of you that might want to attend... It is 3:00 PM on Friday December 19, 2008 at the Castelle (sp?) Colisium.  You are all invited. For those of you from out of town, let me know because I need to know to book hotel rooms, they have a tendency to sell out. 

Love and kisses,  Marilyn