Monday, February 15, 2010

Magna Cum Laude

I was doing a bit of organizing, cleaning generally moving some dusty things around this morning and uncovered something. It is a little book, The Sixty Sixth Baccalaureate & Commencement for Northwest College, May 2002.

Listed their under Baccalaureate Degrees was my sisters name:

Christie Amans……..Magna Cum Laude…..Bothell, WA

I went and googled to get the definition:

According to Wikipedia.org (even though its Wikipedia its true I learned it in Latin class), these terms are called ''Latin honors'' and are used to "indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned."
Here is a list of Latin honors, in order of increasing level of honor:

  • "cum laude" (Latin for "with honor")
  • "magna cum laude" (Latin for "with great honor")
  • "summa cum laude" (Latin for "with highest honor")


By GPA: Graduation with honors 'cum laude' requirements can vary but in general: Cum laude grade point average estimates: gpa for cum laude - 3.5 to 3.74; gpa for magna cum laude - 3.75 to 3.99; gpa for summa cum laude - 4.0+.

I went to my sisters graduation ceremony and do remember noticing this, but I am just so proud of her that I wanted to share.

Christie is a wonderful sister, I have to say she really has made my life so special for many reasons. She is 6 years older and really included me in her life. She has always been a giver of her life and treasure. She paid all of my travel expenses to go see our Mother in Yuma last month. Just one example of her generosity towards me.

She went to college and became a Dental Hygienist then moved from Oregon to San Jose, CA to go to Bible College for a year. There she met her future husband and made life long friends. She lived in California, where I visited many times, and Texas, what a fun place to visit too!!

The last 12 years her family has lived in Seattle, we have spent most Thanksgivings with them there. After 4 years of moving to Washington she had a big decision regarding her career. She decided to go back to college and get her Baccalaureate Degree, in her 50’s. She was going to college, writing term papers and had an outstanding time doing it.

She has a new career now with Home Instead Senior Care, where she is Human Resource Manager. And I must say she is really a perfect fit.

Christie I am reminded of how very proud of you I am and how lucky I am to be your sister!!

One of my most memorable moments with Christie was in Maui. My daughter was getting married there and we traveled and stayed together with Christie and her husband Larry. We were at the beach going snorkeling, but not Joe, he says no way! Sharks you know!! Well after trying to get flippers and mask on while standing in the surf…..

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Christie and I are finally out in the water, sand out of our masks…..Larry is still not so sure. We are saying, "come on in, its great"……. then we see Joe behind Larry waving his arms and everyone else on the beach is too!! So we thought, lets go in closer and see what they want. Well what they wanted to say was there was a shark between us and the beach and now we were swimming right to it!! All I can say is Ignorance is bliss!!

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When we noticed we were the only ones in the water we thought just maybe something was up for sure!! LOl……we never saw the shark!

It was fun and we went down the beach a ways to the rocks where more people were and continued our snorkeling…. it was a very fun February memory.

We celebrated Valentines Day very quietly, had a great steak dinner and Joe gave me a very pretty bouquet. Watched some Olympics, I just love the Olympics and always wish they would show them earlier in the evening. We are going to bed after midnight for goodness sakes…..lol!!

Thanks for listening to my sharing of my sister, I would love to hear your special memories too!!

Prim blessings,

Carrie

Friday, February 5, 2010

Visit with Mom and Quilt Show

Well I was so excited to go out to lunch yesterday I did not look at my post very closely.  Oops…..I didn’t upload any of the quilt show pictures.     Lol….guess that gives me a good reason to come back today!!

Like I mentioned, the weather was quite rainy, 1.89 inches in twelve hours. IMG_1678

Here is the rain pouring off the patio,  the best thing is mom had no leaks.   Mom did some updates to her park model in Yuma, it is the perfect size now for her and guests when we come to visit. 

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We were going to go up to Tucson for a couple days but changed our plans because of the weather.    We did find a local quilt guilds quilt show with a nice vendor attendance.   These first two quilts were the viewers choice winners from the previous year.

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IMG_1691 quilting detail.

IMG_1692 I love this one!!

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These next two had the same maker and were hand quilted.  So beautiful.  I chose this first one as my viewers choice favorite.

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If I had to choose a favorite, or which one would I want for my home this one would be my choice,  I loved the colors and the raw edge quilts are so cuddly.     And I just had to keep my sister in the picture.  :))

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We enjoyed the vendors attending the show.    My goodness I was mesmerized by Liberty Homesteads booth.  They had been to the Road to California show and are attending some small shows on there way home to Kansas.   I have never seen there quilts in person and fell in love immediately.  We purchased some of their dyed muslins.    Books or pictures never do justice for the real item do they.  They asked for us to not take pictures of there booth so sorry no pic’s.

One day we ate lunch at this bakery/deli restaurant that I can not remember the name of to save my life.   But….here are some pictures of their desserts of which we did not indulge.     I would today if I could have a take back.    Do you make desserts like this?

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These strawberries are so big!

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OK enough of that stuff, yum!!  

It’s super bowl Sunday this weekend,  are you watching the game, having a party or celebrating at your local quilt shop.   We haven’t been real big football fans the last few years but I am sure we will watch some.    We are going to make some homemade Pizza.   I will share the recipe and pictures. 

Prim Blessings,

Carrie

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Here I am!!

Happy 2010 dear blogging friends.   It has been a very long time since I posted and I appreciate hearing from you letting me know I’m missed, MIA and receiving your encouragement.

We, like most of you, had family visit us over the holidays.  It was wonderful and very fun.  We were so pleased to have Joe’s whole family with us over New Years.     My house was filled to the brim,  Joe and I still talk about how fun it was to have everyone in our home.

Last month my sister treated me to a trip to Yuma to visit our mother.   We were really looking forward to some warm sunny weather.    LOL…….how about some sun and lots of rain, wind and  a fun time anyway.    As it goes, the day we drove to Phoenix to catch our plane it was sunny and getting warm.     IMG_1702

It was sunny on this day, we were in Old Town Yuma for the Lettuce Festival.   We purchased some fresh fruit and Asparagus for dinner.    It was so windy we didn’t spend to much time but opted for a nice warm restaurant for lunch.

We looked up quilt shops and while visiting one learned about a quilt show.    We went and I took some pictures:

 

This week we have a friend staying for the weekend.  Meka is staying while her owner is off  to Sun Valley Idaho.    

It’s a bit crazy here with our 5 lovable GWP’s,  my daily conversation’s go like this…..”put that down” , “give me that”, “that’s not yours”, “take that out of your mouth”, “Hey! Bring that back “,  “Off the table”, “Off the washer” and “Where did you find that?”      And that is just with Casey!  Joe calls him our demon dog, but really, he is just the youngest and is still in the VERY busy, nosey, destructive stages of puppyhood!!

Casey, Pepper, Meka, Slide

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Casey,Meka,Slide,Pepper and Jake

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Daisy Mae,  its just impossible to get them all in one picture.

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This weekend we will take a few walk abouts, maybe a couple will get a haircut.    Pepper needs one,  but don’t ask her and Meka, well you just don’t come stay with Carrie and not get some grooming.   Poor thing,  she always thinks she is in trouble.   I will take some pictures because I know you are dying to see more pictures of my dogs.  LOL……..

I have been finishing up details on my BOM blocks getting ready to set them together,   they have been so much fun.   I love all the wool, never never get tired of working with wool.   So pictures of that too coming up.

This year I have really resisted joining a multitude of wonderful projects and will focus on finishing my BOM first.    One thing I will keep up with is my Jo’s Little Women group at Sew Many Quilts.         Then late spring I am going to sew along with the Wool Crazy girls.   If you visit this link today you are in for a real treat.    I’m so looking forward to this project.   I have the wool  that’s for sure,  are you Wool Crazy too?     I have been following the posts and wow, they are looking wonderful.

Well my DH is here now and he is taking me out for lunch!!!    It’s Thursday and  Baldy’s has Baby Back Rib special every Thursday.   Yummo!!!   There the best ever!! 

God bless each of you and have a wonderful week.

Prim Blessings,

Carrie