My Little Buddy...Going to Mom's Alma Mater!

Last week was a watershed event for my alma mater of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. First off, of course I don't think I should have to tell anyone where Ball State is located, but I realize that is a bit optimistic - even if they remain undefeated in football this season and have won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) West championship and are hoping to clinch the MAC East championship on Friday and get a bowl invitation.

But the biggest news, much more amazing than the fact that I have this little dab of football knowledge, is that my little power ranger, my little karate kid, my little buddy woosink (as he once called himself for no apparent reason) HAS BEEN ACCEPTED at Ball State. I found this out the day after Ball State dealt Western Michigan University (WMU) a crushing defeat in Muncie and sealed the MAC West handily. Especially pleasant: many of my co-workers went to WMU (my HQ is in Middleville, MI. Sorry, boss and boss's boss's children!).

Now it would be too much to hope that he might major in journalism and get to study in the beautiful new communications building or the Letterman Building (above), but I'll take this little victory. He will definitely get to see the lovely bell tower daily-something that wasn't there either when I got my B.A. in 1980. However, the very familiar winged Beneficience statue remains in her glory, a BSU icon, as does Frog Baby. I'm not especially eager for him to learn the BSU legends about either one of these works of art! But, he'll find out, probably during orientation. Let's just say the more PG-rated of the two legends- the one about Frog Baby- caused it to have to be moved and restored and placed where students couldn't touch it.

And although my little guy turns 18 Saturday and just got his gorgeous orange and black high school letter jacket with his letters for varsity baseball, I have to admit he'll always be my red power ranger. But, I am more than a little excited for him to don the red, white and black of the BSU Cardinals. Send the Legacy Scholarship application stat!

A is for Asparagus and ATCs, B is for Banners, Boxes, BSU and Burt's Bees, V is for Vegas and Vacation, W is for Winter and Whining

Hello....I am typing this post with gloves on, so I will try to catch all the typos ahead of time! Why gloves? Two reasons: (multi-tasking as usual) I bought some cotton gloves and hand cream from Burt's Bees to work on my dry cuticles (it works!) and due to the slow spring and snow in Indiana and the loose storm window over my desk, it is freezing in my home office. It is also freezing in my basement studio. Yes, we have indoor plumbing and heating, but I refuse to set the thermostat ridiculously high in March! I'd rather whine!!

So enough of that! First off, thanks to Kris L. Hurst of Blissfull (sic) Elements http://krislhurst.blogspot.com/ on etsy and her website, for my beautiful new spring banner. The blog needed a facelift! So cheery! And, she is so talented; you'll see her work on many blogs.

Now, on to last weekend's art fest here (in said cold basement). I finished up two sets of artist trading cards for the ATC World swaps, and I randomly made another mermaid theme charm bracelet for etsy http://www.hpsgsmith.etsy.com/.

Plus, managed to squeeze in a traditional Easter dinner with ham, asparagus, et. al., two! naps, a couple of new articles written, magazines read, Blythes dressed and photographed and some thought given to what to pack for vacation (10 day countdown) and what to take to Art & Soul (36 day countdown). My co-workers are in Las Vegas this week but not me (zero day countdown); so I am grouchy.

I also got an email from my alma mater BSU about sending final exam goody boxes to students, and it made me cry. Why? When I lived in the dorm (back in the day and long enough ago so as not to cry), a dorm of four halls and hundreds of girls, the staff sent letters home seeking boxes of candy and gifts for all the students to open the night before Finals' Week. I was the only one who did not get one at the frenzied opening. I guess my letter got lost. It was traumatic to say the least. But, I'm sure I aced my finals for spite. That's how I rolled. I need to go send a box to someone....