HAPPY NEW YEAR ! and 2008 Resolutions

Have you made any NewYears Resolutions? There is something magical for me to start new and fresh with resolutions on January 1. I usually stick to the basics like everyone else - I've just expanded a bit more here and there this year.

and here I go again....

Spend more time on hobbies and reading.

Try a new bead stitch every month

Complete at least 1 jewelry piece every week. Put new items on Etsy shop.

Take more pictures.

Reach / maintain weight my goal weight through exercise and portion control

Clean out old magazines

Cut back on unnecessary spending. Don’t buy it unless I absolutely need or love it.

Use up everything at home before shopping again. Clean up pantry first before refilling. Find recipes that use current ingredients.

Send e-cards to extended family instead of snail mail.

Daily
Take more pictures, at least 1/day. Print the good ones.
Work out at least 5 x’s / week
Keep house clean and organized - follow Fly Lady
Track spending
Try a daily journal.

Sunday’s –
Organize coupons, keep in car, use often.
Using 1 recipe book / week, plan weekly menu.

New Year coming, new changes, new look

I'm going for a calmer look for 2008. I'm actually going to try a few more changes just don't have time today. This setup is backwards from what I'm used to, not sure if it's comfortable for me yet. I feel a bit left-handed with it. good goal - keep trying new things. I'm working on a big resolutions list, then I'll pare it down. Trying to keep it fun and do-able.

Quilted wallhanging

This is the quilted wallhanging I made for gifts. I'm zooming in - I really liked the fabric colors.

Christmas Eve!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone.
Here are some pretty houses we found in the neighborhood.

Reading Challenge for 2008 = What's in a Name?

I've joined my first reading challenge for next year at Annie's What's in a Name? and this is my selected reading list for the 2008 Challenge.
I've decided to read the classics where ever I could fit them in. In any classics I've read in the past, I haven't been disappointed so I'm looking forward to reading these choices. that said, I do have backup's on some selections just in case my first choices don't work for me. These book titles may be familiar to you, but I have not read one of them. I often thought about them, but didn't take the time to pick them up. this challenge is perfect for these books.

1. A color in the title -- A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Doyle or Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
2. An animal in the title -- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. A first name in the title -- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe or My Antonia by Willa Cather
4. A place in the title -- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and Nevill Coghill or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
5. A weather event in the title -- The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
6. A plant in the title -- Basil by Wilkie Collins
(I don't have a backup for these last two yet for this, hope I can find them at the library and I find them entertaining enough to finish reading.)

Celebrate the Winter Solstice

Here is a wonderful site from MoonChildren to learn more about our Winter Solstice

warming up

We went to Smokey Bones for ribs the other night. Very good! There's my daughter on the left and sis with hubby and son on the right.











It's supposed to warm up this weekend so all our pretty snow will melt away. I like seeing the snow. It's a fun change of scenery.














good news/bad news I've been put on a 'special assignment' at work. It will start 1/7/08. I will be moved to another team to help them complete a project. We have 3 months to get an application up to speed. My C++ expertise has been the cause of this. There are a small number of C++ programmers left in the company I work for. Everyone is now Java or .Net. I've moved to more Java programming myself but I still have that dying expertise that is needed. Bad news is that I've become more cemented into my new team and it will feel like my umbilical cord is cut when I have to leave them. All ties to my team are cut as of 1/7 and I have to be totally 'dedicated' to the project for 3 full months. I will miss them dearly.

Nope, not my kitty. but it sure is cute. Maybe Santa will bring me a kitty.

My precious daughter is home for the holidays. She went from Phoenix to Chicago, her Chicago to Cleveland flight was cancelled so I convinced the reservations agent to re-route her anyway they could to get her out of Chicago since their weather was a mess and getting messier. So they put her on a flight to LaGuardia so she could catch a flight to Cleveland there. WELLLLLL, what a time I had. The flight left the gate in Chicago and sat and got de-iced and sat and waited. By the time the flight took off they would arrive in LaGuardia 30 minutes after the flight to Cleveland was scheduled to leave.

**Here is where the power of positive thinking proves positive. I started lighting candles and for each and every wick I lighted I said "the flight in LaGuardia WILL wait for Ann" I had to wait until the scheduled take off time for the Cleveland flight and then SUDDENLY... didn't that flight get delayed 1 hr 15 min.!!! enough time for Ann to get in, switch concourses and get to that gate. PHEW. turns out the delay in LaGuardia to Cleveland was not for weather but some slight mechanical problem that suddenly occurred :) amazing. by the time Ann showed up, the mechancal problem was fixed and off they went. It was very important for her to get home last night so she could go see the Cleveland Browns play live at the stadium. turns out she and her friends had to sit in a blizzard, but they had a blast anyway.

Feeling Green

OH! how I envy all those bloggers that can keep it together. All my fav's that I blog hop to. They make it look so easy to keep blogging everyday. I'm exhausted these last weeks just trying to catch up to the Holidays. How do they do it? I've even stopped trying to make decent dinners. Thank goodness G likes soup with crackers and cheese. I completed my quilted wall hangings for family gifts and just finished up the picture calendars for family gifts too. I've got two packages ready to go out the door. One less thing to think about. phew. I keep telling myself = keep moving, keep moving. what do you have to do next ? plan, do it, plan, do it.... Daughter Anne is coming home this weekend for a two week visit. I want so badly to have all the shopping and wrapping completed so we can cook and bake and play together. Work keeps getting in the way. How does everyone else take 9 hrs out of their day for work, 8 hrs for sleep, 3 hrs for morning routines, the commute and dinner. what's left ? 4 hrs? even less usually. it sounds like a lot of time, but it goes sooooo fast. I've got photo's that are a week old that I just don't have time to upload. I'm exhausted and going to bed. How do those wonderful bloggers make it look so easy. I'm green with envy. At least I'm color coded for the season. Phew, it sure felt good to let off that bit of steam. good night all.

City lights

G had flowers waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. What a sweetie he is!!














We finished decorating inside. Now I'm working on completing the Christmas gifts I'm making. Some quilted wall hangings and Calendars with family photos.

Every year this house lights up the neighborhood. There is even a Mr and Mrs. Clause (life size statues) standing on their porch

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