My Goals for my Year or 50 Things

New Year's Day for everyone in the world is, of course, January 1st. I have my own New Year's day, as each of us does really, and that is the day of my birth. My own personal New Year's day is January 7th. Last year I had a list of 49 things that I wanted to do before my 50th birthday. I didn't accomplish them all, but that's OK. It was something to strive for and I did more than I thought I had, when I just went back and looked at it. So, I'm happy. I'm going to make a list of 50 Things for this year. Some may be repeats. Some will be new. Some will get done and some won't. Such is life.





1. Take the beaded/wire cross class



2. Get new business cards



3. Get my hair cut



4. Take a workshop with Sally Jean



5. Take a workshop with Nina Bagley



6. Have the whole family here for Thanksgiving



7. De-cluttered the house



8. Sell unwanted items on ebay



9. Pay for a soldier's meal anonymously



10. Start a savings account for each of my grandchildren



11. Start teaching (quilting) again



12. work The Artist's Way book



13. Sell 25 pieces/things from my etsy shop



14. Lose weight



15. Stop drinking soft drinks



16. Go to a hunted hotel with my mother and sister



17. Have that "birthday" weekend with my friend Catherine (and Beth is she wants to come!)



18. Trim that tree by the drive way



19. Buy some picnic tables for the yard



20. Write Mrs. Burns a letter



21. Go see Mrs. Burns



22. Complete Angie's quilt



23. Make door hangers for Sean and Ryan



24. See the Craig Ferguson Show in person



25. Go to the Keith Urban concert (if he comes to Dallas or Houston this year)



26. Go to the Texas Rangers opening day game



27. Plant trees to celebrate the births of my grandchildren



28. Go see the grandchildren



29. Go see Beth



30. Figure out 5 new types of things to put in my etsy shop



31. Save money



32. Put a quilt in the Dallas quilt show



33. Go to the last Texas Rangers home game of the year



34. Get totally off effexor



35. Get a camera that has a macro lens



36. make a self portrait quilt



37. make that summer quilt I've been wanting



38. take an art class with Margie Woods Brown of Language of the Soul



39. learn to knit a scarf



40. ride a Harley



41. take weekly photos of myself (hopefully as I lose weight)



42. commission a painting of Elly with Charmaine



43. Go to the House of Blues for the Gospel Brunch



44. make myself an Anglican rosary that is long enough to wear



45. make myself a lariat necklace from my African Christmas beads



46. Get my featherweight repaired



47. Start saving and planning for that trip to Alaska



48. redo the downstairs bathroom -- tub resurfaced, new toilet and sink, new wallpaper or paint


49. Go to Santa Fe for Christmas, hopefully with the kids


50. Do at least one thing a month that scares the hell out of me.

Almost There

I'll be having one of those decade birthdays in a couple of days. The ones we were taught to dread or maybe it is some kind of ingrained thing that we're born with. I don't know, but I do know that I'm not dreading this birthday at all. I'll be 50 on Thursday and I tell you what, it sure as hell beats the alternative. Maybe it was the high school reunion I went to a while back where I learned of the early deaths of so many of my classmates that did it, but I'm just glad to be here!

I'm still married to the man I fell in love with when I was 16. We've been through hell and back and sometimes we're right back in it again. The last year and a half have been very difficult for us. There have been times when I wasn't sure we'd make it and even now, I'm not sure every single day that we will. We've made a life and we keep plugging along in it. Not because it's easier than splitting up, because it's not, but because we feel that it's worth fighting for.

We have one son. I can't begin to tell you how very proud of that boy I am. He also got married very young, even though I tried to talk him out of it. Their life has not been easy. His wife has a lot of medical problems. They have three children and live far away from all of their family. He's in the Air Force and has been for more than 10 years. He plans to make a career out of it. This makes me proud and scares the hell out of me. There is just no telling what our military will be put through in the coming years.

Those three grandchildren are such a beautiful blessing. I'm so very thankful each day that I'm here to see them grow. I have a very close relationship with my granddaughters and I hope it continues as they age. My grandson is becoming fond of me too, I do believe. He's been labeled autistic, but never given any idea of how "severe" it is. I think that if the label is correct, it has to be some lesser form such as Asperger's or something like that. He's made amazing progress this year! He entered kindergarten, was put on ADHD medication and is now learning to write and so many other things. He's always been a happy, loving child and now he's thrilled to be in school and learning like his sisters. I don't see any limits in what he can achieve.

All of this is to say that I am very blessed and happy to be alive. Happy Birthday coming to Me!

Very Slow Progress

I won't bore you with day to day photos. Let's just say that I can tell there's been progress made in that one little area, but I don't know that anyone else can, including my hubby. I have a long way to go before it's complete and an even longer way to go before the room is clean.

So many things are going to change this year and this is one of them. I have a lot of dust in my house because of the dogs going in and out and the fact that there isn't grass everywhere in our yard. It just amazes me how fast it accumulates. So, in the past I've seldom done anything about it. I hate those chores that don't stay done and especially those that don't look like they were done just yesterday. But the fact of the matter is that I have to change the way I've been doing these things. I have to start dusting and doing all those things that don't stay done. I love a clean house, but somewhere in my very early 40's or even in my late 30's, maybe when my dad passed, I just stopped doing many of the things I didn't really want to do. Didn't seem so bad at first. Then I looked around one day and noticed this mountain of mess. I didn't have the faintest idea of where to start to get rid of it. So, I twiddled my thumbs forever and didn't do anything other than think and talk about it.

I've finally come to the realization that enough is enough. The straw has broken the camel's back, so to speak. I can't move or create or even think in this mess any longer. So, things are going to change.

I've lived in other houses and they were much easier to keep clean and organized. I had places for everything. This one does not have a place for everything so it's very difficult to put everything in its place. I'm going to be working on that.

I don't know how I even got started talking about this again. I had intended to talk about Alfred Hitchcock movies. I'm watching my favorite of them right now, The Birds. In the last week, I've seen the majority of Vertigo, Rear Window and for the first time Psycho. Another favorite Hitchcock movie is The Trouble with Harry. What is your favorite Hitchcock movie? One of my favorite things to do while watching a Hitchcock movie now is to look for Hitchcock in the movie. I've heard that he's in every one of them in some way. It may be in a photograph, a crowd scene or his shadow. Have you ever spotted him in one? I did see him in a photograph, I think in Dial M for Murder, but it may have been a different one.

This is so very Embarrassing

I can't begin to explain how embarrassing this is for me, but I'm going to do it anyway. Actually, you see the photo, so I'm sure you can imagine how embarrassing it is. This is part of our bedroom. It's been in a bad way for a long time. I don't know how long, I can't remember that far back. I do know that the box was originally filled with stuff to get rid of the look of clutter for my son and his family's visit several years ago, but I never did anything about the actual clutter. Now I am.

What is even more embarrassing is that I had actually put several things away before I remembered to take the photo. All of the clothes on the bed had been on that pile at the end of the bed. Now, they are all hung up or folded to be put away. I had also put away a large hat box. The quilts that are there have been de-furred and are waiting to be washed. I've found several quilting books, lots of quilting fabric, two complete quilt projects, three completed quilt tops that are ready for me to quilt and two completed quilts that I told the guild's VP of Community Service I would bind years ago! (I had wondered what had happened to those quilts!) I'm only half way through the box and my sinuses are going crazy.

My goal is to find new places for everything in the big box and all the things around the box on the floor. I also want to clean out the wood chest at the end of the bed. I think it's full of baseball cards or maybe canning supplies or even a combination of both. I want to start storing extra bed pillows in there. Then after I complete this particular part of the room, I'll show you a new photo and pick out the next part to clean. Don't know how long it will take me. I mean it didn't get this way because I like to clean, you know what I mean? But I am trying to turn over a new leaf in my life. So, off of here and back to it. Wish me luck.

Starting the Great De-Clutter

I listed several more things on ebay today. The angel ornament is the first thing I listed and it has a bid, so it will be sold. Hurray! I also listed several other Christmas ornaments, one of my rosaries, and several items of Royal Albert Autumn Roses china. Now, I'm tired of listing for a bit. I want to quilt or bead tomorrow. I want to create. If that should not happen though, I think I'll do some clearing out of things. Maybe some things to donate or just plain trash. I've still got my fingers crossed for the creating though, that is my first choice.

For those of you who have not noticed it, I've joined the Creative Every Day challenge for 2010. I won't be posting about it every day like I did during the month of November, but if you get curious about what is going on when I'm not talking about it, you can click on the Creative Every Day button on the right hand side of my blog. It will be there all year and there are a lot of folks who are participating in this. I'm sure you'd enjoy seeing some of their creativity. There are optional theme's for each month. January's is "body". We'll just have to wait to see what I do with that.

It's been a good day

And I've enjoyed it. I slept quite late today. Later than I'll admit to. I was up until after 3 a.m. though, so I guess sleeping late on New Year's day is not all that unusual. Although I had not one drop of alcohol last night. I was just up because I wasn't sleepy.

After I did get up, I started reading email and looking over some things on the computer. A bit later, I put a couple of things on etsy and for the first time, listed some things on ebay. Of course, in order to do the listings, I had to take photographs and do some photo editing. Last night was the first time I'd ever reduced photo sizes on my own. Today, I did more of that.

My creativity is bursting forth from all of this. I hope to try to do some other things with my photos in the editing program my hubby has. I've never explored it before. Hope to get to this week. I also want to get more things online, both that I create and that I find around the house that I can part with. It's time to de-clutter my life and my house. To open myself up to more creativity. To get healthy and continue to explore. Those are the wishes I have for myself and for everyone this year.

Happy New Year!

Once in a Blue Moon

Have you ever heard that expression -- once in a blue moon? Well, there will be a blue moon tonight! A blue moon is the second full moon in a month. (That happens only about once every two and a half years. ) There was one on the second of the month and now another tonight, the last day of the month. What makes this blue moon even more rare is that it's happening on New Year's Eve. According to one website, the last New Year's Eve blue moon was in 1990 and the next won't be until 2028. Just in case you're wondering, the moon will not actually be "blue". This is just a term used to express this lunar event.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling the need to celebrate this New Year's Eve blue moon in some way. If you do, let me know how you do it. I'll share mine with you also. **** I celebrated by looking for the moon until I found it uncovered and could take this sad little photo! I also called many loved ones tonight to wish them a Happy Blue Moon and a Happy New Year!

Wreck This Journal

I've been working on my "Wreck This Journal" by Keri Smith since right around Easter. I'm not finished with it yet. I only work on it with my grandkids or when I just want to doodle or experiment. Or play! She has several different books out. All of which I'd like to get.

These are a couple of the pages that I've worked on recently. I've enjoyed working on them very much and I hate that I've finally filled up the pages of circles. So much so that I may have to put circles on a another page or two, just for the heck of it.

The stamps have been extremely fun too. I wish I had been pasting used stamps in books for years! I just think of all the cool stamps that I've bought to send off to other people and never seen again and I get a little sad. Then I look at these two pages and think of the ones to come. I'll never skip over an envelope again. And I can always use the stamp glued pages for other art at some point in the future. You just never know what will happen. It will also be a great way to cover up pages in the journal that I'm not overly fond of.

I highly recommend this book and anything else that Keri Smith has written. *each name has a different link

One Little Update on The Best is yet to Come

Just want to clarify that when I'm talking about eating better and exercising, my goal is to get healthy. If I do lose weight and get trimmer in the bargain, that will be an added bonus. I want to see my grandkids grow up. I want to see them get married and have children. I want to see them be happy. What a blessing that would be. What more could a gramma want?

Even more than that, I want to be comfortable in my clothes. I want my knee to feel better. I want to walk miles at a time and enjoy it. I want to find a bra that fits and is pretty and comfortable. I want to actually wear the clothes that I always picture myself in. I want to be much more fit.