One World One Heart Event 2010!

Comments are officially closed for the giveaway! Winners will be announced at 1 PM today!

*** Don't forget to leave an email address if you post anonymously I can't find you without one!!!

The One World One Heart event for 2010 is in full magic carpet ride flight! One World One Heart was started by Lisa Swifka in 2007 as a way for bloggers to meet each other all over the world. Each year, the event has gotten bigger and even more fun! It's international and as I write this, has well over 800 participants. There is a great possibility that there will be over 1000 by the cut off date!



Each participant has a giveaway of some sort. To ride on this magic carpet and try to win one of the many prizes being offered, you must be a magic ticket holder! How, you ask, do you get a magic ticket to hold? Well, all it takes is being a blogger yourself and leaving a comment on this post (or any participating blog post) and by golly, that makes you a magic ticket holder on the One World One Heart magic carpet ride of 2010! Your comment must have an email address or link back to an email address so that I can contact you if you win though, don't forget that.




By now, you're probably wondering what I'm giving away as my One World One Heart contribution. Well, there are two things. The first is a set of note cards that I've made from photos I've taken. The sunsets were taken here on our property. The quilt is one that I made for my mother (and it's also my blog banner) and the flowers were some of the prettiest I ever bought for anyone. I have yet to get a good photo of these note cards. Sorry, I think they are much nicer in person.







The second item is a resin Christmas ornament that came out in 1993 and was made by Boyd's Bears. The ornament is named Faith. I know this may be an unusual thing to giveaway, but she needs a new home and this is a nice way to give her one.

Please leave your comment by noon, 12 PM, central time on Feb. 15th. Tell me which item you would like -- the set of note cards or the bear ornament. The comments will be chosen by random number generator at 1 PM on Feb. 15th. ***Please note that there is only one ornament. If the first name drawn asks for the ornament, the second name will get the note cards. If I get over 150 comments and the first 2 names drawn both ask for note cards, they will get them and I will pick one more name just from ornament people to win the ornament. Does that sound fair?


I hope you enjoy the ride on this wonderful magic carpet and visit many of the blogs that are participating. Just click on the logo at the top of this posting to get to the page that has a listing of them all. Thank you and good luck!

More Simple things or Just Plain Grateful

I stopped yesterday when I got to 27. I could have easily gone on -- for a long, long time. Today, as I drove in the rain to the post office, I started thinking of more things I'm grateful for. In these economic times, some of these things are not so simple, but they are things that are often taken for granted when we have them.

~a car, that is paid for and runs
~a roof over my head to keep me dry from the rain that is falling
~that the roof and walls are also paid for
~that the property taxes have been paid for the year
~that my hubby is employed again and today is his first payday with the new job
~that we made it through the lay off
~that there is money enough to pay the most important bills and we'll soon be able to start paying the over due ones again too
~that the heater is working
~for running water
~for our health
~for indoor plumbing
~for plentiful food
~for warm clothes
~for the medications that make our lives healthier and happier
~for the cell phone I used to call hubby to tell him he did get his check in the mail
~for the fact that our gasoline prices are not as high as they are in Europe
~for kindness
~for friendly people
~for the option to pay a bill on the Internet so it isn't late
~that the dogs only dragged clothes out of the hamper and didn't eat them
~that Brookshires had the groceries that Walmart didn't yesterday

These are just a few of the things I thought of as I went about my morning. I am ever so grateful for each thing and I pray that I continue to notice more each hour and all through the weekend.

27 Simple Things that bring me JOY

I checked out Pam's blog this morning to find that she had found a wonderful blog. Christina at Soul Aperture is donating $1 for every list of simple things that bring you joy, up to $250, to Doctors without Borders to help Haiti. Write your list, then go to Soul Aperture and leave a comment with a link to your list. Pam had listed 27 things, so I am too. Here are mine in no particular order:

1. laughter -- especially the laughter of my son, husband and grandchildren
2. sunsets
3. hugs
4. true friends
5. when I take a good photograph
6. quilts
7. quilt shows
8. puppies and kittens
9. quilt retreats
10. spending time with family and friends
11. my dogs (despite the fact that they ate the couch cushion yesterday!)
12. hearing the voice of someone I love who is far away
13. bluebonnets blooming (won't be long!)
14. opening day of baseball and being in the stands of the Texas Rangers first home game
15. birds -- hearing them, seeing them
16. books
17. when my son is happy, that brings me immeasurable joy
18. creating
19. traveling, it doesn't even have to be far
20. taking artistic classes
21. spending time with my mother and sister, together or apart
22. really good fruit
23. the smell of freshly cut grass and just cut watermelon (to me they are similar smells)
24. clean sheets
25. the sound of rain after a dry spell
26. seeing wildlife on our property
27. water

Postponed

I've been sick for a couple of days. Don't know what I have, but I'm sleeping a lot and feel more than crummy. I even had to postpone my hand quilting class today. Bummer.

New Addictions

Thanks to my sweet sister, Teresa. I am now addicted to http://www.craigslist.com/! I spent hours on there last night looking at towns near and far for a leather sofa and recliner (that I can't even afford to get yet)! Then I started looking for antique sewing machines, hoping I'd run across an inexpensive Singer feather weight. You can never have too many Singer feather weight sewing machines. Then I looked a free stuff, just to see what is out there. Oh boy, I'm hooked.



My other new addiction is the blog The Pioneer Woman. Ever since I discovered this blog a week or so ago, I find myself returning over and over. Reading about Ree's dogs and other animals, her children and husband, the photography and garden. You name it, she's got it on there and it's fun to read. A friend emailed earlier in the week to ask if I was OK since I hadn't been posting. Well, the main reason had been knee pain when I sit at my computer upstairs, but I had been on the computer a lot during that time down stairs. When I was, I was looking at what was going on in the life of the Pioneer Woman! There is definite trouble on my horizon. I may even end up needing an intervention.

Reaping the sins of a Procratinator

I am a procrastinator. I know my sister is too, but I don't think our mother is and I don't think our father was. How in the hell did we come to be procrastinators? How did I get this way? It makes life more stressful, more chaotic, more .... I don't know. Words often fail me, it seems. I just know that I am frazzled feeling today and that it's my own fault that I've ended up this way.

I start my eating healthier tomorrow. I will give up soft drinks and everything I can find with high fructose corn syrup in it. The commercials may say that it's fine in moderation, but it seems that everything I eat or drink has it, so I don't get it in moderation. I get it in maximization! I'm nervous about this because I haven't planned as well as I had hoped to for this major life change. OK, I'm physically "shaking it off" right now. Did you get the visual? I know that I'll make mistakes. I should just accept that and go on -- doing the very best I can do and be done with it. So, on to the next part of the subject.

I've started a new blog that I'll write about my journey to lower weight and better health. If you'd like to read along, here is the link to Lost in Weight and Losing It . I'm sure I'll mention things about it occasionally on here, but I'll really try to post all of it on the other blog, so as not to bore you with all of that.



I am also teaching a hand quilting class at the new quilt shop on Tuesday. I am not as prepared as I should be. This makes me very nervous. It's a new shop and my first time to teach there. I've procrastinated until now about starting to gather my supplies and wits about me for the class. I know I don't need to have these things near me yet, but it makes me feel better if I do have everything found and together and I don't at this point. Lord help me to stop procrastinating!

My blog has also been acting very odd today. At one point, I started typing words and they came out in Hindi! Other times, the links showed in the body of the post and the font looked different from what it normally looks. I hadn't changed a thing. I had to go into the setting section to have it stop the translating into Hindi. I don't know what's going on. I just know that I'm already frazzled and busy. I don't need weird today.

I just Love People!

Since the horrible earthquake in Haiti, the spirit of people and the willingness to help those in need has been something that I've found more than heartwarming. I told you about a couple of blogs who were donating in their own ways, earlier in the week. The necklace that Nina Bagley over at Ornamental auctioned for relief funds went for $500! Ree Drummond at The Pioneer Woman gave much more than she originally stated that she would. Ree wanted to donate 10 cents for every comment left on her blog. She asked that those who left comments tell who they would donate to if she picked their name out of the lot. She was going to pick out 2 comments, by random number generator, to donate $500 each to the charity each had picked. She was also going to add up all the other charities mentioned and the three that got the most mentions would divide the dimes. As it turned out, she got a whopping 25,850 comments! In dimes, that comes to $2, 585.00! Instead of dividing the money, she decided to give the whole amount to each of the top three charities mentioned! Amazingly generous women.







Now, I've found another wonderful individual who is auctioning a mixed media painting to benefit Haiti. Go see the painting Shari Beaubien made at her blog. I love quilts, painting and other art work that has the written word on it. So, I was quite excited when I saw this. I hope you like it as much as I do and I hope you can bid!





As for me, I am planning to make or finish up something of mine to auction off also. A quilting friend suggested that I auction off one of my miniature pineapple quilts. I do have one that is almost finished, but I had thought of donating it to the guild auction. Boy will I get in trouble with them if I don't come up with something. So now I'm a mess about figuring out what will go where. If you'd like to see the one I'm considering completing to auction for Haiti, look here. *OK, this was actually posted Wed. 1/19. I had started it on Sunday and couldn't figure out how to change the date on the draft. Sheesh.

My First of 6 Changes

According to the 6 Changes website, accountability is extremely important in changing habits.

Leo Babauta says on the website: "Two steps in the 6 Changes method are extremely crucial, even if many people will be tempted to skip them:

1. Commit as publicly as possible to creating each new habit.
2. Log your progress daily, and very publicly."

So, here I am...publicly stating that my first of six changes is going to be to cut out everything from my diet that contains high fructose corn syrup in all of its shapes, forms and hidden other names. I plan for this to be a forever change in my life, not a quick fix thing to my weight problem. I will start this on Monday January 25, 2010.

Normally, I would say that I would start this tomorrow or on this coming Monday, which would be the 18th, but Mr. Babauta says we should wait at least one week and maybe more to build anticipation. So, I picked the 25th.

This means that I will be cooking much more, rather than eating frozen, canned, processed, restaurant or take out foods. I'll be reading labels on everything. It's amazing the amount of items corn syrup is in. Things you would never have thought would have it, do indeed have it. I know this much from food allergy testing I went through a couple of years ago. I dropped weight without trying, during that testing also. So much, so quickly that I thought I was ill. And I truly think it was because of cutting out the corn syrup. I may be wrong. I may not lose weight this time like I did last time. We'll just have to wait and see. I do know that soft drinks have corn syrup in them though and cutting those out (again!) will be a healthy improvement. Once I start this, I'll be reporting my progress daily.

Friday Self Portraits

Fridays seem to be the day that I take my self portraits. So far, this is not an enjoyable exercise for me -- as you can see by the photos and the quality of them. I decided the only way that I would ever get any better at this is if I share them with you. The bottom one was taken last Friday, 1/8 and the top one was taken a few minutes ago. Today is my oldest granddaughter's 9th birthday. Someday, she may be glad to have even this dark, crappy photo of me.

What is 6Changes.com?

It’s a new site by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and author of The Power of Less.

It’s the antidote to the failure of New Year’s Resolutions.

It’s simple:

1. Pick 6 habits you’d like to form in 2010. Yes, just six.
2. Read this blog and the free ebook that comes with it.
3. Commit to following the steps I outline for creating your 6 new habits.
4. Follow the simple steps, and you’ll have 6 amazing new habits.

Why Only 6 Habits?

Most people choose 10-12 habits they’d like to form, and fail. It’s as common as obesity these days, because while enthusiasm can be at an all-time high at around New Year’s, the knowledge of how to stick with the new habits is always elusive.

But I’ve solved that problem.

The 6 Habits method makes it extremely easy to start, build, and stick with new habits. All you have to do is follow the method.

You’ll form a new, long-term habit every 2 months, for a total of 6 new habits in 12 months.

How Habits Will Change Your Life

Think of it: what if you had done this at the beginning of 2009? You’d have 6 habits, such as:

*Daily exercise.
*Healthy eating.
*Waking early.
*Decluttering and simplifying.
*Reading.
*Creating each day.

With those 6 new habits, you’d be well on your way to being fitter than ever, more productive, more at peace, happier than ever.

In fact, I’ve created all of those habits and more, over the last several years, and using those habits I’ve accomplished a lot: ran 3 marathons and a couple of triathlons, lost 40 lbs. and most of my gut, become a vegan and an early riser, eliminated my debt and tripled my income, became a top blogger with 150K subscribers, and much more.

That’s not meant to be bragging, but to show you that it’s possible.

And I’ll show you how.

So pick just 6 changes to make this year. It’ll be your most amazing year ever.

For more on successful habit change technique, as well as ways to simplify your life and become more effective, check out my book, The Power of Less.

*This has been reblogged from http://www.6changes.com/

Helping Haiti

Part of my day, almost every day, is spent reading the new posts of my favorite blogs. When I was reading the newest post over at Ornamental about helping Haiti, I saw a link to another blog that was new to me -- Confessions of a Pioneer Woman -- who is also doing something to help Haiti. Here is the link to the Pioneer Woman blog posting "giveaway of a different kind". She is giving away $500 to two commenter's favorite Haiti relief organization. She is also donating 10 cents for everyone who leaves a comment. That is really starting to add up. My comment was #15,999 and there were a lot already after me by the time I found mine. What I find really amazing is that the post was put up today! I think I read that there was a third donation thing going there too that involved the top three charities mentioned. So, run, don't walk on over there and help out.

Now, back to the help for Haiti from Ornamental. Nina Bagley is a wonderful jewelry artist. She's made a beautiful necklace that she has up for auction through tomorrow night (Friday) at midnight. The proceeds plus $100 of her own money will go to Doctors without Borders/Haiti. I would dearly love to someday own a piece of Nina's jewelry. And with Richard just getting a new job yesterday, I am really tempted to bid on it. I do know that it will go higher than I could possibly afford at this time though. So, I may just decide which organization I'd like to donate to the relief effort on my own and go that way.

I hope you'll take the time to check out both of these efforts. If you know of any others, please leave a comment with a link. I'd love to know about them. Whatever you do, do something. We are all connected. It's what makes the world go round. Caring and love.

A little Paint Play

Last night, I just went for it. I don't know thing one about painting, but I've always wanted to. I recently bought a beginner set of watercolors and one of acrylics. I used the watercolors last night. Here are the results. The two bottom pieces were painted as one and cut in half. It was fun. The only one I really like is the top photo of the blue and orange painting. I call it Three Rivers. Yes, the "rivers" are orange and the "grass" is blue.

It's Official!

Hubby got the job! He starts on Monday, if he can get all the paperwork done by then. Thank you Lord!

Keep those Fingers and Toes Crossed

Richard was told today that the job at ACS is his. He's just waiting for the HR person to call and make it official. Keep those fingers and toes crossed!

Happy Birthday B.A.L.!

My niece B turned 21 today. Here is a photo of her and her mother, my sister, Teresa at a concert. Sorry, B and Teresa, I can't remember the name of the group. They will be shocked, of course, but the photo is what I wanted to show. My lovely sister and niece. I hope you're having a great birthday, B! I love you.

*I've been informed by B that the group they saw was Nickleback.

Sometimes I Wonder....

Sometimes I wonder if I have the soul of a flake or an artist.

I started expressing myself in artistic, crafty ways when I was a small child and my mother taught me how to embroider. I was 6 or I may have been even younger. I dabbled over the years, making necklaces from Goodwill finds and loop loom potholders and pillows made from washcloths and yarn. I even remember making a jewelry box from a book. My mother was horrified over that one. The next thing I remember learning was decoupage. I taught myself by reading about it. Probably around 10 or so. I tried to learn to sew in Home Ec class, but I was truly horrible at making clothing. I don't remember learning any other crafts until I got married and moved from Dallas, TX to Biloxi, MS to be with my Air Force husband at the ripe old age of 18. I explored some and came across cross stitch at that point. I cross stitched for a long time. Then I found quilting. I love quilting. I made traditional quilts for years. Now, I'm branching out into art quilting and my own original designs. I've taken photography classes and done some scrap booking. I also started to make jewelry that doesn't fall apart because I use the proper stringing wire instead of thread (like I did on my Goodwill necklace).

There is still so much more out there that I want to learn to do. I want to learn to paint with both watercolor and acrylic. I want to knit scarves and dish cloths for everyone I know. I want to work with stained glass. I want to learn to make more expressive, nontraditional jewelry. I want to take better photographs.

As it is now, I have so many options, that I am often slowed down by just trying to figure out what I want to do on any given day when it comes to creativity. Still I add more ideas and plans for others types of expression. Does this make me a flake or an artist at heart?

People Who Share My Birthday

In my family, it's unusual to have a birthday to yourself, as I do. My parents were born on the same day, one year apart. My sister was born on the birthday of our cousin Jimmy. My husband was born on my parent's birthday, twenty years after my father. Our son was born on my Aunt Rosie's birthday. I have twin cousins (Kelly and Molly) born three days before me and my niece B was born three days after me. My first granddaughter was born 8 days after me, but no one shares my actual birthday.

My nephew R looked on the Internet to see who shares my birthday. I couldn't remember anyone he'd told me other than Katie Couric, so I looked to see if she was born in 1960 also. Nope, she's a little older. Others born on January 7th are William Peter Blatty author of The Exorcist, actor Nicolas Cage is a little younger than me, our 13th President Millard Fillmore, actor Vincent Gardenia (he played Cher's father in Moonstruck), Zora Neale Hurston author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, singer Kenny Loggins, actor Butterfly McQueen of Gone with the Wind fame and baseball player for the Chicago Cubs Alfonso Soriano. There were many more, which for some reason, really surprised me. In the whole list though, there was only one who actually shared my date of birth and that is politician Loretta Sanchez. Happy birthday to all of the folks on this list who are still living and a special happy 50th birthday to Loretta Sanchez! I hope it's great.

Birthday Cake for Breakfast

Hey, I'm 50 today. I can have birthday cake for breakfast if I want to and I wanted to. In fact, I've decided -- now that I'm 50 I can do whatever I want to, when I want to. I don't have to live by no stinkin' rules. Why wait until I'm an old lady to do those things that I've always wanted to do? I know what my niece is thinking right now. She's thinking that I'm already old. Well, she can be a tacky butt and she's wrong, but I love her.

The carrot cake is very good, but I was wishing for more cake and less icing. Something to keep in mind if I ever order another one.

It's really cold here today. I'm not fond of cold. Thankfully, we're stocked up and we don't have to go anywhere. I'm trying to get my hubby to go check the mail, but that may not happen. I plan to do whatever I end up wanting to do. And I plan to enjoy it. I hope you have a great day too!

The Bright Side Project - Mondo Beyondo

I've told you about The Bright Side Project before. It's a wonderful, fun website where they give away things every week. They find great artisans, crafters, people who gather vintage wonders that make many of us drool, who are willing to give away some of their products to us -- the blog visitor. The Bright Side Project says they deliver sunshine daily and I do believe it, because even though I've never won anything from them, I enjoy seeing what they are giving away. I love to read the questions that you answer in order to win and I love reading the answers that everyone gives. They are fun, touching, inspiring and plain funny at times.

One of the prizes this week is a 5 week online course from Mondo Beyondo. To read about the giveaway, click here. I was thrilled to see this as a prize because I've been to Superhero Journal before and I had read about it there. I hope to sign up for it one day, after my hubby is employed once again. You don't have to wait though. They have another class about to start (on 1/11), so go check it out. The ladies - Andrea Scher and Jen Lemen - will help you learn to turn your dreams into action. I can't wait until I can do this too! Maybe I'll see you there.

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 -- * still in need of this



4. Take a workshop with Sally Jean *signed up for a workshop on 5/1-2-- did not get to take this workshop due to the death of my daughter-in-law M and my need to help out with the kids


5. Take a workshop with Nina Bagley Not going to happen this year



6. Have the whole family here for Thanksgiving  Still planning on this, just need to clean and invite them all.



7. De-clutter the house **started!



8. Sell unwanted items on ebay *started first auction ends 1/8



9. Pay for a soldier's meal anonymously



10. Start a savings account for each of my grandchildren



11. Start teaching (quilting) again Did this, but stopped after the death of M



12. work The Artist's Way book



13. Sell 25 pieces/things from my etsy shop



14. Lose weight  haven't done one thing toward this, but still need to.



15. Stop drinking soft drinks  I don't have any in the house and plan on tomorrow 10/7 being my first day without them.



16. Go to a hunted hotel with my mother and sister -- Sister passed away on April 7th, won't be possible now



17. Have that "birthday" weekend with my friend Catherine (and Beth if she wants to come!) * this did not happen, hubby was unemployed on my birthday or had just been hired, but still no extra money.  Don't remember which it was now.



18. Trim that tree by the drive way



19. Buy some picnic tables for the yard



20. Write Mrs. Burns a letter *completed in July, 2010



21. Go see Mrs. Burns  probably will not do this in this year



22. Complete Angie's quilt



23. Make door hangers for S and R I have these started, but don't even want to do them now



24. See the Craig Ferguson Show in person not going to happen this year



25. Go to the Keith Urban concert (if he comes to Dallas or Houston this year) if he came to TX, I wasn't aware of it because of all that was going on in my life



26. Go to the Texas Rangers opening day game -- was in CA helping with the kids after M's death so this didn't happen



27. Plant trees to celebrate the births of my grandchildren



28. Go see the grandchildren -- got to do this, but not exactly in the way I had planned



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 *mailed the form in 1/6, now to wait to see if it makes it in time and if there is room -- there was, it's completed


33. Go to the last Texas Rangers home game of the year * didn't get to do this, JT's birthday was the day before and I was in OK, maybe next year. 



34. Get totally off effexor I've cut down and I'm happy with that for now



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 not this year



39. learn to knit a scarf -- knitting it, just need to finish it up, I have completed a couple of small things



40. ride a Harley



41. take weekly photos of myself (hopefully as I lose weight) (2/52) -- oops, forgot all about this one


42. commission a painting of Elly with Charmaine * I've commissioned it, should be done in a little while -- not in a hurry for it. 



43. Go to the House of Blues for the Gospel Brunch  not yet



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.

updated on 10/6/2010

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!