Regrouping

 I am sitting here by  my living room window as I write this post shaking my head. It's snowing again!! How many storms has this been? We are going to get another 10 inches. I can't wait for the spring thaw! Better yet, I can't wait for summer. I am a little nervous because I have to get ready for work and I am never keen on driving in the snow.  Comes with the territory when  living in New England. When will i ever get used to it?

  January sure had been a busy month!  I would like to report that it also was a very productive one.First and foremost, I am keeping up with my daily Bible reading working my way through Genesis, Luke and Psalms.  I have missed a couple of days along the way, but have made up mu scheduled reading the next day by doubling up. This is really a good feeling. I don't want to miss a day!  This past weekend Molly and I went on a women's retreat organized by a good friend! We really enjoyed the time we got to spend with each other as well as a group of ladies we didn't know. I am so proud of myself for jumping out of my comfort zone and doing something totally unexpected for me. And in the process, I got to meet a wonderful group of ladies!  Molly and I have been able to spend a lot of quality time together lately. A couple of weekends ago we got to go to a scrapbook class and made a fabric journal. I am still perfecting mine hoping to put it all together soon. The other big thing that I was able to accomplish this month was a makeover of my sewing room. It looks great! Molly finished painting it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I finally put the finishing touches on it . I am so excited. It looks beautiful!

 I did accomplish a lot of things this past month, but there is soooo much room for improvement. I had a lot of down time feeling tired and ended up sleeping days away. Every time I make progress, I end up taking a few steps back.But the great thing is that I have made progress.Here is the blueprint for this up coming month: 
1.  I would  like to continue to move forward and in these coming days focus on not only reading my Bible, but meditating on it so it is in my heart and not just my mind.
2.  Take time to send a handwritten note of appreciation to 10 people, and pray especially for them.
3.   Make a baby quilt by the end of February in time for a baby shower that I will be attending.
                                              That should be enough for now! ........... 

A Peek Into 2011 Thusfar

So far 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty good year. I know it is only 11 days old, but I am off to a good start. My world at this moment is peaceful and productive.  I will savor each moment while it lasts. I have accomplished more in these 11 days than I have in a long time. Let me tell you what I have been up to!
 I am beginning again my quest to keep my "stuff" organized. I took a bit of time yesterday before the trash truck came to throw stuff away that  was not useful anymore or broken.

I haven't been quite as tired as I usually am. I have only been taking brief naps. That is giving me more time for my to do list. I better get as much done as I can now!

I have spent more quality time with Bill.  We both are so tired all the time we find ourselves on our rare evening off together sleeping in front of the TV. Last night was busy with taking Nathan to dance class while Molly and I went to a wake for a friend of the family.Bill and I did manage to have a nice dinner together and when I came home we sat together to review the day. That meant so much to me. I think sometimes we take each other for granted. This is an area I need to make a big effort in.

I am planning on reading the Bible through this year. This is the most important thing on my wish list. So far I have kept the commitment. Right now I am reading Luke, Psalms and Genesis. I have had the TV on a little less these 11 days and spending more time in reflection and meditation, focusing on Christ rather than me. Perhaps this is what is giving the motivation for all of the other stuff.  I want so much to continue on this path that I have set for this New Year. It really feels good. In the mean time, I will forge on to keep this momentum going for as long as possible. Keep posted!

Well... Well...Well!

I love the beginning of a new year! I always find myself very productive in the beginning weeks before everything takes a tragic turn back to the way it was. I have been very busy in organizing my time and putting it to good use. I have not been feeling very tired so that helps a lot. My daughter Molly is going to paint my sewing room next weekend! Yay!! This is her birthday present to me. My birthday is in November, but we had to wait till mid January because she has been busy with school and school activities. I have been looking online and in magazines to find tips and ideas for decorating my room and better organizing it. I have alot of my supplies already organized in clear tubs which is a great thing. But the clutter in the sewing room will make it very hard to do any painting. So this week I have been doing more organizing of the clutter. I am at the point where now all I have to do is move all the furniture to the middle of the room so that she can start masking off the room and paint. That forced me to organize even more. I have put most of my material in one area of the attic stored in bins. I am not quite organized enough to say that they are neatly folded and sorted by color, but at least a third of my stash has been. While I was in the attic, I started organizing other stuff up there as well. I have the Christmas decorations organized (or half way) in one corner. At least they are all in that corner. There is a bunch of Christmas stuff down in my basement too which is all in one corner. That's a great accomplishment for me.
I didn't stop there! I started purging the attic of things that don't work and needed to be thrown away! I sort things into 3 piles, to keep, to throw away, and to donate. Now I have a little bit more walking space in the attic. Where did the trash bags go? I need to take these piles and bag them to send to their appropriate places.
Back to the sewing room I go!  This is very exciting. I can't wait to see the finished product. I want to make this room a functional space where I can be free to create in an inviting environment. Without clutter.  I will keep you posted on my progress as the weeks go by!

A New Year, A New Beginning?

Okay, it's January 3rd. Three days into the New Year. Where does the time go? I have had so many things on my mind that I would like to accomplish in this year, but I am not going to obsess about making resolutions. That always seems to end up in disappointment for me and also getting frustrated with myself that I didn't do what I have promised myself  I would do. That being said, I think I am going to have to take things day by day and perhaps make myself a "wish list" of things that I would like to accomplish and review them throughout the year. I hope that doesn't sound ridiculous or wimpy.
Here is my wish list for 2011:
1. Be better at reading my Bible and praying. This is always at the top of my list every    year.And every year there is so much room for improvement. I know that if I put Christ first in everything I do, that would be a great start for having the rest of my life fall into  place.
2.  Organize my house. I had such high hopes for getting each room in my house organized and try to reduce the clutter, but that all fell apart quickly. Why does life have to get in the way?  I started out pretty good, but when I got something organized and "decluttered" , it didn't take long for things to pile back up.
3.  Spend more time one on one with my kids and husband. I love them so much, but sometimes I don't think they know that. I need to stop being so "busy" with what I want and focus on the more important.
4.  Spend more time sewing. I waste alot of time looking finding new projects to do, that the stuff I do start gets ignored and ends up as clutter.
5.  Re organize my pictures, get them printed and into scrapbooks. I am excited about this one!  I found the best scrapbook store close to me. ( I don't know how this place escaped my attention) It has great rooms filled with ideas and inspiration as well as great products. I think I will make this one of my main focuses this year. Now I have to come up with a way to easily catalog my supplies and pictures so that I can maybe even bring them with me to do in down time. This will definitely be a challenge.
6.  Be more of an encouragement to my friends. I used to be really good at this. I want to make more of an effort to send cards of encouragement to my friends like I had in the past. It is always nice to know that you are being thought of..
7.  I have always wanted to write a book. I don't know what about though. I am just throwing this one in as a wild card because I don't think this one is feasible at this time. I am putting it on my list though because I wanted an even number of ten things on my wish list. You never know, this may be the year.
8.  Stop wasting time watching TV and other such foolishness. I think I can cut down on TV time a bit, so I will make this one of my priorities.
9.  Spending time volunteering somehow. There is a program to take dogs to visit people in the nursing homes with. I am going to look into training our chocolate lab Myron to bring. He a bit mellower than most chocolate labs, so hopefully he can be trained. That remains to be seen. I sent in the registration form to take the class in June. I hope that there is still room. This is something my daughter Molly and I can do together if it works out.
10. Spend more time making entries for this blog.
Okay it's out in writing! Now I just have to attempt to do it. Time will tell.

We had so much fun this weekend! We don't get much family time together, but this weekend we spent it all together. Now that my daughter is older, she has her own things she wants to do, mostly hanging out with her friends. I miss it when she is not around. Saturday was very busy. Every Saturday has to start with breakfast. We always meet my mother and brother out for breakfast. Nathan especially loves going out to breakfast because he gets his usual steak and cheese omelet (yes I know he has expensive taste, but he is a growing preteen). After a leisurely breakfast, the kids were off to play practice at our church. They love doing the Christmas children's play. They both are quite talented actors and singers. They both have great parts in this years play. Molly is 15, and she says that this may be her last children's Christmas play. I guess we will see!  This year the play is titled "Arrest these Merry Gentlemen". It is about a sheriff in Bethlehem who wants to keep the peace in the town but this peace is interrupted by a special birth. It is really cute. Molly has the part of the sheriff, and Nathan has the part of a truck driver passing through Bethlehem. Well after they had practice, we went to the craft fair at the High School. Lots of nice stuff there. I have to do that craft fair next year. The trouble is, I say that every year! One of these years I will do it! After a quick lunch, we were back at the church for choir rehearsal for the choir cantata. The kids have narrating parts and we are all singing. Once practice was over, we braved the mall. The kids did some gift shopping and I did some window shopping. They are almost done with their shopping. I still have a little bit to do.
The evening was fun as well. Molly went with my brother to see a production of  "The Messiah". Her friend was in it. Nathan and I went to my friends Christmas orchestra concert which was fabulous! Every other year I was working when she had her concert, so I was sure to make it this year. The only sad thing was that Bill wasn't feeling well so he didn't come with us.
Sunday we went to church. Bill was able to join us for lunch out. We did a lot of talking and laughing. Then we spent the rest of the day at home together.  Nathan tried a cream puff recipe, but they didn't come out as well as we would have liked. He is determined though to get it right by Christmas.  I have no doubt that he will. Our evening was spent together decorating the tree. I think that is my favorite part of decorating. It is a time of reminiscing for me. I look at all the ornaments I have and the memories behind them. I have a lot of handmade ones that the kids had made in years past, as well as ones given to us over the years, each one special and each one having their own special place of honor on the tree. Now its Monday morning and back in "busy" mode as a new week begins. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving day was great. It is so fun to get together as a family. We went to dinner at my sister in laws house. We got to spend time with my niece and nephew and their families which we don't get to see that often. Of course there is the food. Lots of it too. It was very hard, but I managed not to go crazy eating. I probably could have done better though. Everything was delicious! I am so glad that I was able to take the time to post each day one thing that I am thankful for. As I  had said before, it helps me keep focused on the positive. I was thankful that I didn't have to work Thanksgiving day and spend it with family. I have been busy these past couple of days at work. But it is almost over. Ionly have today to do and then will have a day off. Molly is in the Thanksgiving Parade today, I just dropped her off. She is in the color guard and will march with the band. Now it's time to get ready for work!

I am Thankful Day 24

Why is it often easier to be negative instead of having a positive attitude? For me I tend to look at the glass as half empty. Trying to come up with something I am thankful for each day has not been my first thought most days. The thing is though that I did it. As the days went by, it wasn't as hard as it started out to be. Now I have a box full of things that I am thankful for. I am learning to shift my focus from negative to positive. Considering all that God has blessed me with over the years, how dare I think of anything else. Today I am thankful for Gods love for me.  He is always watching over me in all that I do. He knows me and in spite of it all He still loves me!  Thank you Lord for always being there.