New year, new goals

Here we are in 2013. Many people didn't think we would actually get here, thinking the world would end on December 21.  I told Baylor that if the world should end on the 21st to wake me up.  I've never been to an apocalypse and didn't want to miss it if it should happen.  As luck would have it, no end-of-the-world, so we  are still here and I still had some living room to clean as well as our kitchen.

So I finished cleaning my living room and got most of the kitchen done thanks to Kelly and Al.  It is great to have our living spaces back from the nightmare of the last two years.  I hate that I could only use part of our living room for two years. Although there are a few more things that need cleaned up, it's great to have most of these spaces cleaned up, or easily picked up in a matter of a half an hour.

Here are my goals for 2013.  They are much more measurable than last year:

Home:

1. Do 13 home improvements.  I have a list of several that I want to complete, but need to find a few for inside the house to do this winter.
2. Clean and purge 13 areas of my home.  This is a LONG LONG list.  I have lots of areas that I need to purge.
3. Run the vacuum cleaner 13 times every 2 months.  That is twice a week.  It will keep the living room picked up and cleaned up.

Family

1. Come up with 13 new holiday traditions.  Our lives have changed dramatically in the last year.  We need to have some new traditions that make our holidays feel more 'full'.
2. Complete 13 handcrafted Christmas gifts.  Doesn't matter if they are knitted or not, I would like to have 13 done by next holiday.  I will be starting with my gifts for my sisters. 

Self

1. Lose 13 pounds every 3 months.  That is a pound a week and totally doable.
2. Read 13 books of The List.  This will enhance my English major
3. Do 13 nice things for me.  If I don't feel good about myself, how can I do nice things for others?
4. Create 13 crafts that are not knitting.  I know how to do lots of other crafts and this goal will give me the chance to explore them.
5. Learn 13 new techniques/ stitches.  I am always trying to improve my knowledge of the craft and I have the Knitter's Life List to help.

Soul

1. Do 13 Random Acts of Kindness.  This goal is easy.  There are always people in need of an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on or even just a little something to make them feel better.
2. Write 13 blog posts every two months.  That is a little better than twice a week.  I think I can do that.
3. Complete 13 items to enter in our County Fair.  I don't know if I'll have 13 for this fair, but I'll have a few.  That is better than I would have in the past.

First three day weekend

This is the first of my three day weekends, building to my week off for the holidays.  It was great.  I got a lot of stuff done and am plugging right along on my 'Get Ready for Christmas' list.  It's been great. 

First, I got the entire front of the living room cleaned up.  Things are put away, including the two fair totes.  Steve took the old TV stand downstairs and actually got two of the 'not working' televisions to Best Buy for recycling.  He says he is going to take the other two that are in the basement over later this week.  YEAH!!!  More trash out the door.

Started working on the kitchen.  Hopefully I'll work on it some Thursday night and get it done over next weekend.  Got some of the dishes done and recycling gathered up.

Did all the laundry.  Yes, all of it is folded and put away.

Worked on knitted Christmas gifts.  Should meet my first goal this week easily. The hat is coming along nicely.  It looks pretty good, but is one of many.  I have two more hats to make and would like to make a couple of these really cute mice ornaments.  I have everything I need, but just need a few minutes.

At work, we've chosen our 2012 Christmas recepient.  It's a good choice.  I just need to come up with something for tomorrow.  I got us all set up on Friday.

Things I need to do over the next week:

1. Finish at least one hat.  That means some major knit time
2. Finish my first Pinterest item.  It's looking pretty good - entirely painted and ready to put together.
3. Check Christmas Card list and make up cards for at least the church people.
4. Clean the 2nd part of the living room.  This may take some time, since there is so much piled there, but a lot of it can be donated, condensed or put away.
5. Clean half the kitchen.  Ialready have it started, so it shouldn't take long.

It always helps to have it in writing.

Tomorrow and Wednesday are knit nights, so I won't be working on household stuff too much.  I do have some items I want to make up for the holidays. Baylor will be home on Friday, so I'd like to have some things done.

A sock finished

This is a photo of a friend, Cindy.  She is holding her FIRST SOCK!!!!  I am really excited for her.  We've been working on this sock for about two months.  It is a proud moment.  I am really excited for her and believe we got another hooked.  Now she needs to finish the second one to complete the pair.  These are going to her grandson. 

You can see the pride in her eyes!

Writing

Writing seems to be something I do a lot.  I write in my journal, really my planner, stuff I want to remember.  I add funny little cartoons I see on facebook or on the web.  Things that strike my fancy .  Things that make me laugh.  Things that make me think.  I write about appointments, things I need to do, people I want to remember, and, most importantly  I write about papers I have due.

At work I write up procedures.  How to do all the things that I do.  You would think this is pretty intuitive, but apparently not.  I think the things I do are pretty blah, but they aren't.  People inside my building don't know all the things I do or how they need to be done.  I find it pretty amazing, but it is true.

I write for my classes.  I am always writing a paper, fretting over writing a paper, worrying over the grade I am going to get on a paper, considering how I could have done a paper better, or re-writing a paper.  Occasionally, I get to bask in the glow of having a finished paper turned in.  That usually lasts about a day.  Not much time at all.

So now I am embarquing on a new quest.  I have joined NaNoWriMo.  What is that you ask?  Good question.  November is National Novel Writing Month.  You try to write a book (in my case, a collection of short stories) in a month.  No editing (whew!  That takes off a lot of pressure), just writing.  Writing 1600 words a day.  I know, some people look at that and think OMG That's a LOT!  But really it isn't.  So far, this work has taken me about 10 minutes and I have three hundred words.  About an hour a day of complete writing will get me close to 1600 words a day.  No sweat.

So what will I be writing on?  I don't know... what ever comes to mind.  No editing and no path.  It should be interesting.

The end of summer

Well, the end of the summer is near and there has been so much go on.  We've had our county fair and Baylor did really well.  We got to enjoy two weeks with Brandon Ingerman - Ethan's best friend and a young man I am proud to know.  I am still working on Camp Loopy projects and going through a lot of yarn without getting anything done.

County Fair

 As I said, Baylor did really well, bringing home 4 blue rosettes - one for his grass hay, one for his alfalfa hay and two for his steer.  He won his class in both the FFA show on Wednesday and the Clark County Cattle Producers on Thursday.  It was the best he's ever done.

We missed one of our integral parts of our fair in the person of Donna Fry.  She was in Alabama at her daughter's house and didn't come to the fair.  We really missed her.  I learned a lot about the paperwork, though.

John Nixon was also highly missed and well as my mom.  It's amazing how you always think that certain people will always be at the fair.  When they aren't, it's very sad.



Brandon Ingerman

It's always great when Brandon is home on leave.  He is in the army and we worry about him when he's gone. He's a great young man with a wonderful sense of humor.  I love that he was home during the fair this time.  We got him a fair pass so he could come and go as he pleased, which was perfect.  The best part is that everyone he wanted to see was at the fair, so he only had to go to the fair and see everyone. 

Camp Loopy

I've been working on Camp Loopy projects and gotten exactly 0 done.  I am still working on them, though. 

Lastly, my poor little wubbie broke his leg earlier this week.  We aren't real sure how it happened, just that it did.  He had a plate put in and is walking on it OK.  Hopefully, he'll heal up well and be good as new in no time.

Live from home

Presenting the first post from my home!  Yep, that's right, I bought a laptop and finally joined the 21st century.  I bought an HP.  It's pretty good, has lots of storage and Beats audio.  It takes me a few minutes to get used to the straight keyboard after using the ergo one all day, but I found I am addicted to the internet and am not getting much done.

I am making myself do something else - anything else- for a while before I allow myself to get on again.  I need to get away from a computer screen occasionally.  But there is just so much cool stuff out there, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be looked at.

Baylor's Party

Baylor's grad party was wonderful.  There must have been 200 people that showed up to enjoy the day with him.  Even though it was hot, it was still a lot of fun.  The party officially ended at 7, but there were people enjoying themselves until 10.  Baylor was going to Matt's party, but never made it to that party.  I think B had a great time even though he kept saying he didn't want a party.

Heat

It has been so hot this month.  June was down 5 inches for rainfall, yet we had about 10 days over 90.  This is crazy.  July came in at 90's and it doesn't look like it will change anytime soon.  I ache all over and I  don't know if its because of the heat or my age. 

Procrastination

That was the subject of the Yarn Harlot's post today.  How the charming, handsome beast will raise his head just when you need to get stuff done and tell you: "It will be alright, sit down and watch a movie." "you can get this done in no time, no need to go through those photos now."

Yes, the charming beast has been purring in my ear as well.  It's only 5 days until Baylor's grad party, one until his birthday.  What have I got done?  Well, as of lunch today, I got photos chosen (some need to be printed yet, but I'll do that tonight), and table coverings purchased.  What needs done?  A long, long list of stuff:

1. Get photo boards ready
2. Purchase drinks/ chips
3. Prepare dishes and take them to the shop
4. What other decorations do you need?
5. Order a birthday cake for Baylor

I'm sure there is a lot more, but all I can think is that I really want to go home and knit or read for the next 6 hours.  Add to that the 4H meeting tonight at the flower beds and Knit Night on Wednesday or Thursday and I am pretty busy.  I know I'll get it all done, just the when of it all.

My Wingspan scarf is coming out nicely.  If one the camera would play nice with this computer, I would post a photo or two.  I've come to the conclusion that I will not finish Baylor's hat by his grad party, but can still have it done in a timely fashion, hopefully before fair.  That's my next deadline.