Happy New Year's Eve

Whether you are home with family, sitting alone anywhere, curled up with a good book, or maybe just in a room with a lot of people.....I wish nothing but the best for you in this coming New Year.  As 2012 is coming to an end on the West Coast, in just about an hour I have chosen my word for 2013 or maybe it has chosen me.....this next year I will seek JOY.  I am sure it will meet me right where I am and teach me a thing or two.  Do you have a special word for the coming New Year?   

The last few weeks have been full of sewing, up until the last hours of Christmas Eve.  I made 4 quilts, altered newborn baby clothes for my Granddaughter's dolls which totaled over 2000 yards of thread and so many hours of sitting at my faithful machine that I am still sore.

 

My partner in crime, my youngest daughter Michaela, that blessed me by helping every minute that she could, so I could sew.  I think I will owe her coffee out for weeks.

These are the dolls that my Granddaughter's found under the tree after breakfast Christmas morning.  Their faces were priceless!  Each one came with their own diaper bag of clothes and I included a name tag with who they are.  Painting the faces and stitching on the hair was relaxing and fun. 

My heart was in a different place this Christmas and so much I can't still understand.  I am taking it one day at a time and the best thing is, I know I am okay.  It is a wonderful feeling to know that the not so great things that happen, don't take me to a horrible place anymore.  They make step back and see how far I have come.

PS.......Tracey, you need to contact me so I can get your book out to you

Resolutions, not here

Happy New Year!

I don't like resolutions so there for a I don't make them.  I have really worked hard over the last few years to just stop beating myself up.  I am happier that way.  There isn't much I can do about the past but I can make changes for my future even if it is only one step at a time.  One of the things I am trying to make sure that I am doing more of is writing about the little things, which I have always felt it important to do.  Someday I am not going to be here to tell the stories or to tell my children that they are loved.  I don't want any of that to disappear so that is a reason I scrapbook, journal or blog.  So onto a important little thing.........     

Durning winter we always let our outside dogs become inside dogs.  They LOVE it but it is an adjustment for me.  I love them but they are always underfoot and it can be very frustrating.  Like most dogs they thrive on attention and I do think they believe they are people not dogs.  I don't allow them up on furniture unless there is a blanket.  At night they will wonder around the house so we put them in the laundry room with there blankets. 

This is our oldest dog Arthur, he is 12.  We've seen some changes in him this past year, as you do with most older dogs, that has required us to make adjustments on how we interact with him.  His sight has been changing for months, he can still see but depth perception is a problem.  It is better if he has plenty of light to see when going downstairs and one of those flameless candles in the laundry room helps him at night.  The big thing that has changed is he has gone deaf.  We started to notice it this summer when the fire station would turn on the sirens and he wouldn't be howling.  He responses to vibration in the floor, knocking on the garage door to let him in and of course he watches the other dogs pretty closely.  If he is sleeping sound we have to be ever so careful as to not startle him.  We touch him gently to get his attention.  When my son is home he is by his side, even if he just gets up to get a pencil he is the constant shadow.  My son is his boy.  There are days he still thinks he is a puppy especially then the snow falls.  He eats snow even when his water bowl in the house is full and loves to chase after snowballs.  He will dive right into the deepest snow to find them and will bark very loudly when his boy isn't making snowballs fast enough.  It is quite funny.      

At his last vet appointment over the summer he had lost a bunch of weight so we had to adjust his feeding schedule from once a day to twice.  It seems that his body can handle it a lot better.  He has put back on the weight so for that we are glad.  He has always had this thing of not being able to stand on anything but carpets, it makes going to the vet interesting.  We have to actually carry him in and place him on a blanket because he feels safe.  On our wood floor landing, we have to have a small carpet because he won't come upstairs otherwise.  It will be a sad day when he is gone.     

Happy New Year!

So here we are a brand new start, at least that is how I like to look at it. A clean slate, all the bad whipped away, everything becomes new again.

This is year I have decided to followed Ali Edwards in picking one word that will be mine for the whole year. Ali shared this about the one little word concept on her blog and in her newsletter, "A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow. Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself? It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word. One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here's one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren't ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities."

The last two years my word was contentment. I will share sometime soon what that word has meant to me and the changes that have taken place in my life while having it a big part of my life. Today the first day of the new year I want to share my one little word for the year, moderation. Moderation in what I eat, the money I spend and what I spend it on, time on the internet and I'm sure there are many more things that will come to be added to this list. I will start with the small things that come to mind first. It is exciting but makes me nervous about what this one little word has in store for me.

What do you want for your New Year? Anything special goals you want to follow through with?

The first day of the new year is a new start. Everything was quiet and seemed fresh that first day. In the morning I let my dogs out it was so quiet. I couldn't believe it not a car on the road at 7:00am, everything was silent except for a few ducks quacking overhead. It was so refreshing.
Today life is good and I hope for more of these good days in 2007.