Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Working Through the Clutter!
I think all the papers, books, mail, junk mail, etc.. I think it all breeds once it hits my house and then stealthily, sneakily... deposits itself in unseen corners, already precarious piles, and anywhere I'm not actively looking at that moment. How else would the pile in the basket on the microwave--that should only have pens, a few candles, and medicines--get SO high?? Or this pile of "I'll get to those later.." papers, notes, to-do's et al .. just simply take over my desk. I mean really, I think that might be wood there, but I'm not sure.

Then there's the cross stitch clutter. Whoooo-boy. Dh tends to blame my stitching stuff for ALL the clutter, but I don't think he's right. But stitching stuff does tend to define our lives at times, marking us--like when He goes to work with an ort stuck to him from when he sat to put his shoes on-- and reminds of my obsession with cross stitching crop up at the oddest moments--like in the car yesterday morning, and realizing there's one heck of a long strand of floss stuck somehow to the windshield wiper. How it got there, I have NO idea. As I looked at it however, I tilted my head and said.. that is such and such color from that model I just did. DH looked at me like I'd lost my head. He wasn't sure, he said, what he was more frightened of..the floss *being* there, or the fact that I could identify the color. Silly man.

I bring this stuff up because I am, you see, trying to de-clutter our house, our lives, and even my stash. Toss stuff out that is meant to be (take THAT junk mail and old phone books!!), catalogue stuff ( I do in fact want to get a comprehensive inventory of ALL my stash soon) and reorganizing and prioritizing what is left in the space it's in. I expect I'll be doing this for a while!!

Be good to yourselves!

Monday, January 24, 2005

Monday, sleepy Monday (Apologies to U2)
I typically never sleep well on the times DH is out of town. The bed is too big, there's a noise, etc. This time, it's been really really cold. And of course, that little snowstorm that dumped 20 inches of snow on us in about 12 hours. I had worries about my furnace, especially after the big BANG I heard last night, but for the most part we muddled through. I however, am really sleepy today.

I have a long blog writing itself in my head right now. I'm too tired to do it justice, but it was sparked by a blog entry from last year, Jan 12th to be exact. Before you go looking in the archives, for some reason-that entry disappeared from display. I copied it for myself though, and tripped over it this weekend. It was a very interesting read.

The initial ordering period for Girl Scout Cookies is nearly over! Tory is almost to the top level of "earning".. which will seriously help us when it's time for camp this summer. The day camp here is *excellent* and she had a blast last year!! I am continually impressed by what the GS Organization does for these girls, and I'm loving watching my 12 girls grow, and blossom. Our service project is going really well too--I'll know more the end of this week about how many boxes our troop is going to send to the military in Iraq. I'm SO tickled that the girls got so excited about this. I am trying to figure out if our troop can afford little notecards to send letters along with the cookies.

I'm nearly done with the second installment of Mini-H from Chatelaine. It's one of the smaller mysteries, just 3 months, and it's Amethyst:) I'll post a pic when it's done. I also had a really REALLY small finish yesterday, a SB kit of a tiny heart.. just 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches. I'm not posting a pic of that, as it's a gift :)

Oh I nearly forgot. THE PATRIOTS ARE IN THE SUPERBOWL!!! Again!! It amazes me, in this day of 'superstars', this team continually gets the job done with many of it's starters injured. I think I really like them because they have fun, they are so supportive of each other, and they manage to overcome LOTS of setbacks. This Pats team this year seriously reminds me of the Red Sox calling themselves "A bunch of idiots who love to play baseball." Not sure I would call either of the team's members idiots... but they all sure do love what they do. It's really refreshing!

Wow did this get long... Y'all take care today!

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

uggghhh--Morning
Yeap, no happiness for me this morning. I'm just totally wiped out. On Tuesdays I just drain myself completely for my Brownies, and it always takes a day for me to recover. Last night we made fleece hats & scarves. I wonder how many of the 12 will be wearing them today ? I know my daughter is wearing hers!

The cookie sale is well underway! My DD alone has 6 boxes donated for the Operation Soldier project :) I hope we get many boxes....It feels good to know we're sending a piece of home over to the military that have no chance of getting it otherwise. The girls are pretty excited too! We taught them to say "well you could send a box to a soldier in Iraq!" If someone says they can't buy because they are on a diet :)

Off to finish my model. Be good to yourselves

Monday, January 10, 2005

Good Monday Morning!
I'm typically NOT a morning person. This is because typically I'm up late, as a historic night owl. To me, any hour before 9 am is ungodly. I however married a man who gets up at quarter to 6 every morning *shudder*. I pretty much get up at 7 am now to get the kid ready for school and shoo them both out the door. I used to go back to bed.

I'm finding that I get up and get moving now more than I used to want to. Especially when I have things to do. I spent a LOT of time yesterday getting laundry caught up, making dinner and reading up the house in general. **side-note: If you're not from Central PA, you probably have NO idea why I'm using "reading". To Read Up (pronounced Red) is to generally clean up, not CLEAN** So this morning I was in great shape-Dishes all done, laundry really close to caught up. My husband, at 6:30 decided to help me by putting away the baking dishes that had dried overnight. Well, the noise he made could have woken the dead. But I got up, and right now, I have not much to do for *general* housework. I made tea, made DH some PB toast, got DD ready (which was easy since I laid out everyone's clothes last night), made the bed and they both went out the door without a fuss, organized with happy Mom kisses.

I'm not sure who the hell I am lately! LOL But if you promise NOT to tell DH, I'll admit-I kinda like it.

Friday, January 07, 2005

Miles to go before I sleep....
Today I feel like that line from a poem I don't even know the rest of. I can't even confirm it's a poem! LOL That just works right into my day today, that's for sure.

As many of you know, I"m a Brownie Girl Scout leader for my daughter's troop. I love it, I have 12 little girls that are just adorable, and it's very rewarding. We're gearing up for Girl Scout Cookie time, which starts... Today. There's also a program we can do, in which people can buy a box of cookies and we'll donate them to.. somewhere. We've decided we want to send them overseas to the troops serving in the US Military. You would think this would be easy to get local companies involved to help pay to ship this stuff over, right? Wrong. You would think I could get a phone call back from someone in the NH National Guard, right? Wrong. I honestly feel like I'm slamming my head into a brick wall. I just want our girls to feel like they've done something really good in their service project. It's hard enough to get 6-8 year olds to want to GIVE something to someone, harder still to get them excited about it.

I look at my stash lately, and think "Why?". I've got 15 WIPS that aren't anywhere near completion, There's this wishlist of stuff I so much want to do, and I can't muster ANY enthusiasum these last few days. DH says it's because of the model I'm doing, but that's not it. I love this model, am excited about IT. It's the housework, and errands and SNOWDAYS that sneak up on me and keep me from working on it. I just want to build a cabin out back, heated-with a couch, a fridge, a stove ... a BIG couch, not a uncomfy one. Lots of lights and blankets and my stash. I'll come cook and clean here in the house for the family, and come sleep here. That would be nice.

Guess I'm in a crappy mood today, huh ? Well ya'll take care of yourselves, and be good to each other.

You are 80% Cancer









You Are a Visionary Soul





You are a curious person, always in a state of awareness.
Connected to all things spiritual, you are very connect to your soul.
You are wise and bright: able to reason and be reasonable.
Occasionally, you get quite depressed and have dark feelings.

You have great vision and can be very insightful.
In fact, you are often profound in a way that surprises yourself.
Visionary souls like you can be the best type of friend.
You are intuitive, understanding, sympathetic, and a good healer.
Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul


Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Gaining motivation

I have a thousand things to do today, and yet I can't seem to motivate myself
to do *any* of them --I hate being or feeling unmotivated!

THe laundry won't do itself, however. So off I go!

Monday, January 03, 2005

Wrapping up 2004

What a year! Many things happened this year, from personal to world events. It's pretty widely known I don't focus too much on the world events stage, so I'll keep this pretty simple.

Stitching this year seemed to be more of a chore then anything else. I couldn't seem to get moving on many things I wanted to work on, and obligation stitching just seemed to take me over. I managed to finish only 4 projects this year: Indigo Rose-True Love Sampler, Just Nan-Teachers touch the future, Just Nan-Friendship Sampler, TW-Futurecast. That's *it*. blech...

Personally it was my 1 year wedding anniversary this year, we indeed made it. It's been a struggle now and again, but I think we've grown as a couple, and people. Our financial situation has improved *slightly*, mostly due to better budgeting and being more frugal. I've gotten much stingier about spending for stash, especially since I'm SABLE for several lifetimes. My children are healthy, and smart and funny. My daughter, all of 7 years old now, is settling down some it seems in school, and I hope this is a glimpse into the rest of the year. Her teacher has such a challenge with her! My step-son thinks just because he'll be 16 in 7 months that means his parents are eager to teach him to drive! NOT! My husband's company was sold, and not only does he still have a job, he is the logical choice for a promotion. He's been with the company 7 years, and deserves this management position. It would be a raise (which we desperately need) and recognition that he rightly deserves!

Stitching this coming year is for me, me, me!! Well, okay sorta. I'm finishing up a model for Dinky Dyes right now, and then will throw myself headlong into the Chatelaine's I have on the go. I would like to finish Enchanted Dreamer by Mirabilia this year, and of course make some more progress on the other Mira's I've got going. My only "give away" goal this year is to do 3 each of M Designs Peace, Hope & Love ornament trees. I'll make these a gift to my in-laws this Christmas. I'm also in 2 round robins, and while I love doing these, I'm a bit worried about the time line on the House RR. I'll be fine, I'm sure though.

I am also resolving to write more often in this blog. Somedays I always feel I shouldn't whine about my life, or that less than 1 person even cares :) But this is for me, so I'm going to start talking more in here. Fair warning, lol, it won't always be sunshine and roses!

Friendships this year have been up and down. I'm not sure what it is about me that causes me to either anger people or alienate them. Whatever it is, I'm finding that those who have shown themselves to be good friends I could call at 3 am if I had a problem. That is comforting, especially since more than half of these people I've never met.

All in all, 2004 was a good year. I'm happy to see it gone, and truly look forward to our lives this next year. I think we're just going to get better and better.

Take care of yourselves.

Angi