A New Beginning!

Every year is a new beginning, a fresh start, the time to make choices that change your life.  So that is my plan for 2014.  A new beginning and finally making those choices that will change my life.  It's hard and confusing trying to decide between one thing and another because this time it isn't possible to have both.  Sometimes you can have both, sometimes not.

In that line of thinking, I'm going to re-think my choice of participating in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery.  I pulled fabrics, I bought the rulers, I'm in the Facebook group and now that I've seen the reveal I agree that it's a beautiful design. I know I could do it but the fact is I just don't want to.  Else I'd have cut some of the fabric I pulled!  I just do not want to start another quilt, at least not until I've finished more of the ones already begun.  To begin another quilt now, when quilting is not my passion and I have so many other things I want to try, just adds another layer of frustration.  So in a few minutes I'm going to put all that fabric up, store those rulers, and put the directions inside of the Bonnie Hunter book I own.  I won't need to think about it any longer and that will be a good thing!

After that I'll work on Scott's Rhombi--the edge from hell!

Holiday Wishes

A Christmas Wish from Quinn, Simba and I!

We hope you have the most wonderful Christmas ever!

Filled with only good things (and cookies!)

Bright Blessings on you and yours for the very best in 2014!

May you be blessed with good health, happiness

and enough of everything else!

More Santas

This one is in my bedroom, originally intended for a Stocking for my mom, it was my first time to "do it backwards", then she choose another pattern-on black!  I'm still doing the backwards but I don't ever want to do another one in black!

 I painted these two (and several more) one year when I thought it might be fun to do craft painting.  (I was never a true painter).  I did a few other things and I still have them all.  These guys are getting beat up, but I guess that makes then look vintage-wait they are vintage 1991!

Such a jolly St Nick!

Then there's Mr and Mrs Claus!  Gifts from the children, I can't use them as the paint comes off in the wash!  Still they are awfully cute!

I have some Santas on the tree as well as little bears wearing Santa Hats!  I'm sure there are photos somewhere.

We are bracing for a winter storm.  Perhaps beginning with some rain/sleet=ice and followed by several inches of the white stuff.  I hope it's all done by 6 am like the weather guessers think as I have one o'clock tickets to the Kansas City Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker!  Brayden and I are having a date!  I do not want to give that up  (and won't unless they call it off.)

The halls are decked, the shopping done and I'm soon off to make a fruitcake for my Dad.  Sadly, the fruitcake will be made without the candied fruit as I cannot find it in the stores!  I could make it but its too late for this year.  I doubt he'll notice as it only calls for 1/2 cup and there are dried fruits galore in it.  Apricots, dates, cherries and raisins!  And two kinds of nuts!  It's yummy.

I still have to get the guest room ready and clean house a bit, first I may need a nap!

Humm. This everyday posting didn't go so well!

Oh yeah, I was going to show you some of my decorating every day-oops!

Tonight it's Santas.  I have a small but growing collection of Santa's.  I only bought one new one this year, mostly because I didn't have the walking duration to go to the antique malls.
Here's the statues:

See the one in brown furs?  He's the new one this year.

On a very happy note--I'm finished with Physical Therapy!  My knee is straight and very functional.  It stills complains if I don't do my exercises, but that's just incentive.  Stairs are still a bit tricky at times and getting off the floor isn't graceful but it's getting better!  At any rate I feel that I have my life back!
Now if I could just find my mojo, sigh.  Terribly un-motivated!

I finally got my Tri-recs rulers so that I can begin the Bonnie Hunter mystery-I'm only three weeks behind.  Again, where did I hide that mojo?

Ice, snow and Christmas

We are under a Winter Storm Advisory until sometime tomorrow.  There has been rain off and on all day making for a damp, dark, cold day and for ice now that the sun gone down and the temperature is falling.  It's supposed to begin snowing around midnight but it looks like the big dump is going to be east of here.  Hopefully, all the major roads will be fine by the time the Grandboys get here in the morning!  I plan to take them to Union Station to see the model trains they have set up, then it's out to the T-Rex grill for lunch.  If it's too bad for me to get out with a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a 7 year old then I'll come up with something else for us to do.

Today's holiday decor photo:

My nesting dolls.  I love these things and I have them for several holidays, I'd like to have more but they are not so easy to find now and are becoming quite expensive.  The boys always like to play with them,  and I noticed my sister in law fooling around with the Thanksgiving ones-so I guess they appeal to all ages!

Christmas? What's done?

So all five trees are up!  After all the effort the big tree (in my header) took I was glad that only the smallest tree had lighting issues!  I replaced those and all have been decorated.  Some of them less heavily than others, but that's okay I like them all.  I'll try and put up a photo of my decorations every day until I run out, no promises though.

In fact, all the decorations have been put out and the boxes returned to the attic. Whew, that was a MESS!

Most of my shopping is done as well-Thank You Amazon.com!  The UPS man is making regular stops here for a few days.  That means wrapping will commence soon-although for a few gifts I'm going to need to get creative.

No cards mailed out as yet, but I do have them purchased.

No baking done.  I'm not doing very much this year as we are all watching very carefully what we eat these days.  I'll make my fruitcake (for my Dad), Povatica to share around and blueberry coffeecake.  So much less than I have made in the past.  I used to begin December 1st and bake something nearly every day, sigh.  I sometimes miss that as I really love to bake.

Tomorrow, I'll clean the house up and get the guest room ready as I'm being invaded by the grandsons on Saturday for a sleepover!  I have big plans for outings and such-I really hope the weather doesn't throw a spanner into our plans.  But if it does we'll figure something else out!

A Tale of A Christmas Tree

A few years ago I purchased a lovely, 7 foot, pre-lit, fake Spruce Christmas tree.  It's skinnier than the old one so it doesn't take up as much space and I thought it would be easier.  I used to spend several hours lighting the old tree row by row as I put it together, it looked really pretty but it's hard work.  So pre-lit was an idea my back could get behind!

I set the skinny tree up last night only to find that it had three different "stripes" of NO lights!  I hit up three stores looking for a tester and then spent 45 minutes testing individual bulbs before I found the really bad one-you know the one that can't be replaced?  Then I read the box which says that the bulbs remain lit even if one burns out! (Of course, that doesn't include the one that can't be replaced.) I really thought about this--could I live with it like this, once decorated would it still even show?  Slept on it-got up this morning and started taking the lights off the tree to replace them with LED's (I hope).  Easy-peasy right?  WRONG!!  All I have to say is that those folks in China know how to put lights on that do. not. move!  It's either that or they pay them by the twist!! Each branch of the tree has it's own little length of lights and for every bulb there are at least three twists!  So some three or four hours later I still have two more layers of branches to remove, sigh.  Tomorrow, after I get those done, I'm off to the store to buy more lights.  

Somehow, a pre-lit tree no longer seems any easier!  Eventually, it will be really pretty and I will sit and soak up the beauty and it will light my heart.  So there!