Moving forward...

It seems like 2013 was full of great ideas that I never acted on. The upcoming year is going to be different. First off, I mentioned yesterday that I wanted a busy book to hold all my notes, ideas, craft instructions, etc. Since this is the year of ACTION, I immediately got up this morning and created My Busy Book. I am going to start today when I see something I want to make or do, I will print out the instructions and pattern and put it in My Busy Book. I am happy. I have a plan. 

Step 2 of my plan will involve My Busy Bag. I am going to order the new Zip Top Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty-One to keep my craft project in. I pick projects that are usually small in size and something I can work on in my craft room or in the living room while watching TV. This bag will be perfect to carry with me wherever I am working. I think I will order it in the Citrus Medallion pattern personalized with "My Busy Bag" in either the turquoise or lemon yellow thread.

I am going to work today on getting all the Christmas stuff put up so I can go through my craft closet to see what I want to work on first. I came home last night all excited to take down the trees and get all the Christmas decorations put away. I started with the living room tree. It is the biggest and will take the longest. It always seems that once that one is down, the rest of the house gets in shape pretty fast.

I was excited to get back to normal. I was full of energy. I grabbed a grocery plastic bag and started pulling all the icicles off first and stuffing them in the bag. That in itself is an entire process. Once I was finished with that, I went to get the ornament box out. I had meant to ask Hubby to get all the boxes out of storage before he went to work and I forgot. As I stood there staring at the amount of boxes I need to haul out in order to get started on my clean up project, I did what any red blooded American girly-girl would do....I closed the closet door, took a bubble bath and ordered a pizza. 

Then I did something I rarely ever do. I turned on the TV and found a movie to watch. I picked Country Strong. I just love that movie. You can't go wrong with anything that has Tim McGraw in it. 

So today, I am faced with the project of getting my house put back into shape. Then I won't feel guilty about spending time on Pinterest and FreePatterns.com looking for new projects to do.

It's just around the corner...

Well, 2014 is just around the corner. Have you started thinking ahead to your resolutions. I am going to focus on several things next year. But I am not going to make "resolutions" of them. I am going to strive harder to reach my goals and stay organized. If I can do that, everything else will fall into place.



I already have several projects lined up for 2014 and I am putting processes in place to insure that each project is successful.




On the fun side, I am going through Pinterest and deleting all those boards of things I had hoped to make or do that never panned out. I'm going to do some serious crafting this year. If I accomplish no other crafts, I want to make one of those bow wreaths that look so easy. I may try that for Valentine's Day.



I want some type of project that can allow me to create something new for my front door for every month. I'm a woman on a mission. Any ideas, send them my way.



Well, I'm off to work in a few and just wanted to get these thoughts down. In order to be a success in 2014, I need to finalize some projects from 2013 first. I have a busy weekend planned to help me do just that. I need to get me a Busy Bag or a Busy Binder to keep all my ideas in for this year.

What a wonderful Christmas....

Christmas started on Christmas eve when the family came to visit. We actually got one picture with me and Papaw and all the grandkids. It was definitely a "take what you can get" picture. Papaw hid his face, the kids either got the giggles or tried to escape. It was a perfectly natural picture and I wouldn't trade it for all the "posed" pictures in the world. Love my grandbabies.

I got some wonderful presents. One was the Town & Country Pryex Cinderella bowl. This is one of my dream pieces. I didn't think I would ever get it because I have never seen it in the wild. Thrilled beyond words to add it to my collection. 

I am a blanket fanatic and have been wanting a really soft blanket for snuggling on the couch and watching TV. This blanket is awesome. I was warm and toasty watching TV under it last night. 

I got a cute pair of house socks with little cats on them. Wore them all day on Christmas day. My feet stayed warm and toasty.

Hubby got me a donut maker. I love to bake and donuts is one thing I have never conquered because I hate rolling pastry dough. This thing works with a batter for cake donuts...which is what I love. I'm trying it out this weekend. I'm going to make some with cinnamon sugar and some with chocolate icing. Yum. Can't wait. 

Hubby got me the most fabulous clock for my kitchen. We are doing a vintage/nostalgic theme in the kitchen and this clock was PERFECT! He did great. 

Got a bunch of other stuff too, but these were the highlights. 

The winner is......

All the comments are in and Edgar has headed back to the North Pole. Before  he left, he drew names for the giveaway. Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave comments. The winner is.....

RACHEL

Rachel will receive a new mini zipper from the new spring line in Thirty-One. She has her choice of patterns. Here it is in the new Paradise Pop pattern which is one of my favorite new patterns. 

Here are some of the other patterns. I especially love the Swiss dot.

Please contact me Rachel at Mamawsplace@gmail.com to let me know which pattern you would like. 

Congratulations. 

Merry Christmas!

A special Merry Christmas from our Tennessee home to yours!

Edgar's Last Day

It's Christmas Eve! Presents are wrapped and waiting for the family to come over tonight.

I have a few last minute cleaning chores for this morning (like running the sweeper) and then it is time to just relax and wait on the kids to get here. Edgar was up early this morning. He realizes it is his last day here. Santa will pick him up tonight and take him back to the North Pole to enjoy his retirement for another year. He tried to snoop in the presents but I caught him just in time before he started opening them. 

He read A Christmas Carol to Elaine. I thought that was sweet of him. 

They gathered around the song book and sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It was really sweet. 

I sat out some plastic tote bags I had purchased for the family to take gifts home tonight. He had to investigate...of course.

Then he jumped up in Papaw's chair to see which Christmas movie he wanted to watch this morning. 

I caught him checking over Santa's shoulder to see if his name is on the naughty or nice list this year. I don't know if he ever found out. 

He's been pretty nice to Ginger this year. She let him steal a kiss even though there wasn't any mistletoe. It sure made her smile. I think she is a little sweet on him. 

I guess it was too much to ask for him to remain on good behaviour today. I had to explain that a bowl of glass balls is NOT the same thing as those soft balls in a bouncy house. I very kindly told him to get out and stay out of my ornaments or I was going to drop kick him to the North Pole and he wouldn't have to wait on Santa to come get him. 

He settled down some and had a nice visit with Chilly and Rudy before he has to go home.

Then he spread out his favorite dishtowel with Clarisse on it. He's a good friend of hers. He likes this dishtowel because his "Aunt" Rachel made it for him. He decided to sample the candy I made yesterday. There is Old Fashioned Chocolate Candy, Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Candy, Paula Deen's 5 Minute Chocolate Fudge and my favorite, Reese's Peanut Butter Fudge. I had to get it away from him. The last thing I wanted was for him to be on a sugar high all day with company coming over. 

My victory was short lived when I turned back around and he had gotten into the orange cookies. I told him we can leave some of those out for Santa tonight. And if Edgar is good all day, I may give him a baggy full to eat on the way back to the North Pole.

He knows he gets to go back home today and I think he is getting a little homesick. I've caught him several times today just staring at the snow globe of Santa and the reindeer. I can tell he's getting ready to leave.

He finally settled back down with Elaine and Snoopy. Maybe they will keep him occupied while I finish my cleaning and he can see the kids one last time tonight before Santa comes. 

He's been a little calmer this visit. Maybe he is mellowing out in his old age. He has performed a few antics, but I'm gonna miss the little feller when he leaves. Merry Christmas, Edgar. 

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend has been full. I finally finished my Christmas shopping and started my wrapping. I was so tired one night that I had an ice cream Sunday with brownie cookies for supper because I was just too beat to fix anything. But it sure was good even if it wasn't healthy.

Saturday night brought in some heavy rain and wind. The wind was so strong that the flag at the grocery store was standing straight out. It made a gorgeous photo against the early evening sky. 

Sunday morning at church, I received some wonderful gifts from two of my dear friends. I got this cute snowman and Santa globe. The Santa globe was so awesome. It lights up and the colors change. It's so neat.

I also got a new cookbook that has some really great Pampered Chef recipes that I can't wait to try.

And a gift card to Walmart. I'm going to hit the after Christmas sales with this.

After church, I came home and baked 6 dozen orange cookies and then iced everyone of them with orange icing. It took about 5 hours to do them all. I was exhausted. 

I got up this morning and finished wrapping my presents for when the family gets together on Christmas eve. I am done with the wrapping and it feels great to mark that off my list. 

Now it's time to do some more baking and make some fudge.