What's on my mind today...

 

Today I'm riding the Tuesday Train.

We did get a few snow flurries yesterday. Or as my family puts it, it was "spittin' the snow." Of course nothing stuck on the ground in my neck of the woods. Not sure about the rest of the county. But it was pretty to look out and see it flying around. My niece was going back to college yesterday from her winter break. She was traveling from Barboursville, WV to Wheeling, WV. A little above Charleston, they hit snow. After they had been driving for about four hours, she posted this pic of the interstate they were on.

That is some nasty weather. Glad she made it there safely. Hope my brother spent the night before he headed back home. I'll have to call and check on him this morning.

I'm vamping up my website design side of my business. I've been getting a lot of requests lately from customers and friends who are looking for a web designer. I really enjoy designing sites using the Website Tonight program. It is so easy and gives you total flexibility with your designs.

I found a daily planner on sales at Walmart that I like better than the one I got at the Dollar Tree. I love that the top of each page has a beach scene. Thought I would snap a pic of it before I transferred my appointments. It lays better, the size is more what I was looking for, the dates are already filled in and there are tabs for the months to make it easy to flip ahead and plan. This is for my business appointments. I'll still be using the other one for family and church functions.

I finished the little box yesterday that I was making for my friend. I'm taking it to her at church tomorrow night. Just when I was thinking about what project to do next, my sister called. She had seen the box and the new blue yarn on my blog yesterday. So now she needs a new box for some of her bangle bracelts and silver jewelry. I got it cut out last night and I am going to start it tonight.

After dinner last night, Hubby suggested we play a game of dominoes (yes, I know, old people alert). We haven't played in a couple of years. So we got them out and started playing only to realize we couldn't remember how. I pulled out the directions and there were so many different games and so many rules and wierd score keeping that we put them up and played rummy instead.

I was looking at my new ALL YOU magazine yesterday and saw where Robyn Carr has released three new books in the Virgin River series. These are going on my must have list. I haven't missed one of these books yet. You feel like you know the people and like you live in the town with them. Love this series.

Every year it is a big joke around my house "What Christmas item will I miss packing up this year?" I got everything all packed up last week and we both walked through the house...twice and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. I didn't miss a thing this year....or so I thought. Yesterday, hubby had his first day off since Christmas was stored away. When he sat down at his desk to do some paperwork, we found his Christmas coaster was still out. Oh, well. Missed one. Maybe next year.

 We all change things in the New Year. We make resolutions and goals. We plan and organize. We make tons of changes. I have done all that as well, but one thing I will NOT change is cutting back on Junior Mints. There will still be a dish on my desk at all times and a dish on my end table in the living room. Yes, I am addicted to them and I can't help it. I cut out a lot of sweets and a lot of Pepsi's over the past year, but I refuse to do away with my Junior Mints. 

Monday morning musings....

How exciting it is this morning to have a fresh start. To be able to kick off the new year at the start of a new week. I have a ton of things I want to do today. I'm almost finished with a little box I've been making for one of the teenagers at church. I'm going to finish it this afternoon so I can get it to her Wednesday.

I bought some new yarn at AC Moore this weekend. I'm going to use this blue to make some coasters for the living room.

I just need to decide the pattern to use. This variegated yarn looks good with any of these patterns.

This is one of my favorite coaster patterns using variegated yarn.

 These only take an hour to make and are so relaxing to work on. I usually work on them at night while we watch TV. Here are a couple I made last year using different yarns.

I bought this pretty burgundy and blue yarn Saturday as well.

 

I'm going to make a basket for the kitchen using this yarn. I'm thinking about something like this. But I'm using the variegated yarn on it.



 I'm going to place an order for one of these Thirty-One Cinch Thermal Totes this week while they are on sale. I just can't decide which one I like the best. I've narrowed it down to these three. Could you take a moment to leave me a comment and let me know which one you like the best. That might help me make my mind up.

I'm taking the day off today since my clients all own their own business and they take off every holiday throughout the year so it allows me to do the same thing. Thanks in advance for helping me settle on a pattern for the thermal tote. 

Happy New Year!



I can't believe it is 2012 already. Are you making your New Year's Resolutions?

I have been busy setting my goals for 2012. I've been thinking about them all week and getting them down on paper. I'm going to tackle each one of them in baby steps so I don't get overwhelmed with what I'm challenging myself to do.

I read a post at Jeremiah-2911 regarding a signature word for the year as opposed to setting numerous resolutions that will not be kept. I really liked that idea so I am going to pick a word and that will be my signature word for the year. My word will be:

I will set my course and stick with it. I will stay focused on the Word and let it guide me instead of trying to do it all my own. I need to put more trust in God to handle the situations that come my way instead of turning them over to Him and then trying to help Him solve the problem. I need to let go and let God so I can focus on what I need to be doing. This will apply to my spiritual, personal and professional life.

I do very well when I have a game plan, a list of what I need to accomplish. As long as I stay focused on that I am successful at what I set out to do. But this past year has been a time of losing my focus and trying to take control when I should relinquish that control to God. Things happened that made me question my belief in myself. I allowed others to still my joy and question my faith. It was a long struggle to begin believing in myself again and restoring my confidence that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13.  

Does that mean I cannot do the things I enjoy like surfing the Internet for cool products, visiting with friends and family on Facebook, working on crafts, shopping, reading and writing blogs? No, it just means that whatever I am undertaking, I need to be undertaking one thing at a time instead of multi-tasking 24/7.

I am very bad to be reading a blog and then clicking a link to see something they are promoting and that link will have an ad that will lead me to another site. Next thing you know, I have 9 windows open and forgot what I was even doing in the first place.

I will be doing my daily work and something pops in my head and I stop to take care of it. I'm going to keep a notebook beside me at all times and when there is something that piques my interest or I am reminded of something I need to do, I will make a note of it and go back to research it, look at it, or do it later in my free time.

 I'm going to read my bible using the Women's Daily Devotional Bible a friend gave me as a gift. It not only has scripture reading for each day, but provides a synopsis of the overview for that day as well as a prayer and additional verses for further study.

If we keep our FOCUS on God, we will accomplish great things. It is when we lose that focus and try to do things ourselves that we get all all of kilter.

My bible verse for the new year is going to be Deuteronomy 4:29:

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. - NKJV

I hope you join me this New Year with setting yourself a signature word for the year. I would love to hear what yours will be.

UPDATE ON THIS POST: I wrote this post yesterday so it could post this morning. I got up and started my day as I said I would by FOCUSING on my daily devotional bible reading of the day. I read through the various chapters it selected. In the summary where the writer brings out the point of the day, it ended with this....

"It is not by accident, I believe, that the Bible opens with the thunderous acclaim: "In the beginning God...". I tell you with all the conviction of which I'm capable: If God is not our primary focus, then everything else will soon get out of focus."

I love it when studying His word lets us know we are on the right track. Apparently, God picked my signature word for me this year. 

The UN-decorating dilemma...

I couldn't decide when to take down the Christmas decorations since we normally do it on New Year's Day. But that is a Sunday and I refuse to work like that on a Sunday. So we decided to take them down last night. Everything is restored back to order. I love waking up to a clean house.

I did make some changes in the kitchen. When we moved in a couple of months ago, I put away a lot of my French Country style decor and moved into light greens and blues. I haven't liked it at all. So I brought the burgundy and cream tablecloth back out.

I had some lace curtains I wasn't using so I put one of the valances in the kitchen window and got rid of the blue and green valance.

I put my vintage Pyrex, my roosters and sunflowers back on my wine rack and hung a couple aprons on the ends. I'm loving the new look.

I still need to do some work on the bottom shelf, but I'm loving the little red wagon to hold the spare aprons.

I'm keeping my wicker baskets and old pottery pitchers on the top of the cabinets to add to the French Country charm.

Here's a close up on wine rack. I hung some vines of grapes under the top shelf. Grapes just say "French countryside" to me.

Now I just need a huge braided rug to go under the kitchen table.

Well, I'm off to get things ready for tonight. Hubby and I will have finger foods, assorted cheese and crackers, and fruits while we play our annual game of Monopoly for New Year's eve. No parties or travels for us. We enjoy just spending it together the same way for the last 30 years. Everybody stay safe tonight as you ring in the New Year.

The year in review....

It's been a great year overall.

Our family added two new babies this year when two of my nieces each gave birth to boys.

We had several hail storms come through the area. One of them totaled both my car and my hubby's truck. He bought his truck back, but my Cadillac was so far gone that we let them total it. I started car shopping and it took almost three months for me to settle on a new (used) car.

We moved from our home of the past 12 years to a new bigger place. I am thrilled with the move. I have so much more room and don't feel cramped up all the time.

The grandbabies have went through changes. Garret turned 12. His last year before becoming a teenager. Caleb turned 8 and Alexis turned 7. Shelby hit three and was finally completely potty trained. Little Colby turned one and learned to walk and now he goes as fast as his little legs will carry him.

We did a new church directory for the first time in about 4 years and I was able to assist in the project and had a blast getting to know our members better through the process.

Our church also put on the first annual Kodak Community Christmas Parade and it was a huge success.

I had one nephew graduate from the United States Marine Corp and one graduate from the US Army.

We got a new Donna Sharp outlet at our local mall.

Our TV of 19 years went kaput and we are starting the shopping hunt for the best buy on a new one. 

All in all, it has been an interesting and exciting year. Can't wait to see what 2012 brings.

Motorola Electrify Review

One of my gifts to myself this year was a new cell phone. My old one was just a year old, but it had so many issues. It called people out of the blue. I don't mean it hit a button bouncing around in my purse. I mean it would be laying on the table all alone and I would hear somebody talking and when I would pick it up, my sister or mom would say I had called them. It was wierd. It dropped calls all the time and it did not keep a charge well, even if I barely used it.

We had over 6,000 belief points to use so we headed to US Cellular to take a gander at what was new. They had the new Motorola Electrify at a good price with a Visa Gift card rebate. I tried it out and loved the sleek feel and light weight.

I have had it for a week and could not be happier with it. It has multiple home screens you can build to your own personal preferences. It has a built in Amazon Kindle app that you can sync with your Kindle. It has the regular Android widgets as well as Motorola widgets to choose from.

As with all Androids, you can customize each screen, access Facebook, Google, E-mail and browse the web.

I have not found anything about it that I do not like. If you are in the market for a new phone, I highly recommend the Motorola Electrify. 

I am contemplating...

New Year's is just around the corner. It's that time of year when I start thinking of changes, getting organized and looking forward. I don't make resolutions because I never seem to keep them. I used to make goals and I was always successful when I did that. But I am a "hands on" visual person. Just having a goal hasn't been working. I need to get me some charts and forms to keep my goals in perspective and to document my successes. Oh lands! I sound like a boss. But hey, it does work.

I want to do an overhaul on my filing system and attempt at staying organized. One draw back to having a home office and owning your own company is the fact that there is no one to prod you into getting organized. I get a little discombobulated sometimes and it shows. I am going to figure out a new system before the first. One that makes sense and one I can stick to. I see a trip to Staples in my near future.

I also need to get my crafts organized. I keep heading off in different areas as to what I want to work on. I wanted to do a scrapbook of grandchildren, but kept buying stuff and for some reason I never started the project. Now I know it is because we didn't have all our grandchildren yet. Now that Colby is one, I want to get started on the scrapbook of my grandbabies. I have a lot of the pages and the embellishments. I even have the scrapbook "Camp Grandma". I just need to upload pics and get them developed.

I've got several projects I have purchased supplies for and never pursued. I need to find me a good deal on a sewing machine. I also need to get several plastic canvas projects completed. I would love to have a snowy January so I would stay home more on the weekends and get some of this accomplished.

I am tossing around the idea of becoming a Thirty One consultant. (I know, just one more thing I have to stay organized about). Not sure if I want to venture into it or not. I'm going to talk to my consultant to get her thoughts. We are friends and we go to the same church so I don't want to step on her toes, but I think I would really enjoy becoming a consultant. It would be fun as well as provide an extra avenue of income. I talked it over with hubby and he was very encouraging. I might venture into it to see how it does. This would be a good time to try it out since the new spring products will be launching soon.

All this deep thinking has given me a headache. I'll have to think about it more later.