Happy New Year and Don't Miss The Common Thread Give-Away This Monday!

It is New Year’s Eve and I haven’t made any resolutions and just like Christmas, I seem to be pushed into 2013.  It is not that I am clinging to 2012 as the year that was.  I am simply running to keep up these days and will be running right into 2013, ready or not!

Christmas came too quickly.  I was not ready.  I was not Ms. Claus this year…I officially passed the torch to my daughter who was Miss Junior Claus  this year and I am happy to report that she did a fabulous job, right down to Christmas dinner!  I was on the clean up committee and helped to shuffle the paper refuse after the event, and I kept myself well-rested and was on time to dinner.  My package of chocolate-covered Oreos in festive foil wrap of red, green and silver was our dessert.  No one cared that the pie was postponed and planned for the New Year.  It would be here soon enough.

My youngest daughter’s boyfriend came to visit for two days and the dirt was simply swept into the corners and everyone stepped over the clutter and would you believe our dishwasher died in the middle of it all, along with the ice-maker in the refrigerator!  We had a marvelous time and even found time to sit around a jig-saw puzzle as we all got snowed in.

I had forgotten the lost art of washing dishes by hand and the bonding that can occur over the teamwork in doing them. I fondly remembered my dad’s dish washing rule book that was in his head, never written down and changed each time we did dishes together. To make me a faster dishwasher he cited his rule, #102,  that if the dryer caught up to the dishwasher, the dishwasher had to finish the job single-handedly. I was the dryer but didn't want to skip out. I was enjoying this uncommon relating, besides which, I was on my good behavior for my daughter’s boyfriend!

I am finally learning that being a gracious hostess is to focus on the company and not the neatness of the house and no, our guest was excused from dish washing. Being a gracious hostess means that some rules are still followed and rule #1 is that guests are treated like guests!

So regarding the New Year, I have January planned.  First, I am going to be the featured artist this month and provide the Common-Thread-Give-Away.  I haven’t picked the item, but I have decided that it will be one of my Penny Rug Style Felted Wool Pincushions.  So stay tuned this coming  Monday, January 7th, 2013.  I will post a picture of the give-away and all you need to do to enter, is to comment on my blog.  Names will be taken from comments that are left Monday through Thursday and Thursday night a winner will be drawn from among them!  So don’t miss leaving your comment on one of those days and perhaps you will be the winner!

Also in January, I am going to complete two correspondence courses required to meet the requirements for RN Licensure in the state of New York.  I have been in a treatment program that necessitates me being in low lux light and so I haven't worked for the past several years, and instead stayed home and created Little House Home Arts!  It has been my joy and I have no plans to quit sewing, though I may, in the future consider limited part-time work in nursing or would at least like that option if I choose.

Meanwhile, I look forward to another year of serious sewing, starting with my sister’s comforter not finished for Christmas.  It was started by my mother years ago and was done to fit a queen-sized bed and seeing as how it is years later that I am finishing it, it never occurred to me that she now has a different bed.  It was almost completely tied when this discovery was made and so I shall add a wide border to the front, instead of bringing the backing over the edge to form a smaller border. I will post a picture of it when it is completed.  This alteration will not be difficult, but I did realize that it would indeed take more time to complete and decided not to squeeze it in right before Christmas.  It will be nice to complete this long overdue project to start a new year with one less UFO (Un-Finished Object). Don't all sewers have a collection of UFO's with resolutions to finish them?

As a way of relaxing, following a very busy craft show schedule, I turn to cutting.  It is a passion of mine!  I so enjoy sitting down to relax with a stack of materials and cut and cut and cut.  I love working with fleece as well as wool and my fleece sock rack is missing many pairs of socks.  I hope to put these on line soon.  They are  practical, warm and snug.  We discovered them a few years ago when I made them for my children for Christmas.  They weren’t considered a serious gift by my girls who asked if I would be offended if they gave a pair away here and there to friends. When they came back for more, my girls decided to try them on recommendation from their friends, and now we all have a collection of our own.  They make great bed socks to toast your cold toes in the winter and in shoes and boots they are guaranteed to keep your feet warm.  I have stocked up on new materials, but for now I am busy cutting out the baby sized ones from my scraps too small to squeeze out another adult or junior size pair!

Last, but not least, I have planned to do a serious diet in 2013.  This is no resolution though I am resolute about it.  It is overdue and has been done before but not so seriously for some time. I am collaborating with my doctor and it is be a no-nonsense diet, eliminating wheat, milk and sugar, at least initially.  My doctor knows me too well and knows that "the proof is in the pudding" or in this case plain meats, veggies and limited fruit, with NO pudding, milk, sugar and perhaps even no wheat.  Instead of directing me, she will let the diet show me what makes me feel better. I am  The Doubting Thomas of the medical world and still believe Mary Poppins and "that a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

Th Did I mention that my sister sent me about 10 lbs of fudge  that is safely tucked into the freezer, potentially to reward my efforts by mere slivers?  I think I have enough fudge for a two year supply of slivers to reward my success! What is wrong with this plan?  This is actually a test to see if my doctor reads my blog. It may be an even better reward for my family, as their support in all this is truly appreciated!! My doctor says  I am not to think diet but rather think healthy life-style change. I say if it doesn’t include fudge, it a diet for sure!!

Perhaps I am more ready for 2013, than I realize and I wish all of my readers a wonderful 2013 as well!