On to the New Year

Thanks for all the handmade Christmas love.  I really appreciated all your thoughtful comments.  We will be repeating it again come December and I have something up my sleeve to get most of my family involved, too.  And just to be clear, the handmade Christmas was only part of our gift giving.  I wish I could make more, but 2006 nearly did me in.  So from now on, a good mix of bought and made.  It works for me.

We are eleven days into 2008 already.  Eek!  It's going fast.  Before I lose the courage, I am going to throw out my goals for the year.  Here goes nothing....

Personal Goals:
1. Get back to my pre-Kate weight.
2. Run a half marathon
3. Cut out the crap food.
4. Write more.
5. Say yes to my kids more.
6. Practice patience.
7. Have a positive attitude.
8. Don't over-commit.

House Goals:
1. Make bed skirt and pillow shams for master bedroom.
2. Finish master bedroom duvet.
3. Finish guest room curtains and pillow shams.
4. Clean out all of the closets.
5. De-clutter.
6. Work on sunroom.
7. Paint hallways.
8. Carve out office space for myself.
9. Hang Kate's window treatments.
10. Make a shower curtain.
11. Order and install new blinds for the girls.
12. Hang kids' art and family photos.

Craft goals:
1. Make a quilt.
2. Finish the granny square afghan.
3. Knit the tangled yoke cardigan.
4. Sew some clothes for myself.
5. Finish swap projects on time.
6. Finish embroidery and get it framed.
7. Take a photo a day & learn how to really use my fancy pants camera.

I think these are all reachable.  I have a tendency to be unrealistic at times so I have edited this down in a big way.  Many of these projects are already started so I just need to finish them up.

By the way, these photos have nothing to do with this post.  I just like them and I really don't like posting without photos.  Just thought you should know.

Now, what was I saying?  Oh yeah, resolutions and stuff.  I did clean up the blog a bit - kind of a spruce up for the new year.  There's a new banner and new info on the about page.  You can find answers to lots of your questions over there.  Really.  Go look.  While you're at it, look down a bit and see my new link list.  I was really torn about how to handle the 100+ blogs I enjoy.  There is no way I can link to all of them and actually keep up with the list.  So I listed a few for now.  In a month or six weeks, I will change the list.  If your blog is not on the list now, don't fret.  Your time will come.  I'm spreading the love and not overwhelming myself at the same time.  I also added a little blurb about comments.  I love your comments.  I really really do.  Thank you for taking the time to make them.  I appreciate it so much.  Here comes the bad news...I am finding that I have less and less time to answer them, though.   My inbox runneth over so to speak.  So if you have a specific question, just email me.  I will do my best to answer it.  And please don't be mad at me, okay?  I really couldn't handle that.

Allright-y then...back to our regularly scheduled crafting next week.  I have some knits to share, a new sewing machine to unbox (!) and, if all goes well, a free pattern for you knitters.  Have a great weekend.

Oh yeah - I am looking for a good slow cooker cook book with kid friendly meals (we eat meat, but do vegetarian fare, too).  If you have a suggestion, email me - hillroad at bellsouth dot net.  Gracias!