This & That

 Who made New Years resolutions this year? Well, we're 1 week into the year, so who is still keeping those resolutions? :) It seems like I make the same ones every year. Some I make progress on, and some I don't. This year I am going to call them 'Goals' instead of resolutions. I like that word better.

2013 Goals

1. Work on being healthier. For the last several years it was to lose weight. Many years ago my thyroid bummed out on me and I gained A LOT of weight before I was diagnosed. For the last few years I have made some progress in losing some of it. Not as much as I would like, but some. But I was also exercising everyday and if I didn't do it, I felt extremely guilty. A few months ago I stated feeling not so great. I checked my online records from my doctor's office and noticed that although still within the normal range, my thyroid readings were steadily going up each time they were checked. I brought it to my dr's attention and she had me come in for another test. Sure enough, it had gone up again (and it had only been a short time since it was checked) and was only a few pts from being in the hypothyroid range. Finally an explanation for more weight gain no matter what I did, hair loss, depression and extreme grouchiness. Change of meds and all is good again. Except for the weight gain. That's where the healthier stuff comes in. But it's so hard!!!

2. Dejunk/Declutter. This one is a big one. We have been in our house for 25 years this May. I think everything we have ever owned is in our basement. Ok, not really but it sure seems like there is an entire 2nd household down there! We have started on the mess but it's gonna be a long time job. But I refuse to leave it to my kids. Second on this list is my craft room. It quickly became the catch-all room. "Just put it in the craft room and we'll take care of it later."  Yeah...ok...

3. Read more books. I have soooooo many books! I went through all my shelves and took out all the ones I've already read or just didn't sound interesting anymore. (Yes, I've had them that long that my tastes have changed) . They are all listed on Paperback Swap and we've been having pretty good luck with requests. :) I have been reading more the last several months and hope to continue. On the right side of my blog is my Goal of reading 12 books this year. Only 1 a month. I know that is a pretty pitiful goal for a lot of people but with my stitching I find it hard to find time to read. I always have to try to decide if I want to read or stitch and stitching usually wins. Mostly because when I read I fall asleep! But I do have a 15-20 min wait for my grandson and great niece after school so I always make sure to have my book with me. If I get 12 in this year I will raise my goal next year.

4. Update my blog more often! I've been doing pretty good lately. Let's see if I can keep it up. If you've been with me for a while, you've heard that before. I love that I picked up a few new followers in the last few days. Happy dance!! People are reading this babble! :)

5. Spend less. I would like to add 'save more' to that but lately there isn't any leftover to save. Praying hubby finally gets a raise. They were supposed to the last 3 years and didn't but our health insurance has gone way up. Crossing my fingers that the cars last because we sure can't afford a new one! (Jerry's has 200,000+ miles on it and he has to drive 70 miles round trip to work.)

I think that's it. Anyone else with '2013 Goals'?

I did get 2 cross stitch finishes completed already in the new year! They are my January ornaments for the 2013 Christmas SAL and Halloween SAL.

The Halloween one had a theme of 'Pumpkins' for January. My ornament is from a kit of Halloween Owls on 14 ct plastic canvas. I made several changes on this one. I added the ear tufts from another owl and used the eyes from another owl. I didn't think it looked much like an owl, just a pumpkin. I'm not sure if making the changes made it look anymore like an owl. It kinda looks like a cat, lol! I did have to do some frogging yesterday morning on it. I messed up twice on the back stitching and had to pull it out. It's really hard to see black back stitching around black stitches!I messed up on the lower eyes (twice??!) and of course had already back stitched around the black on the eyelids. :p

 For the Christmas ornament I chose one from the 2012 JCS Ornament issue. I didn't really pay any attention to this one in the magazine before. It caught my eye this time because I knew I had the perfect picture from this Christmas. (the one I posted here)  There was no theme for January, it was stitcher's choice. This was a quick ornament to stitch but I like how it turned out. The back is finished with fabric that has little star shaped Santas on it.

Remember the 'Good Things' jar I said I was going to do this year? I actually got it started on Jan 2nd! I braved going into my craft room and found some cute fabric. I just covered a quart canning jar with it and put a string around it. We have it sitting on the shelf by the front window with paper and pens. I warned everyone that the paper and pens better stay there! :) I have added a few good things to the jar. Not sure if anyone else has. Just simple little things that we wouldn't give a second thought to. Next New Year's Eve we will empty the jar and read about the good things from 2013. :)

I have a couple of tips to pass along. The first one I saw on Pinterest. I have glass shelves in my fridge and they get dirty pretty quick. I saw this idea quite awhile ago. I kept saying I was going to try it but of course it involves cleaning the entire fridge. I finally got around to doing that on Jan 2nd. It's kind of a pain to wash the big shelves because when I try to rinse them, I slosh water all over the counter. How to avoid washing them? Put Glad Press 'n Seal wrap on the shelves. :) (I had planned to have the box of wrap in the picture but forgot. Then I piled everything back in the fridge and wasn't thrilled with the idea of taking it all out again.) Then when they get dirty just remove the wrap and put new on. It's hard to see it in the picture but my shelves are normally clear glass. It's been there a week now and seems to be working great!

To go with the healthier eating theme, I have been trying to make things ourselves that we used to buy premade. They may not be extremely healthy, but probably better than boxed or frozen. One thing we really use are pre-measured oatmeal bags. I put one serving of oatmeal in a baggie along with raisins (or other dried fruit) and a few teaspoons of cinnamon sugar. Then all we have to do is put it in a bowl, add water/and or milk and pop in the microwave. (if you do this be sure to use a big enough bowl because when it's almost done the oatmeal rises a lot!)

Another idea is to make up a big batch of pancakes, put parchment or wax paper between them, put in a ziploc and toss in the freezer. Take out as many as you need and pop them in the microwave. Much cheaper than the frozen ones at the store. And you can make whatever kind you want (blueberry, pumpkin, etc).

 This last tip is something I figured out on my own (actually Jerry did. It may be somewhere on the web but I didn't see it anywhere).  I like using the cups with the lids and straws that are real popular now when I drink my iced chai. But cleaning the straws is a problem, especially when it had milk in it. I bought pipe cleaners (now they're for crafts and called fuzzy sticks or something like that). Just fold it in half and clean the straw! Who knew it could be so easy! It only reaches a little over halfway so you have to do both ends but it works great!
Ok, I guess that's enough stuff for tonight. :) Hopefully you guys weren't really bored. :)

I love reading your comments! Thanks for letting me know you were here. :)
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