2012 Christmas Season

I often procrastinate about putting up our Christmas tree. It seems like a chore because I am often very picky about how it looks. I like something on nearly every branch, lol. This year I ‘recycled’ some of our decorations from previous years. I finally decided on Radko ornaments with multi-color accessories. Once the tree is completed, I am glad that I have finished it. I often wonder why I procrastinate when I know that I will be pleased once the project is done. I like the way it turned out. It is bright and cheery. 

I also like the tree timer. I wake up to a lit tree in our dark living room. It is such a calm and peaceful feeling to enjoy the tree in the stillness of the morning.

I really miss seeing the grandkids during the holiday season. Some of my grandchildren I have not seen in a few years and I really miss them. Some of the grandchildren we see more often and that is very nice, yet I miss them too.

My adult children live far away. I wish them love and happiness as they celebrate the season in their homes. 

I hope you have a joyous and happy holiday season. 

Technology into our Christmas Photo

As our friends and family become more technology oriented, we tried something new this year. We added a QR code to our Christmas photo. Now we can send "all" our photos to our friends and family. I wonder if I will get any feedback from our friends about this?

I did not meet my goal, but I'm still walking.

I didn't meet my goal of 42 minutes. It was an odd series of circumstances, but in the end my goal was not met. I was disappointed, but I am okay with it because I tried. I had met my time goal in my practice walks so that gave me some comfort while I licked my wounds. I am still walking. Still trying. Still moving forward. :) 

My son Matt did very well! He first jogged the 5k, then the 2 mile, and then the 1 mile. His time on this years 1mi was better than last years time... and that was after the two previous races! Great job, Matty! 

42 minutes

In 2011 I had set a goal to participate and finish a 5K event, and to not come in last place. A 5k is approximately 3.1 miles. This was a very far reaching goal for me, considering my age, weight, lack of exercise, and my health issues. In August 2011 our local school, Abilene Elementary, hosted the Hornet Hustle as a fund raiser. It was not exactly a “race”, more of a “fun run” because participants were allowed to walk. I signed up. To show support for me, my husband Jim participated with me. *Thanks Jim! 

I am very pleased to report that I did, in fact, finish that event. It was my very first 5K, and I was not in last place… almost last, but not last. It took me 56 minutes. I was so sore and stiff that I could barely move for four days afterward. It was actually quiet distressing and pathetic that this was my best. I had a little voice in my head that said “Really?!”

In January 2012 I set some New Year’s Resolutions. One resolution was to take my dog, Sam, for 52 walks with a goal of 104 miles. Another was to enter the Hornet Hustle in August 2012, and to reduce my time by 25%, without being sore and stiff afterwards.

I have some ‘health issues’, both past and current. I won’t go into those here, but let’s just say that there is a list. I told my doctor that I wanted to take up walking, and she gave me the green light.

January 2012: I decided that I would let my friends hold me accountable. I started using the “Nike+ running” app which publicly posts my results to my FaceBook page. I started walking. It was cold. It was difficult. I could barely complete one mile of walking. I was sore and aching. I tried to add a few steps with each walk. Throughout the next six months I encountered illness, injury, my medical condition, and other setbacks. But I kept walking, trying to add distance, and then speed.

I was very encouraged in June when I reached my goal of walking my dog for 104 miles. My dog is very happy and healthy. I thought this goal would take the entire year, and I had done it in six months! My family also entered “The Color Run” 5k in June 2012. I was able to complete it without being sore, stiff, and achy; another part of my goal completed. These two factors were very motivating for me.

The Hornet Hustle is in one month, August 25, 2012. In order to shave my previous 5k time by 25%, I will need a time of 42 minutes. Oh my! 42 minutes is not a goal for most people. Most people could do 42 minutes with little to no effort at all. To me, 42 minutes is a huge challenge. But I decided that I am not competing against most people; I am only competing against myself. I decided that I will be proud of my race time, even though I am going to be at the back of the pack. I will have to push myself to reach my goal. I am now able to add a bit of slow jogging, but I still mostly walk. It has been difficult in this summer heat, multiple days of 100°+, but the race is so close that I cannot let up now. I do not know if I will meet my 42 minute goal, but I will certainly try. If you would like to sponsor me, make checks to Abilene PTO. ;) But most importantly, I need to say Thank You to my fb friends (especially J, K, D, B, & S) that have been so encouraging to me.  

I'm having a bad day.

Today was yet another reminder of what I cannot do for Kristen. (Kristen is my special needs daughter.) She has a field trip to tour a facility that I can never afford to send her too, and that there is no funding for… well, there is funding if I am willing to fill out the overwhelming paperwork for AND to wait the 57 years (literally, not just a random number) to qualify for… oh wait, by then she will have aged out of the program. So, why jump through all the hoops to fill out paperwork, which will probably be filled out wrong and disqualified, to wait on a list for funding, which is longer than her life expectancy?  I’m tired of visualizing Kristen watching Dora for the rest of her life. I’m tired of feeling hopeless. I’m tired of crying. I’m not looking for a pity party, I don’t need any comments, I’m just having  a “day”. 

Easter Dresses for my triplet granddaughters

I have decided to sew Easter dresses. I found a cute chocolate bunny applique HERE that I just loved. 

I then found some Easter fabric that repeated the chocolate bunny theme. I was lucky to find coordinating fabric in three different colorways, so that the dresses would all be different, but still “the same”. The photo shows a lemon-yellow fabric, but I later found a lime-green fabric that I thought matched the Easter fabric better. I went with the lime-green. 

Next, the hardest part for me… is making a dress pattern. I didn’t want to buy a pattern so I looked at MANY dresses online, and some tutorial links (the most helpful tutorials for me are HERE and HERE). I finally created my own pattern. Pattern making is difficult when the girls are not nearby to measure them or to test the pattern on them. I had to step-out and just take the risk and hope that the dresses will fit them.

Fabric washed, ironed, and ready to cut. Here, I stalled… scared to cut… but alas, I cut all the fabrics. I was able to apply the bunny applique without calling my daughter, Kira, for advice. J I finished the first “sample dress”. I did not intend to make a “sample dress”, but after I saw the placement of the bunny applique, I renamed the dress “sample” and moved forward. My husband, Jim, made another run to the fabric store to buy replacement fabric for me. *Thank you, Jim!

I finally finished the three dresses, with lots of missteps. I was happier with my second attempt at the applique placement, but it was still not quite what I wanted. I discovered my blunder and I’ll do the applique differently next time. I made mistakes on my dress pattern too; I figured out the miscalculation and I made adjustments to the pattern.  I am hopeful that these mistakes won’t be too noticeable when the girls wear the dresses. The dresses do not look like I had envisioned them. Luckily, the girls are only 18 months old so they won’t notice.

I am reluctant to send the dresses because I am disappointed in them, but I am sending them anyway. I am trying to set aside my pride and perfectionism. This is difficult for me because I have a fear of getting my feelings hurt if anyone should make fun of the dresses (which I would take personally as making fun of me, which it is not, but sometimes I can be shallow). But, I guess that fear is vanity on my part, and something that I will have to learn to deal with. After all, it is not about me. It is about me taking my time and effort to try and make a gift for the girls. The main focus is the gift, and the girls, and not me. So, into the mail the dresses will go. I will use this as a learning experience. As I have stated to in the past, I hope they see the love and not the stitches!

I am learning, teaching myself as I go, on many different levels. I am getting better at setting a goal and finishing a project. In the past I would have just quit. I am trying to teach myself to continue to muddle through to completion. I’m not where I want to be, but I am moving in the right direction. Happy Easter! 

My jelly roll 1600 Quilt

I have recently decided to start sewing again. I wanted a new machine, without affecting our household budget. I sold a bunch of junk from around the house, and bought myself a Singer Futura Quartet. It is supposed to be the best of the best… if one knew how to run it! *but that could be another blog entry all its own! Lol. 

After doing a few small projects for my triplet granddaughters, I decided to reward myself by sewing a quick quilt top. I saw the jelly roll "1600 Quilt" HERE quite some time ago. I also recently pinned it on my pinterest board  which fueled my desire to give this rapid quilt a try. I started my project with a jelly roll (a jelly roll contains 40 2.5”x42”ish strips of fabric) that I had won from the online FabShopHop, so I was truly at the will of fate on the content of the fabrics since I could not tell what was inside the roll of fabric strips.

This jelly roll had several colorways of the same fabric prints. There were shades of pinks, teals, greys, all of which I enjoy. There were cute little bugs, chevrons, and “sunny” shapes, as well as other designs and colors.

I began by sewing all 40 strips together, end-to-end. Some blogs suggested sewing them at angles, some suggest end-to-end. I went end-to-end because it was easier and faster. Here was the difficult part for me; I put all the strips into a tub and pulled them out randomly. This was a challenge for me because I like “order” and “patterns”. It took everything in me to leave this quilt up to chance. My goal of this project was to push my own boundaries and to let the quilt be totally arbitrary. The only exception I made was this; if the next strip of fabric was the color of the strip before it, then I put it back and pulled another strip.  

I ended up with one LONG 1600 inch strip.

To make a long story shorter, I continued to sew the strip onto itself, over and over, and I ended up with this quilt top.

I found it interesting that some fabric strips ended up right next to its matching strip. So my worry about colors next to each other in the end-to-end sewing really didn’t matter.  After the top was completed I noticed that some of the fabrics were not cut exactly straight, something completely out of my control since I did not cut them, and this bothered me a bit but I decided to let it be… it is what it is. My goal of this project was to push myself to not control every issue, to let the quilt not be perfect, to let the randomness become the beauty, to see how some colors/fabrics that I might not have chosen went together well, and to push myself to do something different.

I really enjoyed this quilting exercise. I liked that it was a challenge for me, to let go of the control. I liked that it was an inexpensive project, free jelly roll. I liked that it was quilt pattern that I had never tried. I liked that I actually did something from my Pinterest board! I liked that it was FAST from start to finish. If you're looking for a speedy quilt top, this is your answer. I am happy with the result of the quilt top, and the result of my "learning to let go of control" lesson. Now, finishing this quilt is on my list of things to complete. This quilt will become a Christmas gift for someone… shhhh, that part is a secret! 

20th Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 20^th wedding anniversary. We’ve come a long way to get here. We’ve had lots of ups and downs. Our marriage has helped to define me, and teach me character, and forgiveness, and love. We’ve had our struggles, and we’ve had our joys.

I find it odd that the symbol for the 20th wedding anniversary is china (traditional) and platinum (modern). To me, these are opposite items. One is fragile, one is strong. Humm... I suppose it is not so odd. I think, in fact, that it is appropriate, since these are two of the qualities in a marriage, being fragile and being strong.

I am happy that it is my 20th anniversary today.

I’m going for a walk

One of my 2012 goals is to take our dog for a walk, 52 times this year. It’s a multi-purpose goal. So far, I have done only two walks.

Our dog, Sam, LOVES to go for walks and I have really dropped the ball in this area. She is a much happier, and healthier, dog when she gets to go for walks. I felt making this goal would be good for her. Sam will be 5 years old next week, her birthday is 01Feb2007. If I say “walk”, Sam goes to the door.  

This goal is also good for me. I need more exercise. I complain about my weight, yet I have done nothing about it. I think going for walks is a great start and I hope the walking will lead to more exercise for me. I have also set myself another goal of participating (walking) in the Hornet Hustle 5K in August. I want to improve my time from last year. I was disappointed in myself when I saw this photo of me with my granddaughters (taken last week).

I am now using the “Nike+ gps” app on my phone. It pushes posts to my FaceBook timeline about how long and how fast my walks are. I am hopeful that these public posts will motivate me to be consistent, walk farther, walk faster, and to do more. A few of my FaceBook friends have agreed to hold me accountable, and to encourage me. When my statistics are posted on the internet for all to see, it really makes me want to do a bit more! Lol.

I listen to audiobooks when I walk. I have not made time to read books in recent years, and listening to unabridged audiobooks is very enjoyable to me. I have just downloaded a new audiobook “The Wedding Quilt” by Jennifer Chiaverini. I highly recommend her Elm Creek Quilt series. I have listened to ALL of the audiobooks in this series except the Wedding Quilt and I am looking forward to this book, and saddened that there are no more to download… yet!  I am hopeful that listening to audiobooks will encourage me to read actual books again. I have always loved to read, but five years ago I created a mental block about reading, and I am trying to make myself re-wire my thinking and get back into reading. My oldest son and his wife gave me a Kindle for Christmas and I am going to use that as well.

Walking will allow me to connect with the outside world. I often stay inside my house for days at a time. Walking will get me out of the house, maybe meet some neighbors, observe the beautiful nature around me, get fresh air, bond with our dog, and so forth. The benefits of walking my dog definitely out weigh just sitting on my couch, typing on my computer… humm… So I guess it is time to get up, get ready, and go for my walk. It is only 21° this morning so I’d better bundle up! 

What a WONDERFUL visit!

Jim’s daughter Jessica and her husband Joe, along with their triplet daughters, just left after their extended weekend visit at our home here in Kansas for our Christmas. It was such a wonderful weekend! I’m sad that it is over.

The triplets are now 16 months old. They are exploring their world around them. They aren’t walking yet, but anyone can see that they will be walking any day now. They are such good babies. They rarely fuss, they share, they are cuddly, they have great smiles, and joyful personalities. I love seeing how much they love their mommy and daddy, and how much their mom and dad love each of them.

While they were here visiting here with us, we had annual photos taken. Getting Christmas photos is a tradition that we just started last year.  I hope this is something we will continue to do for years and years to come. It is so fun to look back at last year’s photo and see the miraculous growth in each of the girls. Here are the girls photos from this year (Jan2012), and last year (Jan2011). Can you tell them apart? lol 

We have not yet seen all of the photos from the photo shoot. We’ve only seen the sneak-peek. We absolutely loved J Mason Photography in Wichita Kansas that took the photos for us. These are my personal favorites (so far).

I know how busy Jessica and Joe are, and it was such a blessing that they loaded up their three babies and drove six hours to visit us. I know how much work a road trip can be; and I truly appreciate their efforts. I hope that trips to grandpa and grandma’s house will become lasting memories for the grandkids.

I miss them already. I am SOOO looking forward to seeing the kiddo’s in person in the late spring/early summer 2012. Skyping is great, but in person is so much better. :)

I hope ALL the grandkids know, or will learn, just how much we love them. <3