ALWAYS AND FOREVER...

As part of my "goals" for 2014, I am determined that once again I will begin to decorate for ALL of the holidays!  So, for Christmas I requested, and my Dear Aunt bought, a mini quilt hanger to decorate my foyer.  I know it is not realistic to think I will go "all out" decorating, but I figure I should be able to complete at least one 12" mini quilt for each month of the year.   Maybe not all "in time" for the appropriate holiday, but eventually.

A week or two ago I got an email from JoAnn's Fabric.  In it were some Valentine's Day fabrics on deep discount.  So I ordered a yard of each.  Last week I received my package and was shocked to see that JoAnn's had increased the yardage on two of my fabrics because there was less than a yard left on the bolt after my order.  They threw in the remainder...FREE!  Thank you, JoAnn's!!!

Twenty-eight and a half years ago I married my best friend.  We danced to our favorite song, "Always and Forever", by Heatwave.  To this day the lyrics still send shivers up my spine and bring tears to my eyes.  Valentine's Day could only be represented by the words that so completely express my love for him...always and forever. 

I love the finished mini.  I could have, and probably should have, done some FMQ in the center block, but I'm still a bit shakey with FMQ and this wasn't something I wanted to "practice on". 

I took my hanger downstairs to place it on top of my curio...only to discover that the "feet" of the hanger are too big for my corner curio.  No sweat.  I took off the feet, leaned the hanger up against the wall and put two clear, sticky "bumpers" onto the top of the curio, snugging them up against the bottom of the hanger to keep it from sliding. 

I'm thrilled with the way it turned out, and how cute it looks in my foyer.  I heard Dear Hubby in the kitchen so I called him to look at it.  He, too, loves it...but looked sad when I said I hoped to replace it with some leprechauns come March. 

Don't worry, Sweetheart.  The quilt may change, but my heart is yours...Always and Forever...

I'M CRYING "UNCLE"....or...Just Call Me "Dino"

See that empty Reminder page on my IMac?  See that empty Calendar page on my IMac?  Both of them were filled yesterday, the Reminder app with about 6 categories just chock full of things I needed to remember to do...home things, craft things, things to ask J to do the next time he came over, things my mom needed J to do the next time he went to her house, things I needed to remember to talk to my mom about, calls to make, things to buy.  And now they are all GONE.  My calendar was filled with doctor appointments, things that I needed to mention to the doctor, symptoms plotted by date to establish a pattern, appointments with repairmen, dinner dates, etc.  And now they are all GONE.  Poof....GONE...all of it!  There are days I really HATE computers!

Don't get me wrong.  I have always loved gadgets of all kinds...especially computers.  Back in 1980 I worked together with my boss (a doctor) and a computer programmer to develop one of the first medical computer systems available for the average practice in our area.  Personal computers really didn't exist back then.  The Commadore 64 and TRS-80 were the computers of the day.  Since turn-key medical programs didn't exist at the time, the programmer shadowed me day in and day out...questioning why I did certain things, why I didn't do other things.  He began programming and every line of code was based on the way I ran the office.  It took close to a year before the full program was written.  When it was finished and was ready to sell to other practices, I went to work for the company part time...traveling and teaching the staff how to run their practice more efficiently using a computer system.  I even did minor hardware repairs when required!  We had computerized medical records LONG before most people knew what they were!  Now HIPPA is the bane of our existance!  It's funny when I go into medical offices now and see brief glimpses of similarities to the program I helped develop.  I sure hope the programmer got full credit for his developments.  Our first computer was so antiquated that when I tried to type, the processor couldn't keep up!  Granted, I type 130 words per minute...but imagine a computer in our day and age that could not process 130 words per minute!  I even began attending college toward a degree in computer programming before Dear Hubby and I became engaged!  I just LOVED computers!

Fast forward 33 years and technology has left me in its dust.  Somehow in the years of raising J I lost my technological edge and have fallen the way of the dinosaurs.  Don't get me wrong...I understand a lot of what my "computer geek" son says (He works for a computer repair company!), but to "do it" on my own...I'm lost!  Hence, all of my important information that is now floating around in cyberspace!  Of course, J may be able to recover it all and patch it all back together again, but I can't ask him to be at my beck and call whenever a techie rescue is needed!

So, I've decided to cry UNCLE...at least for my calendar and other types of organizational/note-taking functions...and go back to pen and paper.  Today I ordered myself a Filofax personal organizer.  I will ALWAYS have my up-to-date calendar in my purse and I don't have to worry about whether I remembered to sink my PDA with my computer.  And sinking my IPAD and my IMac through the cloud?  Well, you've seen the results of that endeavor!  Nope.  From now on I will have my reliable...electricity, bug and virus free...stone-aged organizer with me at all times.  Yup, I'm a dinosaur.  Just call me Dino. 

FOOD AND FABRIC...ACCEPTING MY LIMITATIONS....

After the fiasco a few months ago when I decided to go grocery shopping all on my own (I paid in severe pain for days afterwards), I have finally admitted my limitations and thanked God, and ShopRite, for the wonders of online shopping.  I never really knew there was such a thing until J began working at ShopRite about three years ago.  He has now moved on to his "dream job" elsewhere, but the reality of online shopping (he managed the department so I learned all about it) couldn't have come at a better time.  

This time of year is the big can-can sale at ShopRite.  The can-can sale happens twice a year and is when I stock up for the next six months.  With J out of the house, Dear Hubby and I need a lot less...but cans are still heavy and neither one of us is in good enough health to heft such weight.  So we decided that every six months I will place one big order from ShopRite and have it delivered to the house...right to my kitchen table to be exact.  Dear Hubby and I can then put things away gradually, carrying a can or two to the pantry at our leisure.  During the intervening months I will place one or two "bigger" orders and we will just shop for milk, bread, produce, etc. in between.  It costs $15.95 for delivery, but that is a small price to pay four times a year to keep either one of us from hurting ourselves and suffering more pain than is usual.  Usual is bad, more pain is unbearable. 

So I have admitted my limitation in major food shopping and have now placed that activity on my "no longer do" list.  Unfortunately, I probably like food shopping better than any other type of shopping (I'm not a "window shopper"), but through the wonders of the internet I can still buy what I need, when I need it, despite my physical limitations.   

If you have followed my blog for any length of time you know how I LOVE quilts and quilting!  I am still pretty much a novice and my precision still has a LONG way to go.  In the past I haven't really dwelled on my need to be more accurate, but since my goal is to become a "good" quilter and some day see all of my dream quilts to fruition...it is time to focus on improving! 

I began this quilt some months back.  While I thought I was being "careful" with my cutting and piecing...the resulting blocks were not perfect.  I went ahead and sewed together the first row...and then put it all away to work on my mom's Christmas present.  I pulled the project out again yesterday and the piecing is BAD.  I can't possibly make a decent looking quilt with such out of kilter blocks!  

So, yesterday I began unpicking the one (err...actually two now that I look through the pile) rows I had sewed together.  I still have about one and a half more rows to unpick, but there is no rush and I can take my time.  My seam ripper is my friend! (repeat as often as is needed to sound convincing)  I only put one errant hole in the material when my hand moved unexpectedly, but it is in the seam allowance and hopefully will be cut off when I do the trimming, lol. 

A dear quilting friend suggested my goal be quilts that are "crisp and professional".  Since her quilts are the best I have ever seen, she KNOWS what she is talking about, lol.  I am accepting my current limitations in accuracy, but will working long and hard to improve!  Thank you, B, for your sage advice!

One of my "organizational" goals is to meal plan each week.  This is even MORE important since I need to purchase meat weekly to fit in our tiny kitchen fridge freezer.  I can't WAIT for March (after Dear Hubby's bonus) when we can replace our broken freezer!  Above is my meal plan for this week.  I currently have all of the necessary items in-house, with the exception of salad greens and dressing.  They will be delivered on Thursday, lol.  I have also purchased a few cuts of meat in my Shop Rite delivery order and will use them in next week's meal plan.  Who thought losing my freezer would lead to better planning?  Maybe I shouldn't replace it, lol.  

LIVING AN ORGANIZED AND DELIBERATE LIFE...

I woke up this morning to the sounds of torrential rain and howling winds.  The perfect day for some comfort food, yes?

Last evening I got the itch to bake.  It was already pretty late, so I needed something quick and easy.  I found a package of Raspberry and White Chocolate scone mix that Dear Hubby and I had purchased on vacation.  It was a quick mix...just add water, stir and bake.  I had pushed myself too hard during the day and was definitely feeling it, so the mix was perfect!  No effort baking!  While four of the scones had to be placed onto a second baking sheet (and burned) the remainder of the scones came out perfectly.  I guess I should have made them all a bit bigger and kept them all on one sheet, lol.  But, burnt or not, they were delicious.

Hearing the monsoon-like rain pounding on the windows this morning convinced me that comfort in the guise of two scones and a big mug of steaming coffee was the answer to my breakfast needs.  I even spread one of the scones with some delicious Lemon Curd that we picked up at World Market in South Carolina. Oh YUM!

While making my coffee I had to open a new box of K-cups.  In keeping with my 2014 goal of organizing and living a more deliberate life (part of being organized), I took the time to nicely arrange the K-cup drawers and glanced at the back of the box tear off.  Ah-HA!  A contest!  I immediately went to my computer and entered the contest...and then, since I can enter daily until March, I saved the site to a "Contests" sub-folder in my main Making Money bookmark.  Making Money is one of the first bookmarks I visit on a daily basis.  It contains sites where I can receive freebies, points for searching, points for buying, points for reading articles and answering questions, points for surveys and now contests! I also made sure to toss the tear-off into the recycling bin instead of the trashcan.  My trash company gives points for the weight of trash recycled and I can use those points to buy free gift cards!  This morning I was "living deliberately"...not flying from chore to chore with little to no awareness of how my actions did impact, or could impact, my life and surroundings!

While eating my scones I realized that having a supply of "cheap" mixes would also help on days when I was too exhausted, too sore, or too shaky to bake from scratch.  I added "Make Mixes" to my main ToDo list. 

As I shut down the contest link I noticed that my computer had popped up with an opportunity to upgrade my MAC operating system.  I figured that was something I should do, but this computer used to belong to J and I was unsure of his password.  I knew I had written it down on a piece of paper and shoved it into my HUGE pending file folder (yet to be organized).  After a bit of searching I found his password and began the upgrade.  I also placed the post-it containing his password in a place where I was sure to look and sure to find it the next time an upgrade came around.  But, in doing so, I noticed how horrible my password list looked.  There were cross-outs, erasures and smudges all over.  I printed out another stock form (in black and white to save ink) and rewrote all of the passwords.  Another tiny bit of organization accomplished! 

In order to meet my 2014 goal I need to slow down my life.  After years of multi-tasking just to meet deadlines, I need to slow down and "think" about what I am doing.  No more moving on auto-pilot!  I need to consider each thing I do.  Is there a better, easier, cheaper way of doing this?  Is there a way I can benefit from doing this, or something associated with it?  If I were to need to reference this in the future, would I know where to look?

It took 24 years of juggling my family's needs, my own business, and housework in order for my home to become this unorganized.  It isn't going to be reorganized over night.  And it SHOULDN'T be.  Organizing is NOT a once and done.  It is a lifestyle choice that should, in the long run, guarantee that I am getting the absolute MOST out of every aspect of my life.  Now that is a change I can live with! 

KEEPING WARM AND MAKING A LITTLE PROGRESS !

It is bitterly cold in large portions of the US.  While our weather is not bad enough to forcibly confine us to indoor activities...it's a good excuse to snuggle down indoors and have a "housework" and "pamper me" kind of day.  I woke up with a really bad backache this morning, so I won't be doing anything too strenuous.  While I wait for my back spasms to loosen I am sitting at my desk with a large mug of gloriously steamy coffee and my "Coupon" file.  I have been going through this pile for about 20 minutes now and have not come across even one unexpired coupon.  Ummmm.....guess I need to go through this pile more frequently to be sure I am getting the most from my coupons and also make sure I am not taking up much needed space with useless paper!  Lol.  Baby steps, baby steps.  All part of my 2014 goal...organizing!

Since I am used to "multitasking" when I ran my own business, I'm also using this time to catch up on some of my favorite blogs.  Above you can just make out today's post from Jenny of Elefantz.  If you have never visited her blog, do pop over there for a healthy dose of creativity, compassion, faith and fun....unmatched in blog-land.  Jenny is warm, wonderful and sure to put me in the best of moods.  Thank you, Jenny, for the joy you bring to me on almost a daily basis!

Stay warm my friends....

Lin

MY WORD FOR 2014? O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-E !!

Late this afternoon I began working on organizing my desk.  Gosh, does it NEED it!  I started with the huge pile in my "In Box".  I neglected to take a photo of the before, but this is the paper filling the recycling container in my office.  All from ONE in-box!

Thankfully, my in-box looks SO much better.  The paperwork turned side-ways (down to the brass paperweight you can just see peeking out) is REALLY important stuff that must be handled first thing Monday morning.  The next pile (down to the cardboard) are things that are pending and I should be following up on in the next week.  Everything below that is in need of filing.  I think the next time I am at the thrift shop I am going to keep my eyes opened for a multiple section wall pocket.  I could really use one that I could label "Tomorrow", "Pending", "J" (for things I need to give to him) and "Mom" (for things I need to give to her).  Hopefully I can set up a more permanent filing system in my desk drawer for all of the other things that don't need immediate attention.  Tomorrow?  I start to tackle that desk drawer.  Frightening.  Truly FRIGHTENING!  And the desk is just the tip of the iceberg!!!!

CAN IT REALLY BE?...and IT'S TIME FOR A "CHOP SHOP" !!!

 JANUARY 3RD?  Already?  I honestly don't know where the holidays have gone.  I feel like I blinked and they went...woooosh....whizzing right by me!

Above is a photo of the pretty white stuff that fell overnight.  Pretty, but I could sure do without it.  I am not a "snow" person...at all!  I tried to post this picture earlier this morning, but for some reason my camera and computer would not sink!  Frustrating, to say the least!  I finally decided to plug the camera cord into a different USB port and voila...success.  Sometimes I really think technology is not worth the effort...at least for someone as technologically challenged as myself. I am SERIOUSLY considering going back to a Daytimer type organizer for my scheduling and note-taking.  I am using the calendar on my Mac, but it is not as good as the calendar on my old MacBook and for some reason I can't get THIS Mac calendar to sink with my Galaxy Reader...which was purchased solely as a means for me to wirelessly sink with my main calendar so I would have my schedule with me at all times.  My calendar is far too important for me to have "tech" difficulties impacting its use.  Of course, if I would give in and pay the price for a IPhone with data plan I would avoid many, if not all, of these problems as Apple is made to sink with Apple!  My Galaxy Reader was a cheaper, stop-gap solution to avoid the monthly data fee, that is no longer working.  Probably some "update" on Apple's end that has thrown a monkey wrench into the whole thing.  Decisions, decisions.  I guess I will have to call my computer whiz son to come over and handle the list of "tech" problems I am currently having. 

This morning I have tried to be frugal and productive...two of my 2014 goals.  I packed my Dear Hubby's lunch and ate breakfast from the pantry/fridge.  I have leftovers for my lunch and dinner today so no additional money will be spent on feeding me.  Dear Hubby will probably not be home for dinner, but his will be provided by the company...so no cost there either.  After breakfast I put away some small "after Christmas" purchases we made...cologne for Dear Hubby (he didn't really need it as J bought him some for Christmas, but the price was unbelievable) and a set of seven shower gels for me.  We are now supplied for at least the next year, if not two.   I've sent away for a few freebies this morning.  They seem to be harder and harder to find.  One of my goals in 2014 is to take advantage of any and all freebies I can find, and to share them with my folks, aunt, J and K.  We can all use a little "help" making ends meet in this economy! 

This is one of my Christmas gifts from Dear Hubby.  Isn't she lovely?  My favorite shade of blue, too! I have transferred everything over from my old, beat-up handbag and have cut it up prior to throwing it into the trash.  "Cut it up?", you ask.  Yes!  I have finally realized that "findings" of all types do not have to be purchased new! I have been cutting off buttons from discarded clothing for years, but had never considered recycling any other doo-dads and such.  I can't begin to imagine the missed opportunities through the years!  Sad, really....sad!

So before I threw my away my old purse I cannibalized it!  I just love the "Brighton" look of these purse findings.  I know my mom will love them too, and if I ever find the "perfect" fabric I will make her a new handbag with these embellishments.  One of my goals for 2014 is to look at EVERYTHING with a more critical, "outside the box" eye.  I will have to ask my mom, dad and aunt to do the same and pass on to me, or return to me, anything that can be recycled or repurposed! 

So, with that in mind, I'm off to bury myself in my closet.  It's time to pull out the clothing items that I will never realistically wear.  If they are in good condition they will be sent off to the thrift store, with a receipt requested for taxes (frugal).  If not, they will be chopped up for salvaging of all good parts...buttons, zippers, material, embellishments, etc.  Shopping for future craft supplies in my current trash is definitely frugal.  Let the "Chop Shop" begin!