New Years Resolutions

Nice, MOSTLY EMPTY, family room!!

As I take a break from putting Christmas decorations away, cooking and cleaning, I think about what I want to accomplish during 2009. Not all my goals are sewing related or even quilting related:

1. I want more time to ride the horses;

2. I want to have a garden that I keep up with and harvest. Not live off the land, but not be buying wilted salad greens, tasteless tomatoes (not that I will eat them anyways:)) and mushy peppers;

3. I want to finish 18 quilt projects this year. Whether they be pillows, lap quilts, wall hangings, bed quilts. I think I did pretty well for 2008 - my goal was to finish 12. and I finished 16. Not bad considering I took a 8 year break while having both kids;

4. I want to start making Christmas gifts in January - none of this staying up until 12:45 Christmas morning for me - or still madly quilting to finish my Mom's gift;

5. I want to donate several quilts/lap blankets to Akron Children's Hospital. They were so good to Jessie during her stay/visits there.

6. I want our calves to do good at the County Fair - and for the kids who are showing them to have fun. I don't want Jessie to get Grand Champion this year - I believe it's something she needs to work for - not have it handed to her because her calf is groomed the best or has the most hair (and I think she will appreciate it more as she gets older and does more of the work herself).

7. I want to continue to cut back on our spending - we currently spend about $200 a month on groceries - I think we can do better since we don't buy meat from the grocery store;

8. I want to continue to improve my cooking skills - there is a lot more I could be doing to feed us healthy meals - I just need to do it.

9. I want to loose some weight. Not a lot, just the 10 or 15 extra pounds. Riding the horses would help with that in a hearbeat. (And as Todd pointed out when he realized a week ago that I do have a blog, and was reading a lot of my back entries - there are no pictures of me on this space - it's all the kids, Todd and the animals. Maybe this year I'll put a picture of me on here. Maybe.

10. I want to save some more money up - and I will be taking part in Gill's savings plan. Every little bit will help in these tough economic times. And I am afraid it will only get worse. I am a big one for that cappucino is only $1.29 - but that adds up every morning....so today I brought my last one from the gas station:) It was very good.

11. I want to learn how to hand quilt. I have the quilt frames, the needles, the thread, backing and batting. All I need is the courage to JUST DO IT.

12. I want to enjoy my family and friends more. To spend time having cookouts, campouts, hangouts and whatever we can come up with. I don't want to worry so much about if my bed is made, is the house clean enough, are my floors vacuumed (OCD or anal retentiveness coming out again).

I hope everyone has a bright and blessed New Year. It has been so wonderful meeting new people in blogland and visiting with all of you. See you all next year.

Love,

Todd, Kris, Jessie and Tyler

PS - and for those of you wondering - we had 1 empty egg slot in the carton yesterday, Jessie had 3 dippy eggs for breakfast, I had 2 scrambled eggs (I couldn't eat the 3rd one, so she had to - has to be an even # for me), we collected 14 eggs yesterday, so I have a carton with 8 eggs in it now, which I was happy with as of last night. Then this morning Jessie ate 2 eggs, and we so far today have gotten 5 eggs - so I'm back up to a carton with 11 eggs. But there are 5 hens sitting in nest boxes right now, so all should be right in my little world shortly, and I will be done with this odd # egg carton. hehe

What I consider essentials for going out to gather eggs -

a calf bottle for water, a basket for eggs, and a cappucino for me!