Duct Tape & WD-40

Resolutions in Review

Thinking about my resolutions for the new year and looking back at 2008. Good thing I have this blog because now I can be reminded of my failure to achieve me goals every year. So let's time warp back to January of 2008.

1.  I resolve to see Bruce Springsteen in concert (specifically on April 20th) - Thought I was going to screw this one up when the Boss had to cancel our Orlando show due to the death of bandmate Danny Federici. But Bruce never lets me down and rescheduled for a couple of a days later. Great show.  I also overachieved this resolution. I saw Bruce TWICE. Kim and I headed to Jacksonville and caught his second visit to Florida.  My goal for the next tour: see every appearance in Florida. 

2.  Something that I am doing with my friend, Kim - I resolve to learn (actually relearn because I knew it once) the choreography to the video "Thriller" and perform it at one of our cul-de-sac parties. Yikes, kept putting this one off. Now Kim is out of town and there are only 2 more days left in 2008! Might have to add this one to 2009.

3.  More seriously, I resolve to lose 20 lbs.  My weight is creeping back up.  If I don't stop it, it will just get harder and harder to get it off.  This is more of a fact than a resolution.  It will happen.  I will start moving again and watching my sugar/carb intake.  I simply feel better and have more energy when I do.  Lord knows I need to feel better and have more energy. Nailed this one! Started the year off in a weight loss contest with Gary. First one to lose 10% of their body weight won. Gary went after it with gusto, but once again, the tortoise beats the hare and I win in October! Playing a lot of tennis really helped.

4.  I resolve to make one ATC (artist trading card) a week.  I am going to follow Emily Falconbridge's 52 prompts from last year.  Surely I can eek out one small piece of creativity week. Okay, I started this with the best intentions, but stopped in about March. If I can't do a once a week thing, Lord help me with the daily resolution I have for next year.

5.  I resolve to make at least one layout a month from my Jenni Bowlin kits.  I love getting her monthly kits, but I am scrapbooking so little that I don't use much of it. Oh my, no only did I not do this, I CANCELED my Jenni Bowlin kits! Somewhere around June, I decided that I needed a change. So, I canceled Jenni and started Cocoa Daisy. I must say, however, that I have made at least a project or a card from each Cocoa Daisy kit I received. Worth the cost, probably not. But I just can't resist that kitted, paper goodness.

6.  I resolve to write our wills and see a financial planner.  This is the same resolution that I make every year and never do.  I think I will actually do it this year.  Some things have changed in our lives that make this more necessary.  Also I have been doing a lot of things that suck this year.  What is one more thing to add to my "Things I Have To Do That Suck list?" Did this finally get done? In a word, no. But I got my father-in-law's will done. Does that count? I still have two days left and I have made e-mail contact with an attorney who might do it for us.

7.  I resolve to go to bed a little earlier so that I can function earlier in the morning and perhaps get more done. I am a work in progress and that is all I am going to say about that.

Okay, so if I tally it all up, that makes 2 accomplished and 5 attempted with a little bit of succuess. Tune in January 1 for 2009 resolutions. There will be some oldies that continue to make the list and some new ones that involve travel and anti-aging.

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ONE LITTLE WORD. Start thinking about your one little word for 2009. You can find more information about it here. My past words - 2007 Do, 2008 Bloom. You'll find out mine in January.

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I just found out I won a cool prize from a blog drawing.

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Having my sister and her family, my mom and dad and anyone else who shows up to my house on New Year's Eve. My house is a wreck and there is poop on the floor from two different animals! I'm am just going to relax and enjoy the blessing of friends, family and new year.

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Had one of the best Christmas' ever. It was overflowing with many different and wonderful surprises and blessings. Hope you can say the same.

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Uploaded a few photos to Flickr from a photo shoot with my parents that I couldn't post until now. For those of you that just can't manage another mouse click, here is one of them

Christmas Goodness in Full Swing

Hello bloggity readers on the world wide web. It would be redundant to say that I have been busy. But it is the Christmas season and I know that, just like me, you are all overwhelmed and crazy. But I have the seasonal cure. DRINK ADULT EGG NOG. Seriously, only once a year do you have such an excuse to indulge in high fat, sugar, cholesterol and alcohol. Imbibe internet! And that's all I will say about that.

This year, many people are getting handmade gifts from me.  I'm not blaming the economy and trying to be frugal.  I am just trying to simplify. There are people on my list that really don't NEED or WANT FOR anything. What do you get these people? More stuff? Just for the sake of giving a gift? So for these people, I have decided to give something of and from me.

I hope they like it, because I guarantee that I spent a lot of time on it and I wouldn't have bothered if they were not VERY special to me. So, unless I found the "perfect" gift for you, I am making the perfect gift.

I can't wait to post some pics, but some will have to wait until AFTER Christmas.  Here, however, is one thing.  I made this blanket for a teacher/friend who is expecting her third girl any day.  Once again I thought, "This girl has two kids worth of baby stuff and is getting more daily. I don't want to give her more STUFF. I want to give her something special."

I call it "Reinventing the Wheel."

Sorry for the stinky photos.

Why such a name for a pink baby blanket? Because I couldn't find a pattern, so I just made it up. I don't mean that in an "I'm so creative I can design my own patterns" way. I mean I didn't know what I was doing and it took forever.

I based it on a blanket that I saw on another website, but there were no directions. The whole time that I was cutting fabric the wrong size and trimming things that weren't straight and tearing out uneven seems, I was thinking that somewhere there were directions for what I was doing. Someone had tried this and failed and worked on it until it was perfect, then sold that knowledge in the form of a pattern. I am figuring out what someone has already thought out!

It ended up looking like I made it in my 7th grade home ec class.  But, if I had wanted to give her a perfect blanket, I would have bought one.

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This is one of the reasons I am so glad that school is finally out for Christmas break. These are all of the teacher and staff gifts that I took to school with me on Friday. Actually, this story deserves it own post, so I will hold off for now. Let's just leave it at I had a hard time delivering them all because I was one of the mothers in charge of the second grade Christmas party.  Thanks to Blair, Jackie and Tiffany who let me be somewhat of a slacker.

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Finally, the most important part of this post. Don't let anyone ever say that reading blogs is a waste of time because this time you will learn something worth $5.00.

Costco has the big mega bottles of Grey Goose Vodka on sale for $5 off through Christmas Eve. They also have Bailey's for $3.00 off. Stock up people because this is a good deal. It doesn't go bad, so buy as many as you can afford. I could only afford 2 so it will only last me through next week.

Randomness and Christmas

Oh internet, I feel like I am so behind. I have so many things that I wanted to create for Christmas and it is all just getting away from me. Why didn't I start sooner???

In the Salyer tradition of procrastinating, here is a new blog post and some randomness to start your day.

Yay! Lookie at the new blog Christmas header. It is only four days late. Psst... here is a hint of things to come. I took the header design from my 2008 Christmas card design. So, if you think I don't have your snail mail address, e-mail it to me so I can send you one of these magnificent things.

Our little 5 year old neighbor, Kyla, came over last Saturday to watch a movie with us. I caught my 6 year old, Jack, makin' his moves. What a playa' in his Sponge Bob jammies.

Next, I totally made this myself! It is a 60x72 rag quilt made out of Christmas flannel. Seriously, I know!

I bought that fancy sewing machine and, darnit, I am going to sew with it. It was really super easy. It just took a lot of time. I'm so proud of myself for finishing it. I want to carry it around everywhere I go and show it to strangers.

Finally, my December Daily album that I spent all day doing on Saturday.  That's right. Christmas shopping done? No. Christmas cards done? No. Outsource Christmas Party Album done? No. Chunky, creative, arty, messy album full of pages for my December Daily photos done? Totally done!

You may remember last year I did a daily photo album during the month of December like Ali Edwards (see side bar - that is the 2007 album). The year before I did Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle Laine, but I didn't quite get finished with that one.  This year I decided to do a combination of both - photos, journaling, whatever I feel like.

Here is the front cover.

The cover is actually clear acrylic. The dark brown background is some paper I used so that you could see the clear parts of the album. I'll post more photos when I get more pages done. I mean, the pages are done, but I haven't added the photos or journaling yet.

Alright that is it for now. Time to watch Grey's Anatomy. Here is being behind at Christmas and doing everything but what you are supposed to be doing and DRINKING LOTS OF EGG NOG!