Well into the New Year

Day Two of 2010 already. Many people seem to think the thing to do is to set goals. Yes, goals. Not resolutions. I'm not any good at keeping resolutions but give me a goal, especially one with a due date attached to it and it's pretty much done. At the moment, my goals are as follows:

1. Start, and finish, Christmas/birthday gifts for my brother and sis-in-law. Time just got away from me and I didn't get theirs in the mail. Their birthdays are in February, so that's my time limit.

2. Continue finishing the BOMs I embroidered and/or appliqued the past year and gave to Brenda, April and Judy. I sent Brenda six months worth of the calendars and April and Judy have the first three months to display. There are my deadlines - Brenda needs hers by June and April and Judy need theirs each month starting in April.

3. I also need to work on a quilt for a client and her brother. She brought me tons of police badges that they want incorporated into a quilt. If anyone has ANY ideas on how I should do this, PLEASE send me your thoughts. I figured I'd quilt-as-you-go since I'm sure it will get extremely heavy with the badges.

Here's a little K picture for your enjoyment. This was taken on Christmas Eve. Rob and April and K spent their New Year's Day with April's family as per their tradition. I hope they got some really good pictures of our baby doll at her first New Year's Day/Christmas family get-together! hint, hint...lol They came over to our house afterwards and we all went out to Shogun's for a final Friday night dinner with Judy until she gets back here for a weekend.

Back to my goals..
4. The most pressing goal is to help get Judy moved to Las Cruces. This coming Thursday will find us on our way there to set her up in her temporary digs. Please pray that the weather stays nice for our trip there and mine back.

There are many, many other "goals" but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that my sewing room and extra bedroom will get a facelift this year, or else! Jim is very diligent about keeping the rest of the house decent enough for company and I hope he knows how much I appreciate that, especially the appearance of the "dish fairy" every day or so. lol

It's Saturday morning and I need to get ready for work. I will try to get to work early to replace calendars and set out the new Scentsy warmer. Check it out at www.scentsy.com/4886

Oh, last, but not least..I need to take the few Christmas decorations down that finally went up a few weeks ago!

Goodies!

Just a couple of pictures to show you the Kindle that Judy gave me and the Advent goodies from Tammy in Virginia. Thanks, Tammy! I so enjoyed opening a little gift every day in December. I hope to pass on the tradition next Christmas.

For those of you that are wondering what a Kindle is, here's a picture of it. It is a wireless reading device. You can access over 390,000 books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Wow. Most new releases are $9.99, and you can find many books for less and some are free. Carry it in your purse and you no longer have to sit in a line with nothing to do! I love it! Thanks, Judy! Oh, I made the cover for the Kindle because I didn't want to get it dirty while I showed it off :-).

Today was a day I knew would eventually arrive. Judy, Joe, Brittany and I spent the afternoon going through Mom and Dad's clothes and other things. Most of Mom's clothes had been distributed to those who needed them but we had not even touched Dad's closet. We are, by no means, finished, but have put a pretty good dent in it all. I still want to move some major pieces of furniture but I think we'll have to consider renting a storage shed for a while. We knew we had to get moving on this since Ms. Judy is making her big move to Las Cruces in eleven days!

Time now to hit the sack. A Kerrington day tomorrow!

Christmas 2009

Here are my two granddaughters, ready to open gifts on Christmas Eve.
Brittany saved the best for last. The Wii is from Mom and Dad. Can't wait to play a game with her!
Christmas overload!

We had a most enjoyable Christmas Eve at Rob and April's house. They graciously hosted our gift opening extravaganza even though April worked on Christmas Eve and helped her mom get home from the hospital. (Glad to report that "Gramille" is on the mend and feeling better.) April baked an apple pie and a decadent chocolate brownie delight for us to munch on after Judy's posole and the tamales we bought. April also had appetizers, ie., dip and veggies and crackers. She thinks of everything! After opening gifts, we were all so tired (especially those of us who worked that day ;-) So, we all returned to our respective homes and left Rob and April with most of the mess. Thank you so much for having us again this year, guys!

Christmas Day was spent being lazy, mostly. I worked on a cover for my Kindle (pictures later - I should be getting ready for work) and then Judy came over around 1 p.m. to fix the turkey that Jim won in a drawing during a golf tournament a few weeks ago. We took out frozen chili with pork and dressing from Thanksgiving and had a delicious dinner on the table in no time. Joe and Brit came by and ate with us and Rob, April and K came by later. We got to see K in her cute little pink trench coat that was a gift from Auntie J. Too cute!

Christmas, it's really gonna happen!

 

I didn't think I would decorate this year since it's already the 17th but I got home from work today and decided to "just do it!" Jim had told me several times that he would help so I called on him and he did. Last year I had packed everything and stored it in the spare room closet so we didn't have to get into the attic.

I have many, many Nativity scenes but this year I decided to put up just the one big one that Mom gave me the last Christmas she was with us. She gave Judy one just like it. I set it up under the tree.

 

 

The Christmas tree afghan on the sofa is one I crocheted a long time ago. I love this thing. It was one of the first big afghans I crocheted. The stockings don't have a proper mantel to hang from, but I still like to hang them as best I can on the fireplace screen. Since we don't burn wood in the fireplace, they're pretty safe.

Both my granddaughters will be with us this Christmas so that was the biggest reason I decided to put the tree up. Children need tradition. What the hey..adults do, too!

I had to go the long way around to post this entry and that's why the text doesn't follow the pictures exactly. I figure ya'll can make sense of it, though.

Again with the caps and other things

Amy wanted to see pictures of the caps I've been crocheting. I think I've posted the group pic before, but here it is again. And, of course, two of the caps I've made for Miss K. The brown hat with the flower is her mama's. April is one of those people that can put on a hat and look great. I am not. I also made her a gray hat with a light blue flower that matches her scarf. (Pictured in this group somewhere)I will leave you with these few shots of crocheted items. I've also made nine other caps for clients. Didn't take a pic of them. I'm off to work!




Oh, the the last picture shows wrist warmers that I took to a Christmas party for an exchange. The lady they were given to was ecstatic since she always has cold hands.

Comfort quilt

Ooh and aahh at this bee-u-tee-ful quilt I received in the mail yesterday! I truly am spoiled this week. Not only did I get a new vehicle to drive, my new laptop came in and I was gifted with this gorgeous quilt. My quilting sisters of QOR made the blocks and quilted this treasure. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I have spent the day watching Christmas movies and crocheting. I'm waiting for 5:30 to roll around so I can call in to see if I will be called to jury duty tomorrow. I can hardly stand the thought of having to deal with that for the next 4 months. :-( I'll have to call again Wednesday night. If it happens that I have to go in on Thursday or Friday, I'll have to go get my appointment book to call my customers.

Time to get back to these hats.

Last of the BOM project

The December Block of the Month is done. Whew! What WILL I do now? I don't need another set of Jan. - Dec. blocks but I really have enjoyed the challenge of completing the wallhanging before the month was out. I guess I'll just have to surf the 'net until I find something I'll enjoy doing for a year.

I spent the day at home today instead of going to work. I am not coughing as much, just take a few spells every now and then. My voice is gradually coming back. I think I'll go to work tomorrow.