Whoa, January!

My last post was on Christmas Day, before the children arrived, and then it was busy nonstop.  We spent all day on the road New Year's Day, and I came into my office on Monday to get a head start on all my year-end reporting which has not slowed up yet.  Now we're approaching the middle of the month this weekend and I'm still trying to get my bearings.

There is so much to blog about that I've been putting it off.  First, I began two new projects, neither of which I've taken photos of, and one I hinted at in my last post.  I need to get to that.  Second, I'm still trying to finalize my new year's resolutions.  One is to lose 30 lbs through diet and exercise (and I've lost four so far since January 1), another is to be able to run a 5K (and I've been running twice a week), and a third is to finish at least one UFO (no progress there yet).  Michele, who won my giveaway last month, writes about tracking your crafting, and I have bought a lovely calendar (on 60% off discount) to hang over my ironing board to do this (I can't figure out how to do it electronically).  So far I've managed six out of ten days, with hopefully tonight making seven.  I also have a resolution to get rid of all my mother's stuff, and made some small progress in Freecycling her perfumes and a decorative painting kit, but most of it is high dollar stuff that needs to be sold.

The January bills are also rolling in.  I've found that I owe the hospital $1300 from September's surgery, and that our dog has torn his cruciate ligament and needs surgery himself.  And we are still dragging our heels on getting the replacement air conditioning unit for the upstairs at $4,000.  So the adorable little Featherweight I saw for sale in a local machine repair shop is going to have to wait for a more solvent person to come along and buy it.  (Incidentally, who knows what a good price on a Featherweight is?)  Anyway, feeling financially pinched makes it all the more special when I win a blog giveaway like Annie's!  Those fat quarters will help with the resolution of finishing that UFO mentioned above!

While the kids were with us, we decided to go to our local animal shelter and foster a cat.  He worked out so well in our home and with our dog that we returned to adopt him.  This is Jack:

I have never owned a cat before, even in my youth, so Jack is taking some getting used to.  He is definitely all up in my business in my sewing room and I am learning to retract my rotary cutter before I leave it as well as put packaged batting up high where he can't claw at it.  The funny thing is that the reason I was leaning towards getting a cat is that our dog never liked spending time in my sewing area with me before (probably because it's the same space in which we tried crating him when we first got him, and learned that he HATED it).  Now I often find both animals down there with me, and last night I had to call the dog upstairs when I'd left the room and turned off the lights. 

I bet it won't be long before I find the two of them curled up together.  Jack already tries rubbing up against Pete (the dog), but Pete just wants to sniff Jack's butt.

I had a question from Chiska about the quilt on the background of the blog.  It is a pattern from a booklet that I've long since lost or misplaced, but I started the project probably around 1999 and finished it last year in time to enter into the guild show.  I call it Elephant Parade and it is all hand applique, hand embroidery and hand quilting, with machine piecing to join the blocks and the border.  I realize now that I never posted about this quilt and so here is a photo with me next to it as it hung in the guild show:

It didn't win any ribbons but I was glad to have finished it, and also learned the lesson that if the quilt isn't done by the time that the entry form is due, it should not be put in the show!  That caused me too much unnecessary stress!

My Honey and I are still tossing around ideas about when to get married, and we also want to get our finances and our legal affairs in order (I have a will but need to bring it up to date; he has none).  All of this stuff takes time, thought and planning.  It seems like I spend so much time with the computer at work that it's the last thing I want to do when I get home, despite just having gotten a new (refurbished) one.  When I do turn it on it's to load songs onto my mp3 player to run to, or install the software to let it talk to my camera, or something besides blogging.  I will try to get to both of my new projects before the month is over, but first, January needs to promise me that it will slow down a little bit.