I had a very long and productive weekend and once again was amazed at how good I felt when at the end I sat back and took in what all I had accomplished. You would think that I would remember that doing the hard work each time brings satisfying results that I can then thoroughly enjoy, but it seems I always forget and continue to put things off. Anyway, many areas of my house have needed major overhaul and reorganization for close to a year now, but since it is just me I tend to continue to put it off and just keep walking around all the things that are sitting in boxes in every room of my house.
A few months ago I did take a Saturday and did my bedroom and have managed to keep it quite well in the interim, but I needed to continue in other rooms too. So this weekend I worked diligently in the computer/sewing room and really made some progress. I'm hoping to keep up the momentum over the next couple weeks as well. My next project is yarn sorting. I know that doesn't sound like it should even be deemed a "project", but you must understand that I probably have enough yarn to open a small yarn store of my own. I brought it home from my grandmother's when passed away and I know I will eventually use it all, but the trick is finding a way and a place to store it. I've purchased some of the big see-through plastic tubs, now I just have to sort and pack it away. Then I will really have only two more major areas of the house to work in, so I'm really feeling good about it. My ultimate goal is that I will again be able to have people over at anytime, announce or unannounced and have places for them to sit and feel comfortable and at home.
On another note, I'm looking forward to doing some scrapbooking and fellowshipping with some friends Friday night. We had intended to go to a local store, but are on the waiting list, so we may end up at my house instead - either of which sounds great to me! Saturday morning I'm babysitting for some friends as they finish up at a prayer retreat being held by their church. That afternoon I'm getting my hair permed and trimmed - it's been way too long and it's really starting to look bad. It will be a busy day. Then Sunday I'm looking forward to visiting Brentwood Baptist Church again. I really liked the Sunday School class that I visited this past Sunday and will go again this coming week. Please send up a little prayer for me that God would continue to guide and direct if this is the place He is calling me.
Wednesday, January 24
Tuesday, January 16
Winter!!
Finally!!
It's gotten below 60!!
We still don't have any snow, and I'll hold out hope until spring comes, but at last it is some decent cold weather! Of course, this is the year that I choose to have a very early vacation, and of course I'm going somewhere that cold & winter don't even exist! Oh well. All I know is that for now, I breathe deeply and with joy when I'm outside.
In other news, I enjoyed a pleasant evening on Friday with my friend Sarah at Scrap n' Memories, which is just down the road from me, working on pages and chatting. I was there for 4 hours and finished 5 pages, so I felt pretty good about that. Then on Saturday I diligently worked on a late Christmas gift and finished up two audio books and started a 3rd one.
Last night I had a brilliant idea for scrap pages. I have these little books that I bought several years ago for my parents and grandparents and they have filled them out and returned them. There was a different question on each page for each day of the year, and the questions were directed to help them tell me more about them - their growing up years, etc. Well, I haven't taken the time to read them since they gave them back filled out, so I started at the beginning of this year and am reading a page a day. Anyway, after reading some of the questions, I realized that a lot of them are good questions for me to answer about myself and that they would make good topics for scrap pages! Especially for those who are wanting to pass info on to their children and don't know where to start. Now, I'm a chronological scrapper, but I'm going to keep this idea in my hat, so to speak, for once I catch up to the present on my photos. If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to share some of the questions, just let me know...
Well, that about catches me up for the moment. Hope everyone is having a good week!
It's gotten below 60!!
We still don't have any snow, and I'll hold out hope until spring comes, but at last it is some decent cold weather! Of course, this is the year that I choose to have a very early vacation, and of course I'm going somewhere that cold & winter don't even exist! Oh well. All I know is that for now, I breathe deeply and with joy when I'm outside.
In other news, I enjoyed a pleasant evening on Friday with my friend Sarah at Scrap n' Memories, which is just down the road from me, working on pages and chatting. I was there for 4 hours and finished 5 pages, so I felt pretty good about that. Then on Saturday I diligently worked on a late Christmas gift and finished up two audio books and started a 3rd one.
Last night I had a brilliant idea for scrap pages. I have these little books that I bought several years ago for my parents and grandparents and they have filled them out and returned them. There was a different question on each page for each day of the year, and the questions were directed to help them tell me more about them - their growing up years, etc. Well, I haven't taken the time to read them since they gave them back filled out, so I started at the beginning of this year and am reading a page a day. Anyway, after reading some of the questions, I realized that a lot of them are good questions for me to answer about myself and that they would make good topics for scrap pages! Especially for those who are wanting to pass info on to their children and don't know where to start. Now, I'm a chronological scrapper, but I'm going to keep this idea in my hat, so to speak, for once I catch up to the present on my photos. If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to share some of the questions, just let me know...
Well, that about catches me up for the moment. Hope everyone is having a good week!
Monday, January 8
Things to aspire to...
So… it’s time to put down my thoughts on the up coming year, while it still appears to have a fresh clean slate and positive opportunity in appearance. I think I mentioned that I’m not much of a “goal” maker, I always hated those questions in school… Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Everytime I answered them with my hopes, dreams or wishes, the 5 or 10 years would pass and I’d realize I was still nowhere close to those things and so after so many times of being disappointed I decided it was much better just not to say them outloud or put them down on paper. Instead I tend to do something more along the lines of deciding on several things or areas that I know I need to work on or improve in.
Last year one of my top areas of improvement was my finances! I’m a recovering credit card user and I’ve been “sober” for a year now. Yes, this means that I’ve been credit card free…
not using any cards…
no charges racking up my debt…
since January 2006!!
What a weight lifted from my shoulders! Now the flip side of that is that in order to make this possible my parents were gracious enough to help me out by giving me a loan that I never would have been able to achieve from a bank (because I didn’t want it tied to my mortgage), so I’m in the process of paying them off and working towards really being debt free. Though I achieved not adding to the debt, I still spent down to the wire most paydays and did quite a bit of spending that I shouldn’t have and achieved no savings except what I put away from my last tax refund.
So… this year, I’m going to work on not spending the money just because it’s in the account and actually contributing regularly to the savings account. To help me in this process I was able to catch up my records this weekend in Quicken (I had done really well at keeping current until my computer problems exploded, and had not taken the chance to catch up once I got the computer up and running) and also have all my records ready to go to do my taxes. I just have to pick up the new Turbo Tax and wait on my W-2.
I also achieved one of the other things I wanted to do last year, but want to improve upon this year. I read through the Bible. Though I didn’t do it every day as was the intent… there were several months in the middle of the year that I got out of the habit, then when I started up again I was able to catch up and finish. This year I want to stay at it daily, it is very important to me. My regular reading time is in the morning and I have a plan that I follow that has some OT, some NT, some Psalms and some Proverbs each day. I also have decided that this year I want to end my day with something as well. I’ve got a ladies devotional book that I’m using as one thing for each night and then I also am going to work at catching up on my issues of a magazine called Discipleship Journal and/or any other Christian (educational-type) books that I might be interested in. I still will enjoy reading before bedtime, but just changing the focus of what I’m reading. I will still have plenty of time to read my other books as well.
And last but not least, I did not do as well last year at eating healthy and exercising, so it will again go on the list of things to continue chipping away on. I’m planning to sit down this coming weekend and do some menu planning to help me get started. I would like to follow the South Beach plan as it has worked well for me before, but I just have to set a date, prepare and then force myself to do it. It’s just so much harder to get it going alone! Exercising is the same story, it’s not fun for me and therefore, doing it alone is even harder so I just have to force myself to start. Once the habits are formed it’s a little easier.
So that’s my take on the good ‘ole “New Year’s Resolutions” gig. Maybe I’ve triggered some thoughts for you or helped inspire you – at least I hope so. Please feel free to leave me comments and let me know your slant on the subject if you have one! In the meantime, have a great week all!
Last year one of my top areas of improvement was my finances! I’m a recovering credit card user and I’ve been “sober” for a year now. Yes, this means that I’ve been credit card free…
not using any cards…
no charges racking up my debt…
since January 2006!!
What a weight lifted from my shoulders! Now the flip side of that is that in order to make this possible my parents were gracious enough to help me out by giving me a loan that I never would have been able to achieve from a bank (because I didn’t want it tied to my mortgage), so I’m in the process of paying them off and working towards really being debt free. Though I achieved not adding to the debt, I still spent down to the wire most paydays and did quite a bit of spending that I shouldn’t have and achieved no savings except what I put away from my last tax refund.
So… this year, I’m going to work on not spending the money just because it’s in the account and actually contributing regularly to the savings account. To help me in this process I was able to catch up my records this weekend in Quicken (I had done really well at keeping current until my computer problems exploded, and had not taken the chance to catch up once I got the computer up and running) and also have all my records ready to go to do my taxes. I just have to pick up the new Turbo Tax and wait on my W-2.
I also achieved one of the other things I wanted to do last year, but want to improve upon this year. I read through the Bible. Though I didn’t do it every day as was the intent… there were several months in the middle of the year that I got out of the habit, then when I started up again I was able to catch up and finish. This year I want to stay at it daily, it is very important to me. My regular reading time is in the morning and I have a plan that I follow that has some OT, some NT, some Psalms and some Proverbs each day. I also have decided that this year I want to end my day with something as well. I’ve got a ladies devotional book that I’m using as one thing for each night and then I also am going to work at catching up on my issues of a magazine called Discipleship Journal and/or any other Christian (educational-type) books that I might be interested in. I still will enjoy reading before bedtime, but just changing the focus of what I’m reading. I will still have plenty of time to read my other books as well.
And last but not least, I did not do as well last year at eating healthy and exercising, so it will again go on the list of things to continue chipping away on. I’m planning to sit down this coming weekend and do some menu planning to help me get started. I would like to follow the South Beach plan as it has worked well for me before, but I just have to set a date, prepare and then force myself to do it. It’s just so much harder to get it going alone! Exercising is the same story, it’s not fun for me and therefore, doing it alone is even harder so I just have to force myself to start. Once the habits are formed it’s a little easier.
So that’s my take on the good ‘ole “New Year’s Resolutions” gig. Maybe I’ve triggered some thoughts for you or helped inspire you – at least I hope so. Please feel free to leave me comments and let me know your slant on the subject if you have one! In the meantime, have a great week all!
Thursday, January 4
Blessings
I had a really nice trip to visit my friends in Houston. I stayed with one family whom I've been close to for many, many years now and also got to see another friend and her two boys for a few hours when we met up at The Cheesecake Factory! Yes, it was yummy as always! I got a pizza - I had never tried their pizza and it was delicious. Then for my cheesecake I chose a new flavor that had chocolate and coconut and it was out of this world! We got to attend a Christmas Eve service and had a quiet morning of breakfast and gift opening - or as quiet as it gets with an 8- and 6-year old in the house! All of Dana-Susan's family came for dinner and a couple hours of visiting. Then that afternoon we went and rented a movie - we watched Nanny McPhee!
Anyway, I had a really enjoyable, active, yet relaxing stay. What a blessing to spend time with friends, especially ones I hadn't seen in awhile and especially when my family was out of reach. The worst part was that by the time I got home I had caught a cold - traveling this time of year it's almost impossible to avoid the germs, unfortunately. However, I am almost back to 100% now.
Anyway, I had grand plans of getting a bunch of household organizing accomplished when I returned home and it didn't happen. But I did sleep alot and finished several books as well as watched some TV and a movie. So I will have to begin tackling the house bit-by-bit over the next couple weeks. I'm also trying to finish up my SIL's Christmas gift so that I can get their package sent to them! I also had intended to mail Christmas cards out when I got home before New Year's and it didn't happen either. I'd still like to try to get those out here shortly too!
I have a few things to share with you regarding the new year, but that will have to be on another post in the next few days. I've never been one for "goals" per se, but I do usually put some thought into things I'd like to work on and I've been mulling through those and will explain them all soon.
In other news, I only have 6 more weeks before I head across the world again! I'll be spending some time with my parents again - for the last time before they come in Feb of 2008. I'm going to spend the entire time with them in their city this time and we will be doing some sightseeing around there, and then the last couple days they will go with me to Bangkok so that I can see a few things there, before I head back to the US. Please continue to pray for their visa process, they are supposed to take the last few steps while I'm there that should make them good for the remainder of their time in country. Another prayer matter in general for them (as well as the company as a whole) is that the exchange rate is continuing to drop. It held pretty steady for their first 18 months or so at around 40 baht = $1, but it is now down to 35 baht = $1 and continuing to decline.
Well, I suppose that's all for now. Hope you all had a great Christmas season and were able to celebrate with friends or family the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Happy New Year to all!
Anyway, I had a really enjoyable, active, yet relaxing stay. What a blessing to spend time with friends, especially ones I hadn't seen in awhile and especially when my family was out of reach. The worst part was that by the time I got home I had caught a cold - traveling this time of year it's almost impossible to avoid the germs, unfortunately. However, I am almost back to 100% now.
Anyway, I had grand plans of getting a bunch of household organizing accomplished when I returned home and it didn't happen. But I did sleep alot and finished several books as well as watched some TV and a movie. So I will have to begin tackling the house bit-by-bit over the next couple weeks. I'm also trying to finish up my SIL's Christmas gift so that I can get their package sent to them! I also had intended to mail Christmas cards out when I got home before New Year's and it didn't happen either. I'd still like to try to get those out here shortly too!
I have a few things to share with you regarding the new year, but that will have to be on another post in the next few days. I've never been one for "goals" per se, but I do usually put some thought into things I'd like to work on and I've been mulling through those and will explain them all soon.
In other news, I only have 6 more weeks before I head across the world again! I'll be spending some time with my parents again - for the last time before they come in Feb of 2008. I'm going to spend the entire time with them in their city this time and we will be doing some sightseeing around there, and then the last couple days they will go with me to Bangkok so that I can see a few things there, before I head back to the US. Please continue to pray for their visa process, they are supposed to take the last few steps while I'm there that should make them good for the remainder of their time in country. Another prayer matter in general for them (as well as the company as a whole) is that the exchange rate is continuing to drop. It held pretty steady for their first 18 months or so at around 40 baht = $1, but it is now down to 35 baht = $1 and continuing to decline.
Well, I suppose that's all for now. Hope you all had a great Christmas season and were able to celebrate with friends or family the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Happy New Year to all!
