what to do in the new year?

I had hoped to post something thought provoking today to ring in the new year. You know, maybe to seriously consider some

new years resolutions.

But I hate making those things!

I do have to admit that there are some things I've been thinking about that I want to work on this year.

I want to (and need to) continue on my little weight loss journey. I had lost 55 pounds but over the last two months or so,

I gained back about 15 pounds!

not to worry though, Im not disappointed in myself,

I kind of gave myself permission to eat whatever i wanted over the holidays. I think I had gained about 7 or so at the point that I gave myself that permission..

anyways.. I did, and I gained..

and today is my last day for pigging out.

I am very much looking forward to getting back on track, eating healthy, getting some exercise and losing 35 pounds.

My goal is for the end of June.

I know I can do it. Just gotta put my mind to it!

Losing weight isnt where I think I might struggle this year. The other thing I want to get under control is my spending. I have a habit (bad habit) of buying what ever I feel like buying

when ever I feel like doing so.

I really need to stop that!

so I want to tighten up the old purse strings a bit and start saving some money to put towards home improvements that need to be done,

or they will never happen!!

I also want to get back to church once in awhile! I used to go faithfully once or twice a week when the kids were little. Now I hate to admit I havent been in a few years, to my own church anyways. I have been to a few churches to visit.. but really that doesnt count.

Anyways.. those are the three areas that I want to work on.

One other thing I want to do is get my etsy shop up and running..

so thats what I'm thinking about for 2011.

What about you? are you going to make any changes this year? and what are you doing tonight?

( I might be baby sitting for a certain sweet little torry pie !)

for now.. Im going to work on a little new years project!

oh.. and.. guess what figgy got for new years eve??

fixed.

aww lol

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

partying for new years eve??

I do love me some baileys irish creme and I could pretty much drink a whole bottle by myself!!
however, I cant stand to feel the least bit drunk!
so I dont usually make it past one glass full and maybe two on a good night!

I can honestly say I have not been drunk in over 29 years!

since before I was pregnant for my first daughter! woohoo.. big partiers we are here!

God.. I'm getting OLD! Anyways.. I was talking to one of my dearest friends and we were doing that old wishful thinking.. Every year we wish we had husbands who wanted to get dressed up and take us OUT for new years eve.. you know.. get really dressed up and go to a fancy dinner and then out dancing to some big band and swing music! But, Like i said...

Thats all wishful thinking.. Our hubbys are just not like that.. dressing Tony up means a pair of black jeans with a belt and a t-shirt with a collar and 3 buttons tucked in! (not kidding!)

And besides that .. we struggle to stay up for midnight anyways! we do it.. but sometimes its tough!

With all that said, we do go out for new years, over to our good friends house, (the same friends we spend christmas eve and all other holidays with!) We eat good food, play cards, listen to music , have a few drinks and laugh a lot.

Though going out to a big party does sound like fun.. it actually sounds a little stressful.. you know, finding the right outfit, wondering if I look alright, riding /driving on the roads when you know theres a lot of drinkers out driving too. And, I dont know about you, but I cant hear a darn thing in a bar, or where there is a band playing.. which means.. I cant have a conversation with anyone because I would constantly be saying "huh, what ? huh? what? " over and over! not to mention I would probably be intimidated by all the beautiful young girls in their slinky hot outfits out on the dance floor!

so.. I guess partying down the street from where I live, with people I love and adore, keeping it simple and sweet.. having only a couple drinks.. just enough to make us giggle at our silly ol selves, hanging out with our crazy old (boring) hubbys as well as all of our children and their partners and friends is a perfect way for us to ring in the new year!

I think its impressive that all the children from our three families (most of which are not young children anymore) like to come hang out with us old folks when ever we get together to party! They do usually leave a little earlier to go to their own partys.. but still they like to start their nights out with us and we of course love to have them! So... anyways, to all my awesome sweet bloggy pals, just in case I dont get back here before new years eve...

I wish you all the best New Year ever!!! Cheers!

a call for prayer...

I recieved this email from a friend of mine in town last week. Her son was injured on dec 17th. They are not sure what happened to him there has been speculation that he had been attacked by someone with a baseball bat, but they really arent sure and there was no one around to tell them what happen. he may have fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked Dawn if she would like me to ask my online friends to pray and she said yes because she knows that is what is working so far. So far he has beaten a lot of the odds. She asked that now we concentrate on praying that he would wake up as he has been in a coma since the friday the 17th. Please keep them in your prayers. and I will post her updates this is the first email that she sent..

"Our son, Scott Marciszewski (age 24) was in a tragic accident on Friday, December 17th.He has a massive head injury and is in the Trauma ICU unit at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, NY. He was not expected to make it, though at this time he has defied all of the doctors. His current condition: CriticalHis organs are all functioning and he is now moving his left arm and leg. His eyes are reactive to light- both equally. They tell us these are all positive signs, but he still needs to wake up. At this time we are asking for everyone to Pray for Scott! The next 7-14 days will be critical for him.Visiting hours are very limited, and I am very selfish with my time with him. I just can't seem to leave his side when we are allowed to see him. We are only allowed to be with him for 3 1/2 hours every day. He has many great friends and as you all know is a great kid. I will try to update everyone when I can."

There have been several other emails since then, but the following is her most recent from this tonight:

"Scott- Monday December 27, 2010:12:00
Noon: Gary and I visited Scott and received the results of the CT Scan done last night. The doctor wrote that the CT Scan shows improvement. I was SO happy to hear that news. Scott also has been on antibiotics for an infection in his lungs, so his white count has been up. Today, that came down significantly. His blood sugar has been consistently excellent, so they have reduced doing that test to every 2 hours from every hour. They also removed all but one of the drains from his head. He is doing just great with everything and his pressure in his brain is just fine. Every day has been good news so far so I know that all of the prayers are working to heal this great young man.
5:00 PM: This visit Scott is moving his left arm practically all the time. He doesn't like what is in his throat and often reaches for it. He holds my hand with a firm grip, and is moving his right arm every so slightly. He continues to move his eyes and blink, though his eyes have not yet opened. We continue to wait for him to heal, and will wait as long as necessary for him to wake up. He has made such progress, and I am so happy with him and feel so relieved that he is doing so well. Today is Day 9, so hopefully by the New Year we will see those beautiful blue eyes. Dawn"

Thanks girls for your prayers.. I know they will be appreciated by the family and I will keep you updated on his progress.

ahhhhh.......

The morning after Christmas! Nothing that I have to do today..

just relaxing.. and puttering and doing whatever I feel like doing.

I havent had a day like that in quite awhile! We had a wonderful christmas. We host Christmas eve here for our closest friends and their families and its always a comfy cosy evening of laughter and fun. Not to mention huge amounts of great food!
Christmas morning, all the kids came and we had a great time opening gifts. I love to spoil them all and try to give them more then they ever could want. And they always do the same for us. They are very good at taking care of their mommy and spoiling her! We really have been blessed with loving and thoughtful children.

And of course this year we had our first grand child to celebrate! He is sooooo freaken precious!! I just can hardly stand it! I just want to squeeze him to pieces!!! and I literally have to keep myself from doing so! but do you know that feeling?? And I cant kiss him enough.. I think I could almost suck his little face off!! (hmmm.. I wonder if that baby is safe with me?!!! lol!)

And.. i really dont care to share him with anyone else.. but I've been a good girl and Im trying not to hog the baby... really.. Im trying. I think the baby is coming here for new years eve and spending the night with us. heehee.... then I can hog him!

So anyways, I had gotten so far behind in blog land before christmas.. I had hosted a cup of joy swap and never really collected all the pics of the things that people sent each other.. I feel a little bad that I slacked a bit on that swap. but at this point.. I'm moving on and not going back to try to catch up. Catching up is a little stressful for me. I feel like Im rushing rushing rushing and I HATE that feeling.

Christmas afternoon we headed to the city to my MIL's house, where she had cooked a pork loin and a turkey with all kinds of great side dishes and pies! I'm so not kidding when I tell you that my pants are way too tight today! Ive done nothing but eat everything in sight for the last month! I will continue to indulge myself for the rest of the week.. but as of jan 1... its back to serious weight loss business!!

I hope that everyone had a delightful holiday and I'm sorry I didnt get to do a "wishing you a merry Christmas" post. There was just no time for it. But I have a feeling that everyone had a day. I'm now looking forward to working on some other projects that have been dancing in my head waiting for me to finish all those bear orders and the swaps. All of which I love to do.. but I'm now looking forward to creating for myself a bit! I have a santa and reindeer dancing around in my brain, as well as a certain snowperson! I also bought all the stuff to make a christmas top hat, which didnt get done and I want to make a little shadow box of baby torrys fisrt christmas, and a new years creation of some sort! Plus, I never got my christmas cards written and mailed out, so Im thinking about making up some happy new year cards and sending them out instead!

OK.. so obviously, I probably wont get all of that done in a week.. but I'm going to try!

All the kittens are gone. the last two went on Christmas eve. Frannie and figgy are missing them I'm sure.. but they are loving my new bedding and that big foofy soft comforter! doesnt Frannie look like a princess! and Figgy is her pillow! lol!

OK.. i'm off to play at my craft table now!

see yas later!

OH Christmas tree Oh christmas tree...

Getting a tree has been a big dilema this year. We live in a small little cottagey type house and theres not a ton of room to start with! But after my grammie pie died, I sort of inherited her parrot (who I ADORE!!) and he takes up a very large space that my christmas tree usually takes up. Which really left me with no great options for where to put our tree this year. I have tons of small trees strewn about through out the house and was actually thinking that maybe this year we wouldnt have a big tree.

I had gone to one of my favorite stores a week or so ago and she had a delightful little twig tree in the store that she uses for display.. she didnt know where to get one anymore, so I went right home and googled twig trees, found one and had it shipped right away!

When it came I was more then a little disappointed. I just didnt think it was going to work out.. It was puny (how the heck do you spell that??) and I was heart broken. It didnt help that it was the same night that the first two kittens left for their new homes, including the one I wanted to keep! (so I was already feeling a little sad! )

Anyways, deciding to try to make the best of it, I thought I could give it a little charm by standing it in an old crock we have. My hubby built a better stand to fit right inside of the crock and I set to fluffing it up and decorating it and soon, though small, it really was cute!

I had to go through all our ornaments and chose only my very favorites, leaving the rest packed away for another year for a bigger fresh cut tree (weve never had an artificial tree!)

It was so hard to pick out just some of my favorite ornies! But I do have to admit that I'm loving my little twig tree.. only about 5 feet tall!

So, besides the tree.. I'm still trying hard to get those bears done.. and have still been tweaking my decorations.

Yesterday I shopped.. today I sew! we are soooo down to the wire now with only a week left. I just need to get them done so I can sit back for a day or two and really try to soak up the TRUE meaning of christmas.. besides getting the house cleaned up and getting ready for christmas eve which I always host here for our closest friends and their families!

still havent wrapped or baked a thing.. I'm thinking of calling a local bakery to order a few cookies for christmas eve.

special order

BEARLY time to do a post or anything else for that matter! I've been hustling my butt off..

beary busily playing santa bear paws...

trying to get all these little bruins done
in time for people to have them for Christmas!

These sweet bears are for my friend LINDA on flickr, who lost her daughter to an illness 10 years ago. the RememBears are made of her daughters favorite t-shirt and I think they turned out really cute.

Linda will love them, I hope.

I have 7 more bears to go to complete the last order.. then I have two bears to make for my mother out of my grammies kilt and a bear to make for my MIL out of stuff of her husbands.. and then one for my daughters boyfriend out of his mothers belongings.

Ive completed and mailed all my swaps!! but I still have to make something for my three best friends and have quite a bit of shopping left to do.. my friends may end up with stuff I didnt make for them this year and I dont think my christmas cards are going to get done...

Once again I ask.... FAIRY GOD MOTHER where are you?????

but I'm happy none the less... because.. I have a sweet little baby grandson! and a house full of thd cutest kittens!

I will catch up with you all one day soon!!

I'm so glad you keep coming back here.. dont ever stop.. because then what would be the fun in blogging?!

hugs for the day!

playing dress up!

I REALLY WANT TO KEEP THIS ONE!

HE IS SOOO FREAKEN AWESOME...


MY HUSBAND WONDERS IF HES A GOOD TRADE OFF ....

MEANING.. KITTEN COMES.. HUBBY GOES...

I DONT THINK HE MEANS IT THOUGH...


I THINK HE ACTUALLY LIKES THIS KITTEN. I KEEP FINDING HIM SLEEPING WITH IT. DO YOU THINK THREE CATS IS TOO MANY??

DONT YOU THINK FIGGY AND FRANNIE WOULD LIKE TO KEEP AT LEAST ONE OF THE THEIR 19 CHILDREN???

HOW DO YOU LIKE FIG AND FRANNIES

CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT??

LOL!

morning blogville!

Here I am... first thing in the morning.. hair uncombed.. teeth not brushed yet.. (dont get too close!) make up under my eyes!! I look like an old grammie pie!!
OH well, I guess thats what I am now.
so busy busy busy here. I know I keep saying that im way behind.. but believe me when I say... I am WAY behind. I really need a fairy god mother! wont one of you sweet girls pop over.. I need help cleaning, cooking, wrapping, putting a tree up, decorating outside... eiy yie yie! reading blogs, making bears, finishing up swaps... I really dont think I will get to make cookies this year and am seriously considering ordering some!!!! Not really sure that I'll get christmas cards written and sent this year either.. but I did buy some.
I'm hoping to get christmas tree today, so that the 900 cats I have tearing through my house can climb it and knock it over! I still dont even know exactly where its going to go as I have no where to put it. the bird is taking up the spot that the tree usually would go.
I will work it out.. yup I will... some how!! Im going to look for a large artificial twig tree. hoping that Daves Christmas store will have one.
Okeedokie dear blogger pals.. Love ya'all! so sorry I havent been leaving comments, but I have been passing very quickly through trying to keep up with whats going on in all your worlds! have a delightful sunday! Now off I go to the sewing maching!
HUGS!!!!!!

my little baby pie!

OH MY GOD!!!!!

HE IS SOOOOOO FREAKEN CUTE!

I JUST LOVE HIM TO PIECES!!!!

GRAMMIES WITTLE BABY SWEEPY HEAD!

baby !!

Torry Dames Jr

7lbs 4 oz

21 and 1/2 inches long

born 6:00 tonight