and for 2011.......

Well now, I have not posted on this blog since December 20th.  Guess why......


Yes, yes, the holidays attacked me and now it is time for a fresh new start.  I have made lists upon lists of things I want to do, clean out, and accomplish in 2011 - and a list of habits I hope to incorporate.  One of those habits is to eat sensibly.  


Last year I worked on stopping when I was full, and I am pretty good at doing that.  I even surprise myself sometimes at how natural that is becoming.  (Maybe it is just age.)  Tonight I put out a nice array of snacks for my New Year's Eve celebration (shrimp cocktail, pretzels, chips & dip) and could not finish anything at all.  And that was even after skipping supper, so my ability to stop eating when I am full has pretty much become the normal for me.


What I need to work on in 2011 is eating more sensibly.  That means planning meals and maybe even doing a little cooking - yikes.  I want to incorporate more fruits and more water into my daily intake.  


I know that I put on weight during the holidays.  There were just too many parties, too many goodies, and too many fancy dinners.  It was all good and I certainly enjoyed myself, but it easily adds weight to my body.  Yes, I can add weight without blinking an eye - it is the losing weight that is hard.


However, I am optimistic about 2011.  I plan on it being a good year.  


Happy New Year to all..................

Guilty Pleasure

Once I start a jigsaw puzzle, I can barely drag myself away from the table. Doing jigsaw puzzles is my guilty pleasure, so I try to do them only at the holiday season.  This is my New Year's Eve puzzle, only I finished it by noon today.  Oops.  So I ran out to the store and bought another puzzle which I started tonight - New Year's Eve - and will finish tomorrow morning while watching the Rose Bowl Parade.

Next week I will get back to quilting again.  The holidays are over, the puzzles will be completed, and it will be time to clear off my cutting table (that will take a day), make a list of my UFO's, and get busy making/finishing some quilts.

Happy New Year to all...........

Puzzle finished...

Finished up this puzzle yesterday.  It was not an easy puzzle to do.  I kept having to refer to the picture on the box and sometimes I was just sure that a piece must belong to another puzzle.  I do love putting puzzles together though, even when my back is aching from leaning over the table.  I have another puzzle to do on New Year's Eve and then I am through with puzzles until next Christmas/New Years.

In roaming around Ravelry one day, I saw a pattern for a "potato chip" scarf.  It is named "potato chip" because you supposedly cannot do just one.  Clever.  I am using some leftover yarn I had in my meager stash just to try out the pattern.  It really should be done with a softer yarn.  However, it is fun to knit, and occupies my hands while watching TV.

My New Year's To Do list (of craft projects) is long, long, long.  Will this be the year I actually cross off every item on my list?  I say YES.  It is so easy to be optimistic around January 1st.

Merry Puzzle Time

Each year, at Christmas and New Years, I allow myself the time to put some jigsaw puzzles together.  750 tiny pieces of puzzle pleasure.  This is not an easy puzzle, so it may take me until New Years to get it done!

Hope you are having a Merry Day also.

Getting organized in 2011 (Don't laugh)

As 2011 fast approaches, I am thinking about how I want to get myself organized.  It all starts with my desk/office area.  After seeing pictures in a few magazines of highly organized (and cute) desks, I am green with envy and determined to do something about my messes.


(Please note that the magazine pictures have NO wires showing, from the lamps or computers.  And most of the desks don't even have a computer on it.  Come on.........  get real.)


Here are pictures of my messy office. 

The wires.

The computer desk.

The auxiliary desk.

Under the auxiliary desk.

Today I spent several hours organizing the pictures on my computer.  There were 450 files of pictures to organize.  I have eliminated and re-organized 63 of those files and am up to the year 2006.  Digital pictures are mighty convenient, but keeping them organized is a daunting task.  (We won't even mention the boxes of unorganized printed pictures stored in my basement.)

I wrote out a LONG list of cleaning/organizing projects to occupy my time in 2011.  Will I ever have time to quilt or stitch or knit?  Yes I will.  I have also decided to carve out time each day for all my crafts.  

And now, since I don't have to do anything until 2011, I think I will go read a book.  

Please do not remind me of the list I made for 2010 - or the seven year goals I set back three (four?) years ago.

Ever optimistic.................

Tomato Soup

Well friends, it has been a while since I have posted to this blog.  'Tis the season of parties and luncheons - cookies and cakes - fudge and buffets - popcorn and peppermint ice cream.  Therefore, my eating smartly has suffered.

This morning I was fighting a bout of slight depression/sadness/blues, but determined to not let that mood ruin my day, I got dressed in my Christmas clothes for tonight's party.

A smart person would have waited to get dressed in their party clothes until AFTER eating tomato soup, but NO, I got dressed first.

This soup was leftover from last Thursday's luncheon and was made by a local gourmet restaurant.  Very good soup.  I was lucky to take some leftovers home.  So I put the soup in the microwave to warm up.  When the dinger dinged, I had a fleeting thought that I should probably get a hot pot holder.  But NO, I reached in with my bare hands to retrieve the bowl of soup.

You guessed it!  It spilled - all over the microwave oven, all over the counter, all over the floor, all over my clean  party clothes, and onto my right hand.  @#$%@#%@#%@#%@#$^&*& (hear me scream).  I raced over to the sink to rinse my burning hand in cold water, then frantically tried to wash out the soup from my Christmas turtleneck sweater and suede jacket.  And I cried.  A good long cry.

I cried for the spilled soup.  I cried for my stained clothes.  I cried for my burning hand.  I cried for all my laziness.  I cried for all the things I have not gotten done that I said I would do this December.  I cried because I was crying.

Then I ate my cooled down soup - what was leftover from the spill.  It was good, but certainly not worth all the drama.  That seems to be the story of my life.  Is all the food I ingest worth all the drama it creates?  Is my eating adventures worthy of a blog?  Is my struggle to lose weight so all fired important in the scheme of things?

Big sigh.  The Christmas blues have arrived I think.

'Tis the season to be jolly........

My life is full of blessings


     and yet.....


'Tis the season to be jolly


     and yet.....


Why is it that at this time of year most of us struggle to enjoy or be "jolly"?  Why do we get so stressed just because our calendar is full?  Every year we know that this season is coming.  We know that there will be lots of parties and events to attend.  We know that there will be lots of things to do - presents to buy, baking to be done, gifts to make, and houses to clean.  Why don't we get busy in July?


And why, for some of us, does it become the most difficult time of all to mind the amount of calories going into our mouths?


I have been trying very hard to balance my intake each day.  If I go to a party or luncheon and have a calorie-laden dessert, then I have either no supper or just a salad.  


     and yet............


I can feel the weight easing back onto my body.  At home I am so careful to eat wisely so as not to mess up the loss I have already accomplished.


     and yet............


That small piece of cake, that little cookie, that home-made scone, that sip of wine, that sauce on the fish, that lick of the cooking spoon - it all adds up and I am much too inactive to work it off.  


I hold my breath each day as I put on my clothes, fearful that I am outgrowing them again.  There is no way I will get on the scale.  I know that seeing what the scale has to say will just depress me all the more and I certainly do not need to be depressed when I am already unnecessarily stressed.


     and yet..........


'Tis the season to be jolly - and thankful - and joyful.  Tomorrow is another luncheon, Friday I get my hair done (that's a GOOD thing), and Saturday is our big family party which I know will be fun.


     and yet...........


I long to have a day all to myself, at home, working on my crafts or reading.  Too many good things have been happening day after day after day and although I feel lucky and blessed, I'm full-up with sweets and full-up with activities.  It is time to settle down for a long winter's nap.

No Sewing Here

There is no sewing going on here.  I have been busy with other things and although I am having fun and enjoying the Christmas season, I'm also looking forward to January when I can concentrate again on quilting, stitching and knitting projects.

Tonight I am having friends over for dinner and an evening of knitting and/or making some simple Christmas decorations.  The table is set.

The wreath is up on the fireplace and a Christmas card from one of my favorite people is proudly displayed.

Although I decided that I would not decorate for Christmas this year, a few favorite things have found their way onto tables and walls.  Here are a few favorite Santas.

Today (and every day) I am grateful for friends, good food, a fire in the fireplace, and wonderful smells coming from the kitchen.

Cookies

The women in our church raise money every year to give to certain charities and the way the money is raised is by selling Christmas cookies.  We bake over 10,000 cookies, filling the tables in our Fellowship Hall.  People buy boxes, get a plastic glove for their hand, and walk around the Fellowship hall filling their box/boxes with a wonderful assortment of cookies.


Since our church is small, we depend on all of the women to make cookies.  Even me!  I am NOT a baker.  I dread the cookie making time because my decorating skills leave a lot to be desired.  I can make peanut butter cookies from a package but those kinds of cookies are not acceptable for the Cookie Walk.  They want fancy cookies - decorated cookies. 


Today was the day to get down to business and make my cookies.  I set my goal at four batches.  They are all done and on trays and ready for the Cookie Walk.  


So why am I writing about this?  Because it is IMPOSSIBLE to make cookies without licking a spoon, or licking a finger, or tasting a broken cookie.  After four batches in which I did all of the above, I was sick of that sugary taste.  I'm not used to eating so much sugar or sweet stuff, and I was feeling like all my efforts to eat sensibly were lost in one afternoon of cookie baking.


Therefore, I decided to skip having my supper.  Certainly I had consumed enough calories for two extra meals at least.  I did not need to add another meal to the calorie count for the day.  It is very unusual for me to go without a meal, but a glass of milk seemed sufficient enough.


Next year I am going to plan a vacation for the week of the Cookie Walk! 

Apron

In the midst of working on various Christmas projects, I took an hour out to make this apron.

It is a panel - Cookie Jar Treats Apron by Wendy Edelson (licensed to Wilmington Prints).  There are two pockets that are cut to perfectly match the fabric.  I seldom purchase panels, but this one was well worth the price.

Too much honey.......

When I was growing up, my mother quite often made biscuits.  My dad liked honey on his biscuits.  He would put a dollop of honey on his plate and spread his biscuit with the sweet nectar.  Too often there would be honey left over on his plate, so he would take another biscuit to use up the honey.  Then of course there wasn't enough honey to cover the biscuit, so he would serve himself another dollop of honey - and on and on it would go.  The honey and the biscuits never seemed to even out.  


Fortunately my dad did not have a weight problem and eating endless biscuits with honey did not have an affect on his bathroom scale.


If only I had inherited more of his genes!  


Tonight I had some crackers and pulled out the little container of honey.  Hmmmm good.  I forgot how good honey tastes - and how good a cracker tastes with honey on it.  I was eating away, enjoying the sweet/salty taste when it occurred to me that perhaps I was racking up too many calories.  Blast.  I reluctantly closed up the honey container and put the crackers in the cupboard.  


I haven't looked it up, but is honey better for me than dark chocolate?

Impunity

Today I was reading a blog in which the writer said she was going to "eat with impunity" in 2011.  I'm assuming she meant that she would eat whatever she wanted and not worry about it.


I think that is probably what she meant, but I looked up the definition of the word "impunity" and the common definition is "freedom from punishment".


If I eat whatever I want and don't worry about it - guess what happens?  I gain weight - I get fatter - my clothes don't fit - I look bloated - I feel sad.  Therefore, freedom from punishment would not be the result of eating with impunity.  Eating with impunity (freedom from punishment) therefore must mean that I eat thoughtfully so that I am free from gaining weight and adding fat to my body.  Eating thoughtfully keeps me free from the punishment that overeating creates.

Christmas Decorating

Today I put my tree up.

(OK, OK, so it's a little itty bitty thing - it's a Christmas Tree!)

I also put out these two place mats that I started two years ago and finally finished today.

Of course good old St. Nick (made by Lindsay) was hung in the place of honor in my living room.

A woolie made by Moe  -

a quilt made by Melanie -

and a 12 Days of Christmas quilt (made by me) -

and a Scentsy warmer with the Nativity scene

complete most of my Christmas decorating for 2010

 

(Just love that Silent Night Scentsy warmer! ! )

Bonnie

Choices

Today I went grocery shopping and found myself constantly making choices. I had a longing for a cinnamon roll - one of those big ones with the icing - but at the grocery store you can only buy them in a package of eight.  Oh my, I certainly do not need eight cinnamon rolls.  Even one wouldn't be good, but I figured I would divide it up into thirds and eat it over three days.  However, I chose not to buy the big package and therefore no cinnamon roll came home with me.


I wanted some of that precooked bacon, but they only had the thick cut kind and I really wanted the thin kind.  So I made the choice to NOT buy bacon.


As I perused the spaghetti sauces my eye fell on the Alfredo sauce.  Yum - nice thick white calorie laden sauce.  My mouth was watering.  Then I engaged my brain and reached for the Marinara sauce.  Another better choice.


My favorite ice cream comes out this time of year - Peppermint.  As I strolled along the ice cream aisle I spotted the peppermint ice cream in a "1/2 the fat" version.  Yes!  It went into my cart.


I usually have a tendency to berate myself for my overeating, but today I am making the choice to pat myself on the back for good selections at the grocery store.