Leaning Post

I have to admit that I found this extremely entertaining!

He carried the orange "fort block maker" around the living room forever until he found the perfect spot for it...

 

 

Namaste. 

New Year Goals

2013 didn't go so well, and even though I am not super superstitious - I am putting some of the badness on not following my New Year's Day tradition in 2013.

First thing first - I made Pork and Kraut for lunch today, along with Mashed Potatoes and Biscuits.

Then I set some goals.  I don't like resolutions - especially New Year Resolutions.  Seems that they always get broken and making them is just setting yourself up for failure.
So, I am making New Year Goals (again).
Not sure how I did last year.  Don't even remember if I made any or what they were.

2014
Fitness / Physical Side
-Update MyFitnessPal with every calorie that goes in my mouth.
-Wear my FitBit everyday (and try to get it to say 10,000 as often as possible).
-Take better care of my skin.

Mental Side
-Read 12 books (ok - I know I did that one in 2013 and was successful!)
-Work on my pool mechanics at least every other day.

Spiritual Side
-Get to church more...I am not going to say how much, but if I make it two times, it is an improvement over 2013.
-Spend more time with positive / fun / productive people.

Wish me luck.

Namaste.

12 Books - where I ended up in 2013

I started documenting books that I read "with substance" in 2012 and continued into 2013.  

I love to read. . .
LOVE it!

But I also love to reread books and I love to read what I call mindless, quick reads.

Especially now that I have a kindle app on my phone.

Not allowing myself to count rereads or mindless reads.  :)

The hardest part is finding mindful books that don't bore me to tears.

And as I copied and pasted my last post update on this subject, I realized that three of the books were being double-counted, both on 2012 and 2013 - geez, imagine that!  In all honesty, I removed them - and still made 12!

1. Get Out of Debt Like the Debt Heroes:  How 21 Ordinary People Paid Off Over $1.7 Million in Debt by Ben Edwards and Jeff Rose (starting to appreciate my Kindle app - but this one did bore me quite a bit)
2. Surviving September 11th by Dan Holdridge (Kindle app)
3. the upside down marriage by Jim Keller (Kindle app)
4. 50 Fitness Tips you wish you knew by Derek Doepker (Kindle app)
5. Inferno by Dan Brown

6. Diversity Conversations: Finding Common Ground by Eric M. Ellis
7. Styxx by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Since this book is 836 pages, but I hated the historical first half and skipped to the more current day part - so, ~400 pages means I am only counting it as one)
8. The Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life by Glenn Beck and Keith Ablow (took me many months to get through this one, but there were some good parts that made me think)
9. Calculated in Death by JD Robb

10. Thankless in Death by JD Robb

11. Dark Lycan by Christine Feehan
12. Dark Prince (Author's Cut Special Edition) by Christine Feehan (Okay, technically this is a reread.... BUT I first read this one in the early 2000s and there is 100 extra pages.  So 100 pages = new reading material.  This one also caused a lot of other rereads as it was the first in the series and got me wanting to reread, yes I am typing this, the ENTIRE series of about 25ish books)

I think I read more, but I tend to lend books out and haven't got them all back yet.

I have already made a good start on the 2014 list as I have ordered/preordered five books at Amazon (love prime!)...

Books I read, but don't think that they qualify for the list of 12:

Fall asleep! It's Easy... The (miraculous) kaleidoscope method by Elli Yeates (Kindle app)

Walking to Lose Weight (a 12 week walking workout plan) by Susan J Campbell (Kindle app)

Books I attempted and couldn't finish:

(30 days to better thinking and better living through) Critical Thinking by Linda Elder and Richard Paul (Kindle app)

Namaste.

Got it done before his first birthday - Part 2

I spent some some time getting caught up on projects recently.  This one was majorly late (along with the one that I just posted about) as it is a baby quilt for a twin who was born early in 2013.

 

I did more of as "earth" theme with this one (versus the "sky" on the other twin's) in greens backed with fleece.  Hopefully, he likes it!

 

 

 

Namaste. 

Got it done before his first birthday - Part 1

 I spent some some time getting caught up on projects recently.  This one was majorly late (along with the next one that I'll post about) as it is a baby quilt for a twin who was born early in 2013.

I did more of a "sky" theme with this one (versus the "earth" on the other twin's) in blues backed with fleece.  I liked how it turned out.  Hopefully, he will too!

 

Christmas Quilt #2

The second Christmas Quilt that I got done for a nephew this years was a Bengal theme...

Yep, I think I checked off two sport fans this year...

 

 

 

Namaste. 

Christmas Quilt #1

I tried to make quilts (bigger than baby quilt size) for my nieces and nephews when they get a big older, but I have to admit that I have gotten behind a bit on them.

 

I decided to make some progress this year and checked two off of the list.

This is the first of the Christmas quilts done this year...

Yes, he is a bit of a Michigan fan.

 

 

 

 

Namaste. 

Merry Christmas

I didn't have time to write a holiday letter this year.
And even if I had, I'm not sure I would have.
This has been a really rough year and not one that MBB and I want to broadcast to everyone.
I could have made the letter all about my grandbaby, but I already talk about him so much.

MBB and I do wish everyone a very merry and loving holiday.
I hope that everyone was able to celebrate Jesus's Birthday with their loved ones.
It is very hard when we can't be with those we love on this very special day.

Namaste.

Journeys...

One think that I have learned over the years is that I hate having responsibility for others.
Whether that be a group project in school, shared assignments at work, supervising at a camp/team function... I could go on and on.  I'm sure everyone out there has similar situations that they experience everyday.

During school, and even work to this day, I could (and did sometimes) just step in when something wasn't getting done...But that either caused issues because the person didn't appreciate it or because they did (hate having to do all of the work from there on out because they knew that I would).  For the most part, I can't just step in and just have to deal with the consequences of others' decisions.

Especially when I am in the middle of a situation, I never know how it is going to work out and if it is worth it or not.  Obviously, when it comes to work - the paycheck is worth it and I just have to deal.  When it comes to my family - it is worth it, but those are probably the hardest ones.  Agreed?  But there are lots of other situations that I knowingly put myself in and can only just hope for the best.

Believe me, I have had my fair share of successes and failures.  The journeys are not easy and when I am right in the middle of one, I never know if it is going to end up successful or not.  On days like today, I have to remember a success to keep me going forward:

Many years ago, I lead a youth group at my church.  We had the opportunity to start attending weekend retreats and most of the kids were excited to go.  There was a boy, however, who started out very defiant.  His parent signed him up for a long weekend camp (pretty far away) and the 15-passenger van was full of "Pull over, I'm walking home.", "I don't want to be here.", "You're going to regret making me go." during the long drive.  Three camps later, he was the first to sign himself up for the trip and truly became a leader at the camp.  When I stepped down from my leadership position to take another role in the church, the impact that he, himself, saw that I had made on him warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes.


Namaste.

Honestly...

I'll be honest...
I forgot about the blog.

Completely.

Even reading other blogs.
Even having ideas for blog posts.

I forgot.

I've been focused on work - it is my group's busiest time of the year.
I've been focused on family - the good and the bad.
I've been focused on myself - photography classes, reading, sleeping, playing pool.

The blog isn't the only thing I forgot about.
Exercise has been gone to.  :(

As work moves out of the busy season, I'm going to put the Blog and the Elliptical on the To Do list.
Wish me luck.

Namaste.