Happy Thanksgiving!

Real Life

Thank you to those of you who commented on my last post. You are all so wonderful! I had thought about apologizing for letting my stress overflow onto my blog...but I won't. A lot of blogs I read are about lots of wonderful things. So wonderful that I get the impression that life is just perfect in other homes and parts of the world. Logically I know this is not true, but I still get that feeling sometimes.

My life is really not perfect. It is really not terrible either! I am very grateful for the life and circumstances I have been given. But it isn't perfect. I have bad days, and I make mistakes, and crummy things happen sometimes. They come and then they go. Some of them I try really hard to forget. Some I try to remember so that I can learn from them and try to do a little better next time. So, occasionally I am going to blog about my imperfect life and the things I learn.

I learned, or was reminded, of a few good things on that stressful day last week.

Sunshine is very wonderful and I had been missing it.

I very easily forget cleaning tips that I've learned and used in the past,
and should make them a habit, not just a good idea now and then.

I really don't have to do everything.

Oh yeah, I want to improve myself...I don't always want to be just like
this. It is ok to make changes here and there.

I need to vent. Simply talking or writing about what is troubling me
does wonders for the way I am feeling. As soon as I published that last
post I felt much better about things and I was able to get over feeling so
overwhelmed.

Prayer is ALWAYS a good idea. I can't think of anything that helps
more.

I want this to be a blog about the real me. I can't be anyone else. And I'm pretty happy about that.

Oh, one more quick thing. I'm almost done with my Advent Envelopes. The envelopes themselves are all done and I'm about halfway finished with the little cards to go inside. I can't wait!

Getting to Know You part 9

Q: What are you doing to get ready for Thanksgiving?

My A: Going crazy trying to clean my house! And trying to stay focused on the things I am thankful for and the really wonderful blessings I have been given and not be distracted by other things that really don't matter.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question.

Ok, I'm going to add another question or two today. Where do you start when you have a huge, overwhelming task to accomplish? I am facing such a task today. Actually it's a whole bunch of smaller tasks that are all piled up into one gigantic mountain of a task. In my mind it is just about impossible. It seems so overwhelming to me that I don't know where to start, and so I'm just NOT starting. That doesn't help anything!!! Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do? I know, and I tell myself, that if I will just start I'll feel better and I'll accomplish something (as opposed to nothing!), and life will be looking up. Maybe not perfect, but certainly better than it was before. How do you take that first step?

Ribbon Tag Toy for Babies

Christmas is coming quicker than I had realized. I kept going along thinking, "It's only November, I've got plenty of time..." Why do I do this to myself??? Thanksgiving is next week!!!

So over the weekend I started and finished one Christmas gift! It is for one of my very littlest nieces and I hope she likes it.

My Mom gave one of these to my youngest when he was pretty little and he loved it. Then I saw this idea, and decided to try something like it. My babies all loved the crinkly noises that plastic makes. I just used an empty wipes package and stuffed it inside the square. It measures approximately 6x6 inches.

Today I'm Thankful For...

very helpful and kind people,
a daughter who says, "Ooooh, Yay!" when I say, "You need to practice the piano."
sunshine,
a husband who loves me, no matter what,
prayer and the peace it brings,
wonderful parents,
pumpkin pie,
and a nice warm house,
just to name a few.

Getting to Know You part 8

Q: What kind of jewelry, if any, are you wearing right now?

A: One ring on each ring finger. My wedding ring and a CTR ring. That's all I usually wear.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

1 Year, 12 Quilts

I joined a virtual quilting bee!!!

I am SOOOO excited!!!

I've seen lots of people around blogland that were participating in virtual quilting bees and I really wanted to but never could find out about one in time to join in. But then Alissa and Kristen started the Block Party Quilt Along and started a Flickr group to go with it where lots of new quilting bees could be organized.

I jumped right in!!! And now I'm part of the 1 Year, 12 Quilts virtual quilting bee with 11 other amazing ladies!

What is a virtual quilting bee? I had never heard of one until about a year ago when I got busy with blogs. Here is my basic definition. Usually 12 ladies (I have come across a couple of quilting men) make up a quilting bee. Each one is assigned a specific month. When one person's month comes they send enough fabric to make a quilt block to each of the other bee members and they also usually request a certain kind of quilt block. A log cabin block, for example. The members then make that block with the fabric they were sent and then send the completed block back to the person of the month. Then the next month someone else gets to take a turn, and so on. By the end each person will have 12 quilt blocks to make into a whole quilt. Of course, there are all kinds of variations on quilting bees, but that is basically how it all works.

1 Year, 12 Quilts will start in January. My month will be March. I've got a few ideas about what kind of block I want to request, but I don't know about fabric yet. I'm already having fun thinking about it and wondering what kinds of blocks others will choose. I can't wait to start!