Holiday To-Do's

My "Holiday To-Do" list is almost finished. All that is left is to visit the Post Office to mail a package and bake some cookies and other various treats. The cards have been sent, the gifts have been bought (or made), and now it is time to sit back, relax, and bake at my leisure.

My biggest accomplishment this season has been finishing the afghan I have been making for my Mom. It is my favorite out of all of the afghans I have made so far. When I get around to making one for myself I think this is the pattern I will use.

~The picture doesn't do justice to the size and thickness. The pattern is "Winter Warmer" from Our Best Afghans A to Z by Leisure Arts (http://www.leisurearts.com).~/

I am very happy to give this one to my Mom. She was the recipient of one of my very first crochet attempts and, bless her heart, she didn't cringe. I have noticed though that she has hidden it away in the closet.

With the "Holiday To-Do's" just about complete I am getting anxious for the big day to get here. Only two weeks to go!

How are you doing at whittling away at your to-do list?

Wal-Mart Woes

Recently the local Wal-mart has undergone a face lift. Since they have made their changes, I really dislike going there. The selection isn't what it once was and whenever I try to find something all I see is a sea of white "Great Value" labels. I refuse to try yet another one of the Wal-mart brand items after having thrown away an entire box of frozen waffles because they tasted like cardboard. The clothing selection for women has become horrible unless you want to dress like Miley Cyrus or are looking for the more mature age 50 plus look.

The upside to this is the rediscovery of my local grocery stores. I may pay a little bit more but I am able to find the products I like. Plus, I don't end up buying a million things that I don't need like I usually do at Wal-mart. So it evens out in the end.

I live in a small town and the Wal-Mart is in the next small town over and many of the other items I usually need are a little further away so it will take planning on my part but my ultimate goal is to avoid Wal-Mart altogether.

I wonder how many other people are becoming as dissatisfied with Wal-Mart as I am.

Made with love….

Yesterday I finished a project I have been working on – off and on- for a couple of months. It is my Mom’s Christmas present. I will post a picture in a couple of days.

I love completing a project. Big ones and small ones. Especially when the finished product is given to someone I love. Not only does it show my love but hopefully when they use it or look at it, they will think of me and know how much I care about them.

Some of my most treasured items are those that were made by the hands of a loved one. The porcelain dolls made by my Grandmother and the quilts given to me as wedding gifts are just a few. When I took out renter's insurance and was asked to value my property the dolls were something I couldn't put a price on because they are irreplaceable. No amount of money could compensate for their loss.

When my siblings and I were kids my mom made a lot of our clothes. She would stay up late into the night to make jeans, pajamas, or whatever we needed. She even made me and my sisters home-made Cabbage Patch dolls for Christmas one year. I still have mine in a box of keepsakes.

It seems to me that there is little regard for hand-made items these days. Unless they are sold in some fancy boutique. I think it is sad that some people value what can bought in the store over what has been made with love. Though this may be the case for some, I will continue to make special gifts for those I care about. Hopefully, by continuing to give a hand-made gift made from the heart the recipient will feel the love put into the work long after the shine of a store bought gift has worn off.

I should be in bed but....

Today was one of those days that started out really well, broke down in the middle of the day, and is ending with me not being able to sleep just yet. Instead of dwelling on the bad, perhaps if I look at the good from today I will be able to put the day behind me and find some much needed sleep.

The good list:

1. The "Aha" moment this morning when I participated in a meeting and actually used information I have learned in my University of Phoenix MBA program.
2. Lunch with one of my best friends at a place where we were the youngest, smallest, and best looking people in the restaurant. Okay that sounds a little conceited but everyone needs something to hang onto every now and then.
3. Having the same friend comfort me when I cried because of someone else's insensitivity and offering to drive down just so I would have a shoulder to cry on if I needed one.
4. My son doing the dishes and taking care of the dog while I went to my exercise class.
5. Having a teenager who still tells me all the time how much he loves me and still gives me hugs.
6. Having a teenager who realized on his own that he needed to break-up with his so called girlfriend because she is a little nutty and because none of the parents want their child to have a girlfriend. Note this is not a serious girlfriend but a silly kind of Jr. High thing.
7. Exercise class with a friend.
8. Finishing my homework on time.
9. Discovering the US (Pirate) language on Facebook which just made me smile.
10. Knowing that the bad stuff will pass and eventually it will be just a memory.

Dreaming

I heard somewhere recently that the only time you are truly free is when you dream. Sorry I can't remember exactly who said this. I think this statement is true. At what other time are our concious and subconcious free of the clutter of television, reading, every day activities, etc. Sure our worries, goals, wants, and needs follow us into sleep but dreams can take us anywhere.

Twice now my dreams have taken me to a place where my sister who had her tubes tied almost 5 years ago is pregnant with a baby girl. The most recent was last night. I called my sister to tell her about and she laughed. Her boyfriend thought it meant that I was pregnant. It was my turn to laugh at that one. However, it has me wondering what these dreams mean.

That my friends is the downfall of dreams - we don't know what they mean. The Internet is full of online dream dictionaries but what I would like is something like a Urim and Thummin for dreams. Wouldn't you?