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I don’t believe in resolutions. I’ve said that before. I think that in so many ways, resolutions are just setting you up to fail. If you want to do something, then do it. Don’t wait until January 1st to make a change. If you want to lose weight, then do it in November. If you want to quit smoking, do it in April. If you want to be a better parent, do it immediately. But with any thing in your life that you want to change, you shouldn’t wait until the calendar turns to a new year, any day is good for change.
But I have decided that I want to make a change. Or I need to make a change. Or maybe, I don’t need to change at all. But I think I do. Expectations. I think they’re biting me in the ass. They’re making me feel like I ask too much. Or expect to much. Or live in some world where people maybe don’t know me that well. This isn’t sounding right, it’s making me sound like a snob.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I have certain expectations from people. In my world my family and friends come first. Always. I expect my family and friends to be there for me, as I would be there for them. I expect kindness from others, as I would give unto you. I expect honesty because who likes a liar? I expect people to be kind, but maybe that’s just hugely unrealistic. I don’t know.
But of late I’ve felt that maybe those basic expectations are just not realistic. Perhaps it really is a dog eat dog world and we look out for ourselves before we look out for others. I hate to think that the world is full of people that aren’t kind to others or don’t value honesty, family and love above all else. But maybe it is.
Do you ever feel like you ever expect too much? That maybe you hold people to a standard that isn’t realistic? So is this a resolution? I don’t think so. Perhaps it’s a mind shift. Either way, I’ll need to make a change.
From my zoo to yours, Happy New Year!
Well, it’s over. Santa came, the presents were opened, the food was consumed and now we can all go back to live as it was. Other than someone needing to come and take this tree down for me….
I made the majority of my gifts this year and have spent the better part of the past month in my sewing room. I don’t know what’s gone on in the rest of the house but my sewing room is a DISASTER. But, I have to say that everything was (mostly) a succes.
 - A little makeup bag, complete with Sephora gift card
 - Potholders
I also made a runner to go with the potholders but I forgot to take a picture.
 - A quilt for my niece
 - Back of the quilt
This quilt is more of a throw than a quilt. But she’s 1 1/2 so she’s small, like the quilt.
 - Throw pillows for my parents bed
 - I used an envelope enclosure for the pillows which made them super easy and fast.
I made 4 pillows, only 2 of which I quilted. I like the look of the quilting and wish I’d done them all this way. I improved with practice though.
 Kindle cover  Pockets!! I was really happy with the Kindle cover. It was super easy and quick, once I realized the pattern I was using had the dimensions all wrong. It’s hard to see but the inside right has little pockets to hold the Kindle in place.
Courtney already had the doll. I made the doll the little shirt and some pants (it’ll work on a couple of her dolls) and then I made the same shirt for her. She wasn’t as excited about it as I was but give it time and she will be.
 These turned out to be my favorite 
My SIL moved into a new home in October and their master bedroom is violet, hence the purple pillows. I’m really pleased with these and how they came out. I love the round pillow which was super easy. I’ll definitely be making more pillows for our room!!
Courtney’s out of school this week and Patrick has the crud. We’ve barely left the house since Saturday and people are getting a little looney up in this place. I’ve been holed up either in my sewing room or the wrapping room (aka the guest room) or the kitchen since Friday and I’m losing all track of time. As a matter of fact, our big outing on Monday was to Hobby Lobby and I didn’t even get the kids dressed, I just took them in their PJ’s. Why? Because I’m a winner. In other news, I do believe I’m going to have all my presents completed by Christmas and I do consider that a major accomplishment. I canceled PT for today for Patrick as I’m sure his therapist wouldn’t want to touch him with a 10 foot pole, given all the stuff coming out of his nose. That is also a bit of a win as I haven’t showered in several days and I can’t swear that I don’t smell. On the down side, I still have a couple of errands I need to do today, and, well, still no shower. Oh well. I’m sure when they say “‘Tis the season” they don’t mean the season to go unbathed, greasy and smelly.
 Rudolph is very sick.
I’ve written before about how important family is to me. Which is ironic as my family lives 800+ miles away. But maybe it’s because of that that I wanted to put together something for my kids so they would know who their family is. While people may live hundreds of miles away, I never want them to say, “Who’s Kevin?” And while having a photo isn’t the same as having the real person here, it’s something.
Originally, I was going to put this in Courtney’s room but then decided that why should she get all the fun and put it in the playroom (hence all the toys in the foreground). It took me FOREVER to get the damn tree onto the wall and as I was working, and cussing violently, I looked down at Patrick and there he is. Coloring on it. I’m still missing a couple of pictures but I think most everyone is represented. I kept to my immediate family and Paul’s with spouses and their children. I wasn’t originally going to go with the big canvas picture in the middle but then we took a picture that looked good of all of us and I went with that. I also wanted to paint the wall to reflect the scene, if you will. I went with a sky blue above the chair rail and a grassy green below.
 Huh, the pictures are really uneven... 
I’m pretty pleased with how the wall came out. Now that I’m look at the pictures in the pictures, they sure are crazy uneven. I guess I’ll need to do some straightening…
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