Happy New Year!

I've never been much for the whole New Year's resolution tradition, too much public risk and disappointment, which is weird because basically I am a pretty open book, but there you go. I guess it's kind of like breaking a promise to myself or something... don't wanna do that!

However. Things and circumstance always change and change is always good. So in light of the newfangled year and all it brings, here's a bit of a 'to do' list if you will:

Remove the furnishings, carpeting and all, from the "girls" room. Then do the same with the "studio" (heretofore the "boys" room).

Put down commercial grade Berber in both rooms, add new floor moldings.

In the new "guest room" add: a queen sized bed, the "family" dresser, and hang some photos. All this to make access to the bathroom easier and more convenient for guests, and to make a nice place for little people to play and nap closer to mom, dad, and or grandparents.

In the studio: Paint the closet doors chocolate brown. Configure the best way to align solid shelving along one wall, leave enough space for the gynormo (yet fabulous) business desk (soon to be an artist's desk!). Rehang the paper stack and glass shelves and generally make the room back in to a studio.

Put the food storage in the guest closet - finally.

Hang blinds in the front room.

Make a cornice box for the front room window.

Add bark cloth faux drapes to the inside of the cornice box.

Find and purchase a 5x7 rug for the front room.

Hang stuff (to be determined later) on the front room walls.

Rehang the wall arrangement in the hallway.

Repaint the master bedroom.

Repaint the two dressers and two side chests in the master bedroom and add grass cloth inserts, decide if I need/want a headboard of same after seeing the finished furniture.

Paint. Paint on canvas. One painting (at least) per month.

Clear out the "shed" and reorganize the boxes out there. Learn E-Bay and/or garage sale the items and begin to de-clutter on a huge scale.

Use up the crafting materials I have on hand.

Make specific items for sale in two major city open air markets, summer, fall, and winter. Meaning I will have a schedule for assembly line type of crafting to build up product.

Learn loom knitting, which seems pretty easy from what I can tell so far.

Take at least ten photos per day in an effort to become a better photographer.

With Thor, empty out the garage of clutter and sell off what we haven't used in years. Organize it so that more space can be used for the gym equipment we already have.

As far as personal goals are concerned, they will remain personal. However some old habits will be renewed and some forgotten. Continue to work on self reliance and emergency preparedness, adding to and rotating what we already have.

I'll let you know how well the other goals come along and hopefully post some photos as the projects progress.

So Happy New Year everyone! I hope all your goals and resolutions are fun and fulfilled!

We need a little Christmas

As a little kid I remember Christmas being a really exciting time, well even as an adult I still get all hepped up as I consider the possibilities that come this time of year.

President* David O. McKay (1873–1970) declared: “True happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.

“It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring ‘peace on earth,’ because it means—good will toward all men.”

Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things.

To catch the real meaning of the “spirit of Christmas,” we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the “Spirit of Christ.

My friend Carolyn has two traditions in her family. One is to find a family in need and then she spends the exact amount on that family as she does on her own. There is no difference to her. She also places beautifully wrapped gifts under her tree as they come into the house. There to be admired and wondered about as the weeks progress towards Christmas. Each gift has a tag with a name. The week before Christmas she has a family night, and at the end of the lesson, each person goes to the tree, chooses a gift, and gives it to the Salvation Army. The idea was, that because they had no idea what they were choosing to give away, they wouldn't miss it. Carolyn told me one year that even she winces a bit, because she does know what they are giving away, and sometimes it is the gift she wished to give them most. But she reminds me, someone else may need it much more than her family, who have warmth and food and shelter beyond what is considered "need". She is an amazing example to me.

Not too long ago, we hadn't had work for over two years and money was tight. Fewer presents would be under the tree, and the dinner, well it wasn't going to be gourmet, but we weren't eating "holiday hot dogs" as I had as a child!

Our family was young, our kids had always had what they needed but had never been indulged with every toy they wanted, so this particular year wouldn't be much of a change. Toys, a few, and maybe some needed clothes from Santa. We also had set a bit aside to help another "someone" who, we felt, needed our help. We hopped in the car full of anticipation and secrets and made our midnight run with a car full of little elves too young to leave on their own. Everyone was singing silly Christmas songs and searching the skies for Rudolph's red nose blinking in the dark until we arrived at our determined place and then, as stealthily as we could, we placed our meager offerings on the porch of our intended family and with a quick rap on the door - we left, unnoticed.

By the time we got home all the kids were completely asleep. We began to carry them into the house when, to our surprise, someone had played "Secret Santa" with our family! Both Thor and I were completely surprised! Who knew we were "the family" in need? The porch was filled with small cars for the boys, a couple of dolls for the girls, a bolt (yes a complete bolt) of fabric, a large plug in push button telephone (I am still wondering about that one, but hey, someone was being thoughtful!),a bottle of perfume that was about a third gone (someone was sacrificing their perfume so that I would have some! ) and a recycled tie for Thor, among other gifts that I have forgotten over the years. Our Christmas was added upon and we felt both humbled and blessed by the generous offerings.

As a little girl I remember being the kid who had less than the neighbors, yet always, always, mom made sure we found someone who had even less than we. I am grateful for that lesson. I look back on our runs to "Mars Family Discount" with the money we had earned from neighborhood chores, recycling pop bottles, or squirreling away over the year. We would choose small toys and items we wanted and knew they would be fun for the other kid we were trying to help. It was a yearly tradition that has lasted a life time.

This year, as we are fast approaching the day of days, the celebration of our Lord's birth, let us become as the Wise Men of old, let us bring our gifts to the Saviour and become His hands as we serve and give to those around us. May we find someone who needs our love, our hope, our forgiveness, and our substance.

* President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

cupcakes galore!

On top of everything else yesterday I made about 140 some cupcakes. On Sunday, our Relief Society President asked us if we would help her with a non church service project. She is a RN and one of her patients was diagnosed with cancer. He has a small family and a large ranch and works as a fireman. She contacted his station and explained his condition and arranged for all the guys at the station to come and help him out by doing some chores on the ranch.

In exchange for their service she said she would provide them with food and drink. That's where we come in. She asked us if we would chip in and provide salads and desserts.

I volunteered for 70 cupcakes. My cupcake papers are a bit, not much, but a bit smaller than a normal cupcake liner, so I decided to make three different varieties for the guys to choose from.

The first is my "Funky Chunky Monkey Lovin'" a banana infused yellow cake with chunks of real banana, banana pudding, a touch of nutmeg, and topped with chewy - crunchy caramel and crushed nilla wafers. You only need one of these seriously sweet babies!

Second is "Lemon Heaven", a lemon pudding cake topped with a sweet lemon infused buttercream cloud. Refreshing and yummy.

Third is "Uber Chocolate" the super moist dark chocolate cake, a bit of chocolate pudding and topped with a generous swirl of sweet buttercream. So moist I guarantee you will have cake stuck to your fingers!

I think all three of these are best served a bit cold, but hey, take 'em anyway you can get 'em!

The last is a fridge shot of one of the sheets chilling. Thor was sad to see them go, but I left him one of each to eat during the week.

Update: I heard from the organizer today that the cupcakes were a hit with the fire fighters! Yeah!