Time and Goals

Time and Goals

Happy Sunday to all, hope the weekend has been pleasant. Things are changing during this month, we seem to want to flip between warm and cold, snow, sleet and rain. Typical March, fickle as always. We are back to the dreaded daylight saving time and I can't seem to readjust. To me, an hour a day does not justify messing up my natural rhythm, I know, many of you like that extra daylight, for me, not so much. That must be the old in me showing up. However, back to dark in the morning for a bit means I can catch a good sunrise. 

I have been in one of those slumps this year. Got through orders, Christmas flew by, New Year's came and went and I swore I was going to get started with Christmas painting. I did, but not til nearly February. And the same things are still sitting on my desk. Many Santas. I need to be ready for this year's show, trust me, I have counted the months, time does not drag like it did when I was 20. It now goes by in warp speed.

I spent some time reading about setting goals, small ones and big ones, short term and long term. Long term......hmmm, I think I need to stick to short term, it might be in my best interest. I can tell you that there are goals I did want to achieve for this year's show. At this rate, I won't make it. I just wonder, who is going to make me reach those goals? What is realistic? What might not be? Where in the world do my days go anymore? Too many distractions, cleaning, laundry, food, phone calls and errands. But it seems to me like I used to be able to get it all done and paint too. I must be getting very slow these days. It is not unrealistic to get some things done now to put away, but at the same time, Etsy is suffering with nothing new there. I guess I am failing at being my own boss, maybe I need to install a time clock and make myself punch in and out everyday. When I fail to reach certain goals, I just beat myself up, tell myself I am a failure, you know, all kinds of negative and detrimental thoughts, this has to stop. I swear I am my own worst enemy.

These Santas did get done, and the glasses are done. The little dessert glasses now have faces and are nearly done, but it has been a month. Just can't seem to concentrate at all.

Dessert Glass tealight Holders

Santa Glasses and Wine Bottle

Santa Slates

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So in ending this for today, do you set goals? Weekly, monthly, or even daily? What do you feel is unrealistic and when you don't reach them, what do you do to yourself? Do you berate yourself? How many hours a day do you contribute to your goals? I am ever so curious as to what others do and how they set about to accomplish their goals. Please feel free to tell us. This has been an ongoing source of frustration for me, along with the seasonal lack of motivation, time management and things like that. Just keep in mind, I am not young anymore, so I can't get around like I used to. LOL.

Wintertime

It's been awhile since I have posted. Seems I have felt rather boring over the last few years. And the years have flown, grandkids have grown, I have gotten older and feel that way too. I guess I felt as if I had nothing too fabulous to say. But I figured it was time to give some time to my thoughts, as there are many.

Since winter has returned again, one of my favorite seasons mind you, yes I am crazy, or at least people have told me that, I thought I would tell you why I like winter. So many complain about the cold and the snow and how tired they are of it. Well, yes, by the end of winter, I too get that way, but early on I look forward to the snow. I like the fact that I can hibernate, that I can put on fuzzy socks, not be bit by mosquitoes and our cats are not chewed up by fleas. Every 2" spider in the woods is not trying to invade my house. I don't have to sweat endlessly, turn bright red and have frizzy hair. I do not have to bare half my old body just to stay cool. It is a time for rest, drinking hot cocoa, baking cookies and using my oven to make turkeys or chicken, pots of soup, you know, comfort food. I enjoy watching the winter birds, the deer and the squirrels. I like the profound quiet when the snow falls and the bright blue skies when the sun comes out. It's a time to just relax, get our thoughts together, think about the year that just passed and know there is a time for every season, the ones we like and the ones we don't. Honestly, I am not a Summer fan, my season is Fall. I try not to gripe in the Summer, but sometimes, I just can't stand it, too hot! However, if there is a body of water around I can deal with it.

Now I guess though that where I live gives me something to love about Winter, the beauty of snow in the woods. Always something to see or looks at.

Now as far as where the last 2 or 3 years have taken me, well lots of painting, a few vacations, a few shows, the normal things for me anyway. I have missed sharing the painting ideas and projects, I sure never meant to be gone for nearly 3 years. I won't make a promise I can't keep, but I am going to try to write more this year and share some of my projects with you all. Here are a few of the things I have done this past year. Etsy has gotten better, so I have tried to focus a little more on Etsy.

I painted  a very old design by Helena Cook on glasses for tealight holders, these were fun. The Gingerbread Tissue box was another fun project, people have asked me for these, but as normal, I don't often have multiples of my surfaces, so still hunting for these, remember I love to find my treasures in thrift stores and yard sales, keeps the cost down and results in lower prices for my customers.

I did quite a few magnets

Pineapple Upside Down Cake, My Way

Happy Spring to all. I hope that you had a wonderful Easter. The weather here has finally been more like spring, blue skies, a bit windy and cooler temps.

I wanted to share my cake that I made for Easter, I have no photos because they devoured it and it was an experiment anyway, wasn't sure that they would like it. But they did and it is super easy so I am sharing with you.

You will need the following:

! box White cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)

1-2 cans of either crushed or chunk pineapple

1 stick butter or margarine

1 cup packed brown sugar

unsweetened applesauce to replace the oil in the cake

Pineapple juice to replace the water in the cake ( I reserved the juice from the pineapples and used that)

Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice.

Prepare the cake as directed with egg whites, replace the oil with the same amount of applesauce and the water with the juice from the pineapple.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, I used a 13"x9" cake pan, put the stick of butter in the pan and melt in the oven. When melted, sprinkle the brown sugar over the bottom of the pan. Use enough pineapple to cover the bottom of the pan over top of the butter and brown sugar.

Pour and spread the cake batter over the pineapple and sugar mixture. Bake in the center of the oven for approx. 40 minutes. When it is done, let cool for just 5 minutes or so, the invert the cake onto a cookie sheet or other plate to cool, if you leave it in longer it may stick.

We loved it and it was so simple! Let me know what you think.

So spring has found me trying to paint and get the early yard work done as we have had an early spring, we also had a power outage that caused me to lose my entire operating system on my computer and all files and folders with it. Kind of like starting all over again! My own fault, I had nothing backed up.

So what has been going on with you? Fill me in!

This was one of my new creations for spring, since all my spring pictures were lost, thought I would share this with you.

HAPPY SPRING!

 

March Already? Hmm...Where was Winter?

I was thinking about what to write about, I knew it was tome to tend to the neglected blog, but in reality, I live a very sheltered life, not too much to talk about. But then it struck me, it's March, we have had virtually, no winter. We started some sort of winter on Halloween with a great snowstorm. My Grandson built a snowman incorporating his jack O Lantern. But then..... that was it.

Then it got warm again. the kids have had no snow days, we didn't have snow for Christmas, we didn't even have a blizzard in January. I think I live in PA, the last time I wrote my address, I did. But where was winter? Well, in Europe, Japan, anywhere but PA.

Now I am sure you think I am nuts, how could I like winter? I lived in VA through my teenage years, I hated it, I was from NY, I was used to snow, we had some in VA, but not enough for me. So I escaped here, and we did have winters, mind you I said did.  I feel the need for the 4 seasons. Each one has it's good points though Fall is my favorite. I am not a heat person, nor do I like spiders the size of my hand nor snakes poking their heads up at me from the wood pile I am trying to stack. I despise fleas and ticks. But I do love the flowers, the hummingbirds, the warm evenings on the deck and the beach time I get. But that is it. Winter brings me those cozy, warm feelings, I love my flannel shirts and jeans, my winter TV shows, Christmas, fires and snow. Snow is pretty, it changes that dreary brown landscape into something wondrous and magical, especially at night with the moon shining on it. I have missed that this year. So call me nuts if you want, but the thought of putting this body in shorts, getting bit by mosquitoes, sweating and feeling as if I am melting just doesn't do it for me.

What have I been doing? Well..........seems not much for the first 2 months, I think I slept through them. I have finally come up with some new ideas and started painting,, now I just need to paint more! I have to start thinking about that show coming in November or otherwise I won't be ready again. Here are some things I did get done. I had fun with these, they are old cookie sheets that I have made into chalkboards, of course that spawned new ideas for chalkboards and if left alone, I could paint them all year and have a great stash. I also had some muffin tins I had hoarded and didn't know what to do with, after about 2 years it hit me and I came up with this.

So I am still trying to declutter the desk, but I swore I was going to paint all that was there and not stash it, I want to get some more snowmen done and maybe a few spring type things, but that remains to be seen.

So what has your winter entailed? And what does spring hold for you? I think it will be time to start the spring cleaning if the temps are going to hold in the 70's and 60's, but I wonder if they will. Lots of flowers coming up in my beds, the daffodils are blooming and the trees look like they are budding, a little early for all this, but the result of a warm winter. Before I go, remember to spring ahead tonight, we lose a beloved hour of sleep. Happy Spring!

ORGANIZATION, What is it?

Ok, so I though this might be a sufficient and interesting topic for the end of January, more like an amusing topic.

Organization, the formal definition is:

a : the act or process of organizing or of being organized b : the condition or manner of being organized.

 

That doesn't mean too much to me, because it is something I am not. So let's try organize.

 

: to arrange by systematic planning and united effort.

 

Ahhhhh, is that it? I am now on the floor laughing,

I can plan all that I want to and arrange all that I want to, but it never fails, as soon as I work, it is gone. I love being organized and reaching in a drawer and finding exactly what I wanted, or opening a notebook and finding the exact pattern that I wanted. But then it starts, the pile of patterns in the corner of the desk, 15 books in a pile because I can't decide which one I want, the pattern that I know I traced and now cannot find. And where did the pencil go, where is the graphite even though I know I put it in that drawer. And where did that plaque go that I base coated six months ago?

 

Then I decide it is time to, again, for the 10th time in the last month, organize the paint and move the clutter off the desk, and gee, look what I find.

 

Yup, hiding under all those piles of stuff I intended to paint and never got around to.

I have discovered something about myself, I must have attention deficit because as soon as I dream up something new to paint, I always manage to forget what I was painting. So a bad habit I must break. A new one to start,  keeping a journal on the desk, so when I dream up new stuff, as I am painting stuff already, I can write it down instead of trying to start it. The next thing I have to do is figure out how to store already traced patterns, because I haven't discovered a simple way yet, nothing works, not notebooks, folders, sheet protectors, nothing! I still pile them all over and lose them.

So your version of organization is........

And is it even possible?

I hope January has passed pleasantly for you. Time is certainly flying and before I know it I will be going to the beach. 

Share your organizing skills with us all, maybe we can learn something helpful today.

The Beginning of a New Book

Welcome to the beginning of a brand new book, that's what I am calling 2012. I would like to tell you that I am sad to see 2011 leave, but I am not, I was eager to close that book. Though I don't like to openly complain, the last 2 years were like a bad story and I am not sad to see them go. Life has not been easy, and I am sure many people have had that same thought. I am sure it could have been worse, but there sure was room for improvement, lots of it.

I must say that I failed at most of my attempts to do anything I had planned to do, blogging was one of them. Painting and growing my business was another failed attempt. I can't pin a specific reason to it, health and lack of enthusiasm, depression and just plain lack of time, or maybe organization, were some of the things. So of course, I am saying I failed, because I did. I am starting off the year on a down note as I kick my own butt.

I found myself rather sad over the holidays, wishing for the old days and missing so many people that I have lost over the last few years. I watched my grand kids playing on Christmas Eve and thought of my deceased husband and how he never saw the girls grow up or even began to see a grandchild. I thought of my husband's brother and Mom who just left us within the last 2 years, my Mom who loved the kids and always made me mad, and my dear uncle, who was my mentor and my favorite person. January is always bad for me as it is the anniversary of my husband's death.

I have had time to think and reflect, I have many decisions to make and wondering if I can make this year better, if I can find a good doctor, if I can feel well enough to do what I need to do, if even I can get the ambition, there is no more time to play, I have to start doing and really, not sure that I know how. I don't make resolutions, I make vague goals, sometimes they are accomplished and sometimes not. This year, they have to be.

Christmas was nice, but not the same. However, we did have a huge tree that was way too big for the house, LOL. Decorated it was beautiful, but so in the way. My daughter insisted on this tree, thank you Mandy, but next year, it will have to be a bit smaller. No star was going on that tree.

We had lots of food, fun times and memories. I can't complain.

I did mange to do my craft show, it was rough and there sure wasn't enough, but I can call it successful as I sold most of what I had, just kicking my own butt for not being ready with a year to do so.

We also obtained a new furry member to the household, a beautiful little girl named Muffin, she has been a true joy to have around, we do believe that she may be a Maine Coon, she gets furrier by the day and has had her first illness at 5 months. She somehow got a virus and was down and out for a few days, but she sure has bounced back.

So I can't say the whole year was a waste. There were good points.

So as we progress into this new book, let's hope that we can all turn the page to a fantastic, successful New Year, with each page getting better and better until we reach the end and close it and say "It was the best year ever!" There are sure no guarantees, ever, all we can do is what we can do, but I know I can do better. So for now, here's wishing you Warm Winter Blessings, and lots of good stories along the way. We are here for each other, that helps makes things go a little better even when things aren't so bright!

Happy New Year!

Just a Quick Note

I wanted to let you know about the giveaway at The Rusty Thimble. Brenda is giving away a wonderful Woodland Snowman. You can get up to 5 chances to win. Take a minute and visit to find out how to do it. Go Here to read all about it. Good luck to all.

I am on my way out to enjoy the weather and do some Fall cleanup today. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!