2012 New year's Resolution #1

One of my loathsome New Year's resolutions is a common one.  Exercise more, eat less, get healthy.  Now I am not doing this to get "skinny"  I am doing this to get healthy.  My mom called the other day and said that her doctor told her she had plaque in her carotid artery.  Her cholesterol is 179.  I am only 19 years younger than she and my cholesterol is 243.  I have a 6 year old and an 8 year old that I would dearly love to  kiss and hug until they are mothers themselves.  Mostly I want to do this for myself so that I may live and not merely survive. We are a society that is growing fatter, wider and unhealthier by the minute.  We eat more processed food, more sugar and more of everything than any other nation.  One magazine article I read, stated that if the rest of the world ate as much as Americans, we would need 2 more planets to sustain us.  Think about that next time you reach for something you truly don't need.  Remember the idiom, just because you can does not mean you should.  So I have cut down the size of my helpings and the number of them.  I am eliminating processed foods as much as possible from my diet.  I am walking every day.  Sometimes I even run. Now I make this resolution every year, but this time I believe I will succeed.  Why?-  Because I have hope.

2012...I Loathe New Year's Resolutions

Welcome to 2012.  Do I have high hopes for this year?  Absolutely.  Do I have any fears for this year?  You bet.  I always look forward to anything new.  I constantly believe that this time it will be different.  This time I will keep it nice and keep it going for the whole year.  I always believe.  I remember when a school year would start and I would get new notebooks with clean, lined, unblemished paper.  I would smile to myself and promise that I would write in my best penmanship for the whole life of the notebook.  I would succeed for the first week or two, then I would start writing a little sloppier and more carelessly.  By the third or fourth week I was back to my old ways scratching out words and writing so poorly that even an archaeologist would  be unable to decipher what was written. I sabatoge myself in so many ways that I have absolutely no hope in succeeding.  I loathe New Years resolutions because they are the prophesy of our failure.  We list our resolutions every year to emphasize how unaccomplished we truly are.  How could we possibly win?  Why do we do this to ourselves?

We do this to ourselves because one of the great attributes of our species is....HOPE.... We have hope in everything. No matter how horrible something is, there is that within us that spurs us on.  HOPE.  I write down my resolutions because I have hope that this time I will achieve my goals.  I have hope that I will excercise regularly, eat right, go to church every Sunday, be a better wife and a better mother.  I have hope in my fellow people.  With hope comes that irritating yet endearing quality that we share with our pets- OPTIMISM.  My dogs have lots of optimism. Every time we eat dinner  they are optimistic that we will share or that something will magically fall from the table to the floor.  When our kids were small the dogs were rewarded for this optimism by having a veritable bounty fall from the sky.  Now as the children grow older that optisim has not diminished, though the bounty has.  The dogs still stand watch for those treasured, tastey bits that never come.  We list the things we want to change about ourselves, because we want to be better.  This is not a bad thing. I actually think it is quite commendable to want to better ourselves and our world.  So though I loathe New Years resolutions I still make them.  Slowly but surely some of them get done.  But mostly, what gets accomlished is that I am better every year,  not in leaps and bounds but in little bits here and there.  I have hope.  So, to all my friends and family, make those resolutions, keep your hopes up and be optimistic.  2013 is only 361 days away.

Teenagers- What to Do With Them?

I have a seventeen year old in the house who is not my child.  She is here as an international student from China.
She had a friend at school call her in sick posing as me.  The school called me and informed me that she was missing.  I am her legal guardian.  I grounded her from her electronics ie phone, touch pad and computer. over the Thanksgiving break.  She only had to do it for 4 days.  She hid her computer on our trip and got caught again.  I am livid beyond belief .  She is completely unaware of how serious everything is.  I had to file a missing persons report on her.  The police filed a runaway report on her.  The police department searched for her, the school searched for her and I searched for her.  Charges could have been filed  she could have been expelled.   The only reason she is here is for her education. The least she could do is play the game and kiss ass for a couple of weeks.  But no she won't.  All I hear from her is how much smarter the Chinese kids are than American kids.  All I see is a spoiled one dimensional brat who does not think of anyone but herself.  I am very frustrated right now and quite angry.

Teaching My First Glass Class

I have talked with my friends for a couple of years about teaching a glass class.  I fuse glass for fun and profit and most of my friends look forward to my gifts.  I always thought that I should teach them how to make the glass for fun.  Because they are all so talented,  part of me did not want to do it because it was the one talent that I had that no one else had.  Every one else is so  majorly talented in knitting, crocheting and other crafts that I attempt but have not mastered that I wanted to keep this particular one to myself.  I realized that this was selfish.  I love my friends and it is time to get over my lack of confidence in other things and go for it.  So this Saturday  5 of my pals are coming over for lunch and glass.  I am very excited to see them do this and to share what I know.  Wish us luck.

Knitting Frustration-UGH!

My dear friend, Pixie, made this lovely hat from a pattern called Springtime in Philadelphia.  I love the pattern and I was with her when she found it and when she bought the yarn.  In fact she talked it up so well I believed that I too could make it.  UGH!  Was I in for it.  I cannot seem to get past the first three rows!  i left her a nasty humorous message on her face book page .  Please everyone send me some brain power so that I may get through this get it done!  I love ya Pixie!

Fall, Fall, Fall

I look out my window and the world is all aglow.  The sun is coming up shining on all the fabulous warm colors of Fall.  The reds, golds, oranges and browns all look like they are lit from within.  Fall, truly is my favorite time of year.  The first frost is like icing on a cake.  My pumpkins dabble my backyard garden in small patches of color.  All my tomatoes are picked green and line my counter top with their aspirations of becoming red.  I have flowers in vases all through my house, safe and sound from the frost.  I become sweater girl this time of year and I love it.  Boots, scarves, corduroy and brisk walks in the open air.  The crisp smell of pine and  fallen leaves that crunch under my boot.  Halloween Decorations start to dot the neighborhood.  The weather is not bitter, yet.  Crisp and clean and beckoning me to explore my world through nature's eyes.  The bluest of skies, the reddest of leaves.  I think I will take my walk now.  Enjoy this lovely time of year.

There Is Something In Your Teeth!

I feel no love from my family.  I just played two hands of  UNO with my family-  Grammy, Hubby, 3 daughters with a big huge black piece of pepper between my canine and front tooth- What gives?  No one cares enough to say hey Mom you got something between your Teeth!