November 1st - Wow, been awhile!

I thought I would come on here and say 'hi' - not my idea, but one I read when I was blog hopping the afternoon!! And found this!!- well, she is doing a challenge to blog everyday........ hmmmmm. So this is why I am here!!

And while I am here, show you what I have done, well, a couple pics anyway.... got my camera back (stole it back!! just for this!!!) and memory is full after 3 pics!! So, here they are:

This brown basket quilt (and I am not a basket fan but LOVE THIS!!!!) was a mystery I did over the summer, just to get me back sewing.... which I tend to not do - bad habit #1.

I am still doing my 20 minutes of sewing a day - totally caught up till hubby came home... guilt I guess.  I don't know.  He LIKES seeing me in there, so I do  not know why, when he's home, I change.......  Bad habit #2....
 
I do have border ideas for this little guy, and after I read this  I know I have to get a few things done around here!!!   The link takes you to Bonnie Hunters new MYSTERY!!!  She is calling it Orca Bay, and I am going to have to do some shopping for it!!  I have the blues, and some background, but I do not have many reds or blacks so..... what's a girl to do???

(Besides clean up my room I mean!!!!)

And here is another Mystery I am working on - it's all finished now, it was a one-day fun time, but I am only  on Step 4 - and so is my friend who did it with me!! Does not make me feel better though!! She's been busy, I have not!!!! 

 These are the main blks - well, the backgrounds have been cut out of the pic - but this is the main component.  Even though I have printed off the last steps  - I did not peek!!  So, I still don't know what I am doing after I finish this step:

This is the future border of this project.... I think it has to much yellow in it, but if winter ever does come (and it's okay if it doesn't!!!) I might like how happy it looks with all the yellows!!!
So, my main reason for blogging today is - what bad habits do you have that you would like to change??

Me, I have already told you two - and I have more.... and one is not blogging... I love to read, but feel I don't have much to share/show or talk about so, I stay quiet......... This month, I will work on changing that.  Plus, - well, another reason I don't come on here is it takes me FOREVER to write this!!!  I loose my pics, I keep working at getting them to go where I want and.... It's all a learning curve, I am ready to drive!!!

And my worse habit?  Dare I admit it??? It's not like you can't tell, but I hate housework!!!!

So, that is another habit that I will change this month.  Well, I probably will still not like it, but the habit I am talking about is - pretending I don't see it!!    This month, I will see it and I will do something about it!!!!

And then, when I am working on my new mystery (along with my other projects - they will be done as leader and enders!!!) I might enjoy my tidy, organized sewing area even more!!!!  (habit #5?? are we there yet, or passed it???? Well, it's not cleaning up after myself in my room - I just push it aside and move on......)

I have a friend who is going through some tough times and I tell her it's all in the habits we keep.  And when I hear myself tell her that, I know that I am also speaking to myself.  So, it's a new year coming up, and now is a good as time as any to work on making real changes in my life.  If not not now - when???   So, how 'bout now?  My plans are to get myself organized and pick up what I see needs it.  Get things done, not just think about it.  I CAN do it, so I will.

I love to see what people are working on and I should let others see what I do too!!

On a little different note:  here is a piece of Trivia.  I just heard this on the radio yesterday.  I live in Alberta, near Edmonton, and I guess this area has not had a snow free October since 1963.

So, now it's October 2011  - that was a 48 year record that just got broken.  hmmmmmm - has this area ever had a snow free November?????

if when  I stick to my 'new' plan -  I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Change.... hmmmm

I thought I would start this post with picture of my "working goldfish". I am going to let you get to know a little bit about me in this post - who I am. Who I keep hidden. Who I just don't talk about in my 'real' life. Why? Well, I feel safe here, I don't feel judged. And if you don't like it, don't read. And that made me laugh because I am not writing or planning to write any deep dark secrets!!! I am just going to talk about my new goals, the ones that I really want to work on - and they are not quilt/hobby related. They are the life changing type things - habits that I really want to create, ones that I really want to loose!! Now, come meet my fish!!



No, they don't have names, but this is one of those things where people look at me like "what???". These are my 'working goldfish' because, they earn their holiday all winter living in the house, by spending all summer living in my rain barrels outside. I do not feed them, maybe a couple days when I first put them out, but after that, they are on their own. They eat whatever comes to the water, so it helps with mosquitos and any other critter that needs water to survive. And they do great!! I have done this for years - and I usually don't loose more than one, if that. They are the feeder fish, the ones that people buy to feed other fish live food with.



Last year we took down the falling apart deck, so what I used to use my water for - all my plants and trees, well, they are no more. Hubby took all my grass and trees and got rid of them!! He now has his 5th wheel parked in my yard instead..... but it's okay!!! But I am not sure now, how many barrels I really need....



Yes, I love collecting rain water and just don't see why more people don't!! And each barrel holds a fish, sometimes 2. And you can always tell is someting has happened to the fish that lived in that barrel - if the water is not clear on top, then the fish is dead, get another one. And it always surprises me how big these fish have gotten spending the summer in the barrels!!!

Okay, a little more about the barrels themselves. They are all connected together with garden hoses and that way I can use the water knowing I am not draining a barrel. Even if I do drain them (have done that by accident a couple times) where the hose is connected (near the bottom) it is high enought that the fish have enough water to survive a few days. But this is something I do not test!! I was so happy it rained the next day! And having them connected means they all fill up at the smae time!! If I lived in the 'real' country, meaning not in a small town in the country, I would have rain barrels all over all connected together (and drive my hubby nuts!! lol!!) So, this is one habit I love, and people ask me where I go this idea from.... I thought of it myself I guess. It just made sense to me one day, why wouldn't this work and it does!!! And it's one of my DD's favorite thing to do in the fall taking the fish out of the rain barrels!! Then, they get to live in my aquarium, and get fed, until it's time for them to go outside again!!



One thing I need to change? Finaces. We are not poor, but we certainly are broke - again. This is not funny. So, this habit of spending more than we earn, needs to change - NOW!!!! We should not be here, we just should not be here again........ Crap. And this is something I do not want people to know. That money is something I still don't have a good handle on. And by now, I should. Period. I read about money and the how-to's ALL the time, and nothing is sticking in my little head. Well, it is, but it's not just me spending...... no blame here though. I get fed up and just stop caring (I sometimes feel like I am fighting a loosing battle and just stop caring.......)

This is something I do not need my neighbors to know. I also don't want them thinking that we are loaded either, but they do. How do I make people see ....... You know what, people are going to decided that they are right no matter what I say, and yes, they could point out the reason's why they think we are doing okay.... we do have some new things, but we also have the payments that go along with them, and I just can't always seem to make the money strech enough to cover these payments............



So, we are talking (finally) about our finaces. But, my question is, will this talking continue or will it stop once this tight spot is fixed????? If it is like 'normal' - once we get this out of the way, so will the talking about how not to be here anymore. I sometimes feel like I am doing everything on my own........ and I can't stop spending what I didn't know was spent.



Another habit I want/am changing??? I am going to start exercising and doing it daily. When I wrote I was walking a mile a day, I stopped!!!! I need to do this for a few reasons, one being - I can not fit into my jeans anymore. So, I am wearing sweats...... yuck!! Yes, they are comfy, but they are so unattrative and really do not make you want to leave the house. I started to gain weight slowly, then I just ignored it, but now, I have realized, I can either change my food habits back to where my jeans fit or I can just keep eating things I know will make me gain, and go back to my size 14. NO!!!!! I am not going up. I am going back to my jeans and making them fit - by April I want to be wearing them again. And this means making a public annoucment here - I have to get myself moving and grovin' and wiggling my butt and not eating things that I know will just make me want to eat more. Sugar is very bad for me. So, no coffee, sugar, salt, chocolate or alchol. Yes, I have been drinking coffee again, and then I want something sweet, only a little something, then shortly after I want to eat something, and why not have another coffee - with cream you know!! Can't have coffee without cream!! So, today, while I looked at the coffee pot, I walked into my room and walked a mile. And realized - March is almost here. I can fit into my jeans by April if I just changed my habit of not exercising..... So, I will do my walk daily, and it won't be hard. And my walk will become 2 miles, then 3 some days..... I can and will do this. Oh, you want to meet me?? Here I am. Been nice talking to you.