What are you doing here?  – I’ve returned to my old blog at Blogger

I’ll keep this blog up as an “archive”, because frankly, I don’t know if I can export all these posts over there.  So, feel free to visit to catch up on old posts, but my new blogging home is at the other place!

I’ve been a little quiet recently – I’m still around, but in all honesty, I’ve been a bit disappointed in my latest blogging entries, mostly due to the fact that I haven’t had a decent camera.

As you may recall, I lost my camera when I was on vacation in November.  I didn’t realize how much I was going to miss having a camera.  My husband had won a camera a few months earlier in a photo contest, and when we returned from vacation, he offered to give me that camera, but we both decided that it would make more sense to sell that camera, and buy another Nikon.  I’ve been a fan of Nikon for many years (I think it runs in the family – my father was a professional photographer, and he favored the Nikons and Hasselblads, the latter being completely out of my price range) and all my husband’s camera equipment is Nikon, so sticking with Nikon made the most sense in terms of versatility (switching lenses, etc.).

The camera I lost was the D50, which was a nice introduction to digital SLR cameras (my previous digital camera was a point & shoot, although many years ago, I did own an SLR film camera – the classic Nikon FM2).  The D50 is no longer being made, so on my husband’s recommendation, I went with the D90, rather than the more smaller D40 or D80.  I picked the camera up earlier in the week, but haven’t had a chance to “play” with it as yet, so I’m hoping to get some practice over the weekend.

One of the cool features that everyone seems to be talking about is something that wasn’t really even a consideration for me in choosing this camera, but it sounds like it might be a nice feature.  It’s the world’s first Digital SLR camera that allows you to shoot HD movies… Cool, huh? – maybe I can figure out how to add some movies to my blog!

Anyway, while I was taking a break from blogging due to the camera issue, I also started to give some more thought to my blog in general.  I’d love to do “more” with my blog, but have felt really limited because of the constraints of WordPress.  Don’t get me wrong – I like WordPress – the two features that I really liked about it are the ability to schedule posts to publish later, and the ability to password protect individual posts.  What I don’t like about it is the limited range of templates available, and the fact that I can’t get the template code to personalize it a little more.  So, after some serious consideration, I’ve decided to move back to blogger, where I started out blogging a number of years ago. 

So, starting February 1, my new URL is: http://www.englishelegance.blogspot.com/.  The blog is still “Afford Your Passions”, but if you’ve got me bookmarked, or in your blogroll, or Reader, you’ll need to update the link.

To help you remember the link, I’m going to have a special “blog reopening” celebration.  Each day during the month of February, I will have a blog giveaway.  That’s right – 28 days of giveaways.  This will serve a number of purposes – hopefully, it will help my regular readers become familiar with the new address, but more importantly, it will help me reduce my stash.  Like many of you out there, I have more stash than I’m ever going to use, and since I’m moving in June, I thought it was time to do a little purging of my stash.  I know that I don’t have to pack up for the move (my company is taking care of everything related to the actual move for me), but I figured this was a good excuse to have a little purge, so to speak.

 So go ahead and visit the “new” site.  I’m still playing with the template, so they’ll be some changes in the appearance in the next week or so, but come February 1, that will be my new blogging home!

At the beginning of 2008, I set myself an ambitious goal – “36 things in 366 days”. The full list is here, and below is the list of those things that I actually did accomplish this year. As you can see, I failed miserably, in terms of actual number of items completed, especially in the Health/Fitness category, where I did nothing. This is especially bad in light of the fact that one of the items on the list was to get a mammogram, and given my mom’s own ongoing treatment for breast cancer, and making this a high priority for myself, I didn’t follow through.

In reviewing the list, I was happy with some of the things that I did accomplish, and I came pretty close to completing some of the other tasks.

The highlights for me were in the “family” and “finances” category; I met almost all my goals in the family category, and was happy with my progress in the finances category. In the blogging category, I continued to blog but didn’t meet the goal of at least 3 posts a week (I think that over the course of the year, I probably averaged 3 posts per week); nor did I post a finish each week, but I continued to post my finishes as I did them.

On the other hand, I accomplished a lot of things this year that I couldn’t possibly have anticipated when I first wrote this list; the changes that they have brought about are immeasurable!

So, here’s the list of what I *did* accomplish from my list:

Family
1. Send birthday cards to each of my immediate family members
2. Write at least one letter a month (not e-mail) to my parents
3. Keep in touch at least once a week via e-mail with my parents
5. Take DS for an “outing” (movie, museum, zoo etc.) at least once a month.
Health/Fitness - no goals met
Blogging
14. Comment on at least one “new to me” blog a day for a full month.
Stitching
20. Send 10 RAKs
Knitting – no goals met
Technical (career/education)
25. Create a website for myself
Finances
Without divulging too much personal information – let’s just say I achieved 3 out of the 5.
Home - no goals met
Fun/Travel
36. Take a weekend trip to Middlebury, Indiana

For 2009, I’m not going to be nearly as ambitious! I’m setting myself one stitching goal for the coming year – I want to have “Shores of Hawk Run Hollow” completed by the end of 2009. I’ll give myself extra points if I can have it finished by time I move to Dallas (at the end of June), but that’s probably pushing it.

The only non-stitching goal for 2009 will be to have that mammogram I have been promising myself that I would have for the past several years.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you.  Thank you for your visits, your comments, your e-mails, and your friendship.  I really appreciate it!

As you may know, I’m a bit of a fan of totally addicted to Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks designs. I would venture a guess that fully 75% of the charts/kits that I have purchased (or received as gifts) in the past 18 months have been LHN/CCN designs.

So, the next logical step was to create a LHN/CCN Inventory, (based on lists supplied on the Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks sites) so that I could keep track of which charts I have (friends have pointed out that in some instances, I have up to 3 of certain designs – this wasn’t because I didn’t know what I had in my stash, but because I was given 3 of them by different people for my birthday last year – that’s what happens when you have a limited wish list!).

In some instances, I’m not sure if  I have the name of the chart correct – for example, some of the chart packs (like the Scripture Series) don’t list the name of the chart on the website, so I may have messed up a little.  I think that once I pull out the chart (if I already own it), I might need to make some changes to the list.  I also haven’t included charts that were published in magazines, although I do have some of them in my stash, too.

Over the next day or so, I hope to go through this list, and mark off which charts I have in my stash, and which ones I have actually stitched.

This should be interesting…

Sort of…

I think Christmas would have been much more enjoyable if I didn’t come down with something (flu? other bug? who knows?).  I felt the start of something on the way home from work on Christmas Eve, and by Christmas morning, I was reluctant to drag myself out of bed.

But, there was an 8 year old, eager to open his presents, so drag myself I did…

Despite the recession, Santa Claus was very generous this year.   DS got a TV for his room (this was more like a gift for me – I can only watch so much “Cartoon Network” on a given day!), plus the Lego Star Wars model that he had been begging for all year.  Separately, Santa (aka DH) delivered Rock Band 2 as his gift for the family.  There was also the usual assortment of books, candy and pokemon cards in his stocking.  My parents sent him another Lego Star Wars model to complement the one from Santa.  I received an iTunes gift card from DH (I spent it this morning, downloading cheesy ’70’s songs!), and a pair of pj’s from my parents.

Later that morning, we headed over to the in-laws, where we opened more presents.  Santa makes two stops each year for DS – once at home, and once at grandma’s.  At Grandma’s, Santa had left even more Lego models, and some games (“Monopoly”, “Sorry”, etc.), together with the usual assortment of clothes.

My MIL surprised me by presenting to me a small box – it contained a gold ring, with 4 channel-set rubies.  She explained that it belonged to her mother, and that I was “custodian” of the ring.  Eventually, it would go to DS’s eldest daughter, when DS (who, after all, is only eight) has a daughter.  My in-laws also gave me a crock-pot (my first!) – which was a change of pace from their usual gift – it’s become a tradition for them to give me a pair of flannel pj’s, but I explained to my MIL last month that I’ve given up wearing flannel pj’s (I think I’m going through “the change”,  ~ sorry if that’s too much information ~ and I get too warm at night, even in the dead of winter of these days!)

From my MIL’s place, we headed up to southern Michigan, to my DH’s aunt & uncle’s place for a wonderful feast.  Because I wasn’t feeling well, I debated skipping it, but decided to go along.  I ate lunch, and then promptly found the most comfortable bed, and slept the rest of the afternoon.

I skipped work on Friday, because I was still feeling sick.  I don’t think I was missed – I think everyone else in the department was off for the day anyway.  But, since I don’t get paid if I don’t work (still being a contractor), I hadn’t planned on taking the day off.  But, I knew if I’d gone in, I would have been miserable.  I wish I could have said I spent the day stitching, but when I’m not feeling well, that’s the last thing I want to do; I mostly just lay on the couch, and watched some movies on TV.

By yesterday morning, I was feeling better, although I managed to sleep in until 9am, which is almost unheard of for me unless I am sick.  We headed back to my MIL’s place (thank goodness she lives about a mile from us), for the Christmas gathering with my (step)FIL’s side of the family.  We had almost 30 people in attendance, and we celebrated with a buffet-style lunch.  I used my new crock pot to make meatballs (I knew there was a reason I was given it!).  DS complained that he was tired as soon as we got there, so went to lay down.  I went to check on him, and discovered he was running a fever (I wonder where he go that from?), so he wasn’t in a festive spirit initially.  However, when it came to gift opening time, he was thrilled with the Legos that he received (more Star Wars models - we kid him that he’s going to be an engineer at Lego when he grows up), and that perked him up right away.

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to just relax today, and maybe get some stitching done.   We’ll see how that goes.

On this Christmas Day, I wish you and your family much peace and happiness today and into the New Year.

As has become a tradition in this blog, I would once again like to share this with you:

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village where He worked in a carpenter’s shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He traveled and preached. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He did not go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where He was born.

He did none of the things man usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a stake between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth.

When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Twenty centuries have come and gone and today He remains the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind’s progress.

All the armies that ever marched, all the fleets that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of men on this planet so much as that One Solitary Life.

—Dr. James Allen Francis, originally published 1928

This is the view from DS’ room. There’s a swimming pool there somewhere…

“Baking” from the “Little Women” series © Little House Needleworks
Stitched with the recommended Crescent Colours,
on 28 count linen (unknown color – once again, just something from my stash!)
 

I finished this up yesterday – I had a “forced” snow day at home. I had gone out early to start the car to allow it to warm up, while I scraped the snow off the windows etc. When I got back into the car, it had stalled, and I couldn’t get it started again. A few hours later, I tried to start the car again, and it started fine; it appears that I had just flooded the engine earlier in the morning.

I could have walked to the bus stop, and caught the next bus to the train station, but because the bus only runs once an hour, I would have missed the last rush-hour train into Chicago. It would have meant I wouldn’t have gotten into the office until close to 11, so I just decided to skip it.

DS and I spent the day baking (cookies), watching TV, stitching, and wrapping Christmas presents. Even though it wasn’t a day at work, I still felt productive.

I received a lovely package in the mail yesterday from my friend Karoline. She sent me a cute tote bag (with the proceeds going to cancer research), some Cadbury’s chocolates (I didn’t take a picture of them, since I already opened the package and shared them!), and a pinkeep. I think it’s a Prairie Schooler design, but I may be wrong. (The picture above shows the pinkeep on the tote bag, so you have a close-up of the fabric from the bag).

Thank you, Karoline – the whole package was lovely!

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Unfortunately, I do have places to go – I don’t have the luxury of sitting at home in my apartment – I have to get out there into the weather to get myself the 65 miles to work…

I discovered on Friday morning, in the middle of the ice storm that we had on Thursday night and in to Friday  that although my winter boots are delightfully warm and toasty (with a thinsulate lining) they are, unfortunately, not waterproof.

Yesterday was officially the first day of winter, but already we’ve had something like 8 “snow events” this December. In my part of the world (NW Indiana), we get far more snow than in downtown Chicago (because of the lake effect). There’s two thoughts that keep me going through the continuing barrage of snow and frigid temperatures – 1) at least I haven’t lost power – it’s toasty warm in the apartment, and 2) this time next year, I’ll be living in Texas, and although the temperatures appear to be chilly there at the moment, it’s nothing like being in Chicago.

The picture at the top of the post is of the ornament that I received from Holly last weekend. The picture’s not the greatest, but you get the idea. Isn’t it adorable?