Tuesday Meme Mix Up

Don’t be fooled folks, I’m still MIA in Blogosphere this week. This is the only day my DH is working. With that being said, I’m going to squeeze in a delicious post which will encompass several of my regular weekly memes. For instances yesterday XmasDolly’s on Monday’s Music Moves Me named me this week’s Spotlight Dancer. I love playing along with her and the rest of her co-conductors! Who knew I would be featured this week? Not me. Okay, her theme is the best song or best of something else in 2011.

I don’t know about this song being the best in 2011, but I do like it a lot.  It sort of sums what happens when I’m around my best friend and DH even after 32 years of marriage. No, I don’t have cardiac problems…it’s LOVE – Thump…my heart skips a beat…thump-thump!

Slip on your blue suede shoes for some boogie woogie fever aboard the Love Train Express! Be sure to visit my dance partner, Lucy’s Reality and link up with XmasDolly!

It appears I’m not the only one gone MIA in Blogville. StacyUncorked is spending time with her family in Iowa. That’s perfectly fine. You go, girl! She managed to find a spot in her schedule to squeeze in today’s post. Wow, what spunk! What tenacity! What dedication! I sure do admire Miss Stacy for keeping up the random as Keely @ Unmom takes a break even far away from home. You rock, girl!

Christmas was razzle dazzle good! Our youngest daughter and her fiancé, as well as our oldest daughter and her husband, got to join us at my in-laws on Christmas Eve. It was a priceless gift to spend Christmas with all three of our kiddos. This is the first time in three years we’ve been able to do this.

DH showed the two young men around his parent’s property. There’s a lot of wonderful family history our son-in-law (SIL) and soon-to-be SIL need to soak up while they can. Robin is proud of his dad’s craftsmanship.

My father-in-law (FIL) physically built their home laying the foundation, cutting down the timber, hauling it to the mill, raising every wall, and driving every nail himself with the help of only my MIL or another family member (dad or brother). He didn’t have a contractor build their home. He did it. Robin’s dad explained how things worked such as their water filtration system, cistern, and generator. These impressed young men learned of my FIL’s ingenuity and enjoyed the tour.

There was no snow on Christmas, but there was a very thick frost across the landscape as we traveled home. One could stretch their imagination and say, “Yes, we had a white Christmas.” A stretch it would be, too. It wasn’t the kind of white we were hoping for, but no wintry landscape could kindle our hearts like the warm embrace spent in the company of those we cherish, as we did the night before.

Jenny Matlock from Off On My Tangent hosts Alphabe-Thursday. This week’s alpha-prompt isn’t the usual classroom theme. Instead, she’s requesting we write a post relating to the New Year.

This year is winding down all too quickly, as this chapter comes to a close I’m thinking about my goals.. my New Year resolutions. Do you write a list of goals each year? Many people say, “Yeah, I do!” or “What’s the use? I can never keep my resolutions.”

I won’t fool you, I rarely accomplish everything on my list.  Writing out my goals for the New Year gives me a purpose…a direction.  I read once, people are more likely to succeed with their goals if they write them down and share their results.  This is why I do it if nothing else I am able to aim for something in my life and can share with others how I do.

My 2012 goals will not include diet and exercise. This is something I live and breathe 365 days a year. You’re going to hear about my success and failures regardless if I squiggle them down or not. I want to make resolutions which help to improve other parts of my life. Goals to get back on track in areas I’ve managed to regress in over the past year or so.

This is what I have come up with thus far…

1. Communications. I pledge to be a better about staying in touch via phone calls, snail mail, email, and texts. I will be proactive in the lives of those I love friends, family, and bloggers.
2. Keep an old fashion journal. The art of maintaining a detailed account of the day-to-day happenings will be the one single act with helping to keep friends and family tightly entwined in our lives as I stay in touch with them throughout the year. How do you incorporate email newsletters into your blog? This would be interesting to pursue in the New Year.
3. Family Tree. The fact of the matter is, I know very little about my family roots. There are family members who have a deep passion for preserving the history. I will hunt these folks down to gather all the information I can before another year slips away empty-handed on my family history.
4. Hobbies. I’ve allowed my favorite, rubber stamp artwork, slide. Instead of enjoying what I do, I’ve felt hurried with my projects. It’s time to slow down and savor what I love. Perhaps even make a serious attempt at visiting other bloggers who regularly showcase their own rubber stamp artwork. Do you know of anyone who does this? Feel free to leave their blog address for so I may check it out.
5. Photography. I’m certainly not a professional behind my digital camera. Over the years, I’ve decreased in status to a semi-casual shutterbug. When our kiddos were young, I would take pictures almost daily. The nest has gotten emptier over the years. My interests have switched. I now find myself taking landscape pictures or of projects, I’m working on but even at that, I don’t take full advantage of another of my hobbies as I should. 2012 is the year of change for me.
6. Preservation. I have three large projects which need to be converted to digital format. 1) To scan old 35mm film negative film strips as jpg files for easy digital storage and access on our computer. 2)  To type all handwritten and/or clipped recipes in Word or PDF for easier storage and organization. 3) I need to scan all letters I wrote to each of my children while I was pregnant and stored on the computer.
7. Time management. This is a tricky goal. My aim is to organize my time spent online: writing blog posts and visiting blogs or other social networks. I want to use blogger’s scheduling post option to help in better time management spent on my blog.
8. Children’s Stories. I’m guilty of pushing my children’s writing to the back burner. I’ve been in a crazy funk all of 2011. It’s time to pull myself out of this slump and find my passion again for writing for children.
9. Create a New Blog. I’ve toyed with the idea of a stand-alone blog for my children’s stories.  My thinking behind this is, if I have a separate home for my stories then perhaps I would be more dedicated in keeping to my goals. This could be an aggravation, what are your thoughts on this?
10. Reading. Realizing this sounds very strange to you, but I need to force myself to find quiet time to read novels NOT magazine articles or blog posts or Internet articles.  My brain is in a frenzied state ever since childbirth. I simply can’t slow my brain down enough to keep my attention properly fixed on printed material more than a few paragraphs in length at a time. Sad, but true! I’ll commit myself know to reading, Disrupted Lives by my friend and fellow blogger, Brenda Youngman.
11. Create a Bucket List. I’m 50 and I’m not going down hill. I just want to accomplish a few unusual things even if it’s only unusual to me and then set out to do them.  We have only one life, I’m gonna make the most mine starting today! Do you have a bucket list?

This is a good commitment for my 2012.

1. What is your top New Year’s resolution for 2012?
2. Is this a carry over from 2011 or a brand new resolution?

The rest of the week, I will resume my MIA status. I promise, if you leave a comment I will be sure to return the gesture with a follow-up visit next week. Until then, enjoy the rest of this year and may 2012 find you happy and healthy!

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