JANUARY 31 END OF MONTH 1

January os now complete. Or it will be in four hours here on the East Coast. Another year is speeding by....As for todays photo; you might ask what does Murphy Oil Soap have to do with Zymol car wax and Singer sewing machine oil and lubricant? Today I took time to hunt down and gather together what I need to take with me to my Featherweight care class on Saturday. These were some of the items on the supply list. Actually they were the items I had to buy. Confession time--I still need to hunt down and gather together the items that I have in my sewing room. The list is quite long. By the time I get it all together I hope I don't forget that I do need to take my Featherweight machine as well!

JANUARY 30--A REAL CHALLENGE!

Now here is a real challenge! This is just one of many piles of magazines around our house. They are the main floor Quilting and Paper Craft mags with a few Cooking ones mixed in for good measure! Not pictures are the Popular Science, Newsweek, or Consumer Reports piles. Nor are the Quilting or Cross Stitch mags piles in the basement shown here. Then there are the upstairs collections.....I think you get the picture (a serious pun totally intended). We have way to many magazines piled in various places around our house. Oh....did I mention the National Geographics in the cabinet downstairs?

What to do with them? I suppose we could just close our eyes grit our teeth and just throw them all in the recycling bin. I don't really think I am up to that task.....sorry FLY Buddies! There is too much important information that would be lost. All those mouth watering recipes. The patterns for wonderful quilts just waiting to be made and we won't even begin to try and get rid of the wonder card and gift ideas in the paper crafting mags.......Of course I could get rid of the Popular Science ones that go back several years, and I don't really see the need for 10 years of Consumer Reports, but those are my DH's and he doesn't agree.

I will begin my challenge of reducing our magazine clutter with culling back the old Newsweeks. I vow to only keep one months worth on hand. Then I may just grit my teeth and finally get rid of the National Geographics. I don't think they have been looked at since the kids graduated from elementary school which let's see that would be 1996 I believe! And I haven't cross stitched anything from a magazine since maybe 1995. They can go I guess...But the quilt, paper craft and cooking mags......I think I would break off every tooth in my mouth before I could just toss them. For them I will do my best to one by one go through them saving the patterns, recipes or articles that I really want to keep and then tossing the rest....GULP! 2008 is turning out to be a year of many challenges.

By the way if you want any magazines I have many for the asking! Just leave a note here for me! And no I am not allowed to respond to myself!

JANUARY 29: I VANT YOUR BLOOD!

It was "Blood Drive Day" at church. Anyone who knows me well knows I don't do needles. That means as much as I know there is a need for blood donations they are not going to get mine. Sorry. I'm one of those people that pass out when I have to go in for a blood test! Also it takes forever to get one little vial....low blood pressure and tiny veins don't help. I am happy though that at our church we are able to help with the blood donation needs by sponsoring a blood drive four times a year.

JANUARY 28: WHAT DO YOU FEED A BISHOP???

What do you feed a Bishop, a District Superintendent, and 18 other pastors? Why pork barb-e-que of course! Today's main activity for me other than my women's bible study that I lead was hosting a luncheon for 20. Not just any 20 but a gathering of our church conference's head THE BISHOP! I probably shouldn't have capitalized that, but it was fun doing so. Our Bishop is really just another one of the many pastors in our conference. He just happens to be the top one....the boss! He is really a very normal and nice guy, though he is the BISHOP! So what they got was normal food: prk barb-e-que, cold law, potato salad and potato chips. For dessert cake! their choice of chocolate or lemon.

JANUARY 27 STAMPING DAY!

I am cheating a little bit with this post. How? well this is a scan rather than a picture, but it represents what I did today. I stamped and finished up cards that I need to send out this week. Ironic that I made two baby cards; one for a new baby boy and one for a new baby girl and two sympathy cards; one for and older gentleman who died (the father of a friend) and the other for a young girl (a daughter of a friend). IN doing these two sets of cards I became very aware of the "circle of life"!

Of the cards I did on Sunday this was my favorite!

LATE JAN 26: I MAY NOT BE IN WI BUT.....

This weekend several of my stamping FLYbaby friends from SCS met in McFarland, WI for a fun stamping weekend. Why McFarland? Because that's where Gina K's store is of course! I couldn't be there, but I couldn't let them have all the fun of posting pictures of Gina's store so I I went to visit my local stamp stamp store....here it is! AND they had a sale going on! Everything in store 15% off. I was a good girl and didn't spend much!

JANUARY 25 DEAR JANE addendum

For any one interested in exploring what a Dear Jane Quilt is and also to see why I am moving very slow on a very long term project here is a link to some information on them.

JANUARY 25 DEAR JANE!

I took this picture yesterday as representative of my day. No this is not a very strange looking "Dear Jane" letter, but a part of a "Dear Jane" quilt. A very small part. 5x5inches of an approximately 90x110 inch quilt. The original quilt was made by Jane Stickles during the Civil War era. I began my representation of it in January 2005. Yes you read that correctly 2005....

I have maybe 20 blocks out of well over 100 completed. Obviously I have a long way to go before this project is complete! I've been meaning to begin working on it again and January 24 was the day I began. January 25 was when I documented my resuming work on this very long term project. Hopefully by documenting it here I will continue to work more on it so I can show more here. Of course I still haven't gotten my hair cut, see JANUARY 18...........

THE WORLD CAN BELONG TO YOU

I found this quote on another BLOG I was visiting and decided it was a keeper pertaining to my word of the year.

"Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
Lao Tzu

JANUARY 24 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BROTHER!

My picture today has nothing to do with my brothers birthday, but I wanted to get some birthday wishes in here hence the days title!

My picture of the day is actually two joined together and annotated in Photoshop Elements 5 which I am trying to learn. This exercise was to prove to any of my FLYBaby friends who might stop by that I do do Kelly's missions of the day. Well maybe not everyday, but I did today! The mission today was to clean off the tops of our dressers and yes mine needed it badly. So here is the before and the after shots. I was so proud that I actually also got all the dresser drawers to close. BUT cameras don't lie and I just discovered when working with the photos that I missed a white handkerchief peaking out of the top left drawer. I had better run up and fix that!

So.....what does your dresser top look like?

JANUARY 23 ERRANDS

One of my favorite places to shop for groceries. Today it was on my list for honey, tea, and crusty bread. As an extra treat I found stroopwafels which are wonderful Dutch cookies!

JANUARY 22 A QUESTION?

So, is there any difference and which is better for you? Or are they the same and both bad!
These are the questions roaming around our family!

HONOR GOD & HONOR OTHERS

O GOD, CHANGE my heart. Transform the attitudes from which my actions grow that I may honor you and others in my daily interactions. Amen.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Upper Room Disciplines 2007

This is an attitude that once obtained I think would lead to contentment. A good prayer for the day and something to work on every day. And yes this is written by the Olympic skater Mary Lou Redding! She is an amazing woman. I wonder if she is content. Something tells me she just might be or that she is walking the same path I am.......

JANUARY 21 GOLDEN GIRLS

This is a fun group of women who meet at our church for monthly lunches which I prepare for them. (Some were absent on this day due to illness or other commitments.) We also try and find fun "Extracurricular activities throughout the year.

JANUARY 20 VSN

This week end was VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) on SCS (Splitcoast Stampers). It is a wild and crazy time where stamping and design challenges are posted every hour. You are supposed to complete the challenge in 45 minutes. The VSN began at 6pm on Friday night, went till 11pm then stopped for sleep and time for a few non stamping activities. It picked back up on Saturday at noon and once again went until 11pm . Sunday was a day to catch up on challenges you might have missed, a bonus challenge and time to upload all your projects to the SCS gallery. I think that meant there were 19 challenges. I managed to do 10 of them. And todays photo shows them.

JANUARY 19 : TOTES

I have a group of crafty ladies that I meet with at our church. Wait that doesn't sound quite right does it? Let's start again.

I get together with a group of ladies at our church to do various crafts. (That's better!) Today we met to sew up some tote bags that will be donated to foster children in our county. Many of these children arrive at their new home with what little belongings they have in a grocery bag. Hopefully these will help change that one child at a time. These bags are nothing fancy but they are colorful and they have handles which hopefully will make them easier to carry.

A BRAVE JANUARY 18

So why is this a brave January 18. Because I am going to take the advice of the person who devised the 365 project and post a picture of myself. If you don't want to you don't need to look...I wouldn't blame you because what you are about to see is not a pretty site! Remember I have been sick for a week so be kind when you look at me. Also know that it is not all that easy to take a picture of yourself when all you have for equipment is a point and shoot camera and an arm which though it it log is not all that long. Finally I will tell you that part of my motivation for taking this picture is to remind me that it is time for a hair cut...NOW!

Now you might ask why it would be could important to take a photo of yourself for the 365 project. The thinking goes that it will be nice to see how you change through out the year and in order to do so you need to have photos of your self to compare. I can only hope that come Dec I see an improvement. Lord help me if I don't. This is really bad folks...but I will be brave. After all most of you who might read this don't really know me anyway and those that do ....well you know what I look like any way so what am I to lose right! So here goes.....wait a minute do I really want to unleash this on the world????? GULP.......You will come back and visit me after this won't you???? PLEASE!

Ready or not here I am..........................................

JANUARY 17 WINTER ARRIVES

A wonderfully snowy and wintry day in Maryland. I can say wonderful because I did not have to go out and drive in it! The snow started falling about 10:15 this morning and it snowed all day. Unfortunately after reaching about 3 inches it decided that was enough and stopped. I am really hoping that we get one really good snow fall this winter....the 12" kind that is fun to play in and closes everything down so you can play in it. But for now I Will be happy with the beauty of this snow fall. Probably by Saturday it will mostly be gone....that's just the way it is in Maryland. However if it does last through Saturday it will be with us a while as from what I am hearing the high temps for us on Sunday will be in LOW 20's!!!!!!

(As a side note to those wondering about yesterday's picture...yes it is a ham and cheese omelet in the making!)

JANUARY 16: A DAY LATE

Mmmm.....breakfast. I have been reading a number of food BLOGs as well as my stamping and scrapping ones. The photos they take of the food have really impressed me. So I thought I would try ....obviously I need work on food photography. Camera or operator error I'm not sure, probably operator, but in any case it was yummy!

OH MY!

What is up today??? As I mover on through my e-mail I came to my Everyday Cheapskate mail from Mary Hunt and this is what I found in reading it.....

..."I don’t know what you are facing today, but I do know that it is within your power to choose how you will respond to that situation. You can choose to be miserable, to worry and doubt—and to be a pain in the neck to everyone around you. Or you can reframe your thinking. You can choose to see things in a different light, from a new angle and in a way that will cause you to be grateful."...

Once again my word "contentment" came to mind. Being able to do what Mary is talking about here will bring with it the contentment in life that I seek. I am in control. How I choose to look at various events in my life will determine whether I am content or not. It is not the event itself that brings about contentment....hmmmm so much to think about today!

STILL MUSING ON CONTENTMENT

Illumine our souls with joyful delight when sadness tries to take over the day. Shine brightly on us today, God, until we reflect your glory as a witness to this world.

- Kwasi I. Kena
The Africana Worship Book: Year A

This showed up in my inbox as part of my morning devotional. Immediately upon reading it, my word for the year "contentment" came to mind. As I reread and thought about it it occurred to me that though I don't usually think of contentment as containing or contributing to "joyful delight" maybe it does. I've always looked on having contentment with being peaceful and calm. A state of relaxation and acceptance of life and all it brings. Joyful delight is more active, more exciting, and well more full of movement than calm. Yet...reading the whole passage that I highlighted isn't this what true contentment is? The ability to even when sadness tries to take over being able to overcome and be joyful. Unless I am content with who I am, and what I have I could never achieve joy in the face of sadness.

JANUARY 15

Ah, it's Tuesday so that must mean it's the day to recycle! Yep there are the blue bins out by the curb. And did you notice that snow to the right of the tall bin...there in the grass. That's our snow for the year so far. It came today as a surprise.

JANUARY 14

Some days just require a bit more flexibility than others. Things just don't happen as planned. Today was one of those days for me. My plan was to take a "sick" day and nurse my cold. I did manage to sleep in and have a slow morning.....then about 11am I sat down to watch TV and do some hand sewing. A news story came on about tomorrows MI primary which suddenly jostled my memory....I had to be at a training class to be an election judge in MD's Feb 12 primary! AND the class started in two hours!!!! So much for a calm relaxing day of nursing my body. Fortunately for the other in my training class my coughing and sneezing are pretty much at an end. I didn't sound any worse than many others in the. Then next day I can schedule a quiet relaxing day will be Thursday....once again I will try.

JANUARY 13

I think this picture pretty much says it all!

BACK TO CONTENTMANT

con·tent·ment (kn-tntmnt)

n.

1. The state of being contented; satisfaction.

2. A source of satisfaction: the contentments of a comfortable retirement.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Oh how I hate it when dictionaries use a form of the word to define a word. How does it help you understand what contentment is when it says the state of being contented???? They just want you to look up more words so let's go look up contented.

con·tent·ed (kn-tntd)
adj.
Satisfied with things as they are; content

Ah now we have "content" used so off to content....

con·tent (kntnt)
n.

1. Something contained, as in a receptacle. Often used in the plural: the contents of my desk drawer; the contents of an aerosol can.

2. The subject matter of a written work, such as a book or magazine. Often used in the plural.

OOPS! Wrong one...try again...

Adj.

1.

content - satisfied or showing satisfaction with things as they are

Ah the same definition as contented...so after all that my definition for contentment will be the state of being satisfied with things as they are.

This raises an interesting question. Does this mean that being contented or having contentment with ones life means you never move forward in life you just stay in the same spot being too satisfied with status quo to think of any possibility of betterment or change? If that is the case then I'm not sure I want to strive for contentment.....it sounds like it could lead to a stuck in the mud kind of life. Gonna have to do more thinking on this.......

JANUARY 12

One last look for this season. The tree came down today! It probably should have come down sooner, but that's one good thing about artificial trees; they don't die and loose needles. They stay looking nice forever. That's what I call a true evergreen So now the family room looks bare and somewhat sad. It really is the middle of winter now, even if the temperatures outside say differently.

JANUARY 11

In an earlier picture you saw the chaos in my craft room....this photo will just confirm in your mind that I operate in a total mess. Here is my office desk! What you can't see is that the rest of my office space doesn't look any better. In fact it may be WORSE. (Oh I hope no FLYBabies stop by and see this!) Honestly I do try to keep things in a bit more of an orderly state but the office wisdom is that within an hour or so of my cleaning up my office and finding a home for everything; church members hear of it and bring in more stuff....It is a known fact that we have very little storage area in our church (are any churches any different?) and that my office is the warehouse. This includes housing multiple computers, the office fax machine and various church records. I even have hanging in my closet dried out palm branches to be turned into ash for next Ash Wednesday. At least they will be gone soon since though we just celebrated Epiphany Lent starts in under 4 weeks. I am placing this photo here today in hopes that later in the year I can post one of a new and much improved work place.

JANUARY 10

I am part of a small quilt group which tries to meet every other week. We call our selves Fabrications. Today we met at my home. We are a quilt group, but quilters have many interests. Today more were knitting than quilting. Seven of us were present and four were knitting. I guess partly it is because knitting is very portable. I would have probably been knitting also if I hadn't been in front of my lap top showing how to post books for sale on Amazon. We are truly an eclectic group! AND we have such fun.

SECOND POST OF DAY!

Since I am not feeling up to doing much of anything that requires physical activity beyond moving my fingers I will delight you all with another post. One other project some people are taking on this year is choosing a word that they will examine and spend time thinking about in relation to their life in 2008. I'm intrigued by this as well as the photo journaling of the year. I've though about what my word would be. Amazingly enough I really haven't found myself thinking about and debating over various different words. One came to mind and always comes back when I think about doing this. That word is CONTENTMENT. I'm not totally sure why that is the word that keeps popping up in my mind. I have a few ideas and those ideas may come out over the course of the year as I make this word CONTENTMENT mine.

JANUARY 9

This is what I am all about today or at least tonight! Why is it that whenever you are sick things always get worse at night...just about the time you want to go to bed and get some blessed sleep...which I DID NOT get last night!

JANUARY 8

It may be January and than means that officially by the calendar it is winter. BUT, one of my activities for the day was some long delayed gardening. Currently it is 66 degrees. So much for winter; at least today. Will we pay for this weather in the future? Usually we do, but it is certainly to be enjoyed for the moment. And my oregano looks much happier!

JANUARY 7

Sunday was time with stamping friends and Monday was an evening spent with quilting friends. The first Monday of the month is the meeting of our local quilt guild of which I have been a member for almost 20 years. This is our guild quilt. Actually a wall hanging. The speaker for tonights program was Elizabeth Carlson whom I have know for at least all those 20 years and maybe more. She is a wonderful quilter and also a great lover of all things British. We had a wonderful tour of the English country side in a slide presentation as she told us of her places where she gathered inspiration for many of her wonderful quilts.

JANUARY 6

My SU direct upline will soon be moving to FL. This was our teams last get together to stamp with her. We have several other gatherings but they will be specifically focused on preparing for our February Stampfest that we are holding in Montgomery Village. Carrie will be missed when she moves, but boy is she lucky to be moving to with-in a few short hours of Disney World...color me jealous.

JANUARY 5

This is going to be my friend and hopefully constant companion in 2008. ANYTHING can be accomplished in 15 minute increments! Here I only have 11 minutes to go and I am free to move on to another task. Great tool to keep from being over come by magnitude of so many tasks!!! AND it truly is amazing what can be done in 15 minutes when you put your mind to it.......

JANUARY 4

The holiday preparations, gift making, and crazies really took a toll on my stamping room. I think this is why I seem to at a moment be in a creative slump. I can't stand even looking in the room let alone going into it. This will change!

JANUARY 3

Look what came today! 2007 is barely over and all ready plans are in the works for the 2008 Secret Shop. I just received an order from Oriental Trading full of goodies to make for it. READY...SET...GO! 336 days to get ready.......

JANUARY 2

New project for 2008.
Menu planning.

Goals for project:
Healthier eating
Saving money on food
Time saving (once set up)
Fun setting up!

YEAR IN PICTURES!

I am going to take the challenge of taking a picture every day of the year (okay so I already missed January 1!). this is called the 365 project. A photo journal of the year 2008 thorough my eyes. If I can keep this up it should be very interesting to go back at the end of the year and see how things progressed. I thought of making a new BLOG for this but decided 2 is enough and probably too much for me to handle. I really don't want to become a professional BLOGGER! I thought of changing the name of this BLOG to Life Through My Camera's Lens, but decided to leave the title as is. My camera lens will be one of my "windows" on life.

Any way I hope all who come by enjoy. I am going to post the three photos I already took in a row to catch up. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this as I thing it will be a fascinating journal to look back on in years to come. I do have a few other internet friends who are also doing this and I will post links to their photo journals in the side bar.