Merry Christmas to You!

Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!

Making Goals Work For You

I have always made goals! I'm the one with numerous New Year resolutions written in my day planner, constantly running towards the goal I have set for myself. Over the years I have learned some important things about setting and reaching goals. I hope a few of these ideas will help you reach your dreams.

1). Determine in your mind is this a goal or a wish? A wish is just something you think about, but do not put any effort behind. I wish I could lose 20lbs, but realistically this will not happen unless I make plans to succeed. You have to make a plan and work the plan to achieve your goal.

2) Write it down! This is one of the most important parts of making goals. The Bible says " Write the vision and make it clear". A goal is well defined, it is realistic and its attainable. You could easily write down, I want  to make more money every month. Okay, well lets look at that. How much money do you want to make? Did you break it down into weeks or days? Do you need $100 a month or $5000 a month? What steps are you willing to take to make this happen? Write it down and determine what do you need to achieve this goal.  Saving $100 a month is easily attainable by cutting back on expenses, larger goals may need complete lifestyle changes. You may need to further your education, move to a smaller home, do without little luxuries we all seem to buy because we deserve them. Make sure you are very detailed in your description of what you want.

3) How determined are you? I had to further my education after my divorce in order to make a better living for my family. This was very hard for me to accomplish, because I still had to work full time, take care of children, a home, a yard, housework and then to add class time and study time to the mix was just about more than I could handle. I knew I had to want this so bad that I could see it, smell it, and taste it. I kept a board in my room with photos of what I wanted in life, pictures of a diploma, a larger paycheck, a newer car. All of this was on a poster board and it was the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I saw when I closed my eyes. I had to achieve this or live the rest of my life barely making ends meet. If one unexpected thing happened such as a care repair it could send me into financial ruin!

4)Take small steps to make it happen. The year before I was accepted into the nursing program, I knew that I would have to attend class 4 days a week. This meant that I could only work 3 days a week. I would make less money and that would have to stretch to cover everything. There wasn't any other choice but to make this sacrifice. I couldn't borrow the money so I had to figure out a way to live an entire year on less. I woke up one Saturday and decided to take an inventory of everything I used on a regular basis. I started in the bathroom writing down what was essentially a master list of items such as toothpaste, toilet tissue, makeup etc. I spent half a day going through cabinets and racking my brain to come up with anything else I might need.
 The next thing I did was to figure out how much I would need. Every time I opened an item, I wrote the date on it with a sharpie. How long with normal use did a box of detergent last or a jar of mustard? Once I knew how long it took me to use it up, then I calculated the number of those items needed. I found out that I used a large box of detergent every 5 weeks. I decided to buy enough for 15 months, giving myself an extra month or two after graduation to find a job and get a paycheck.
 Before long I was scouring sales, clipping coupons,searching end caps for clearance items. It really became a game to find as many things as I could to check off my list. One morning I was in Walmart when I discovered mouthwash on clearance for 25 cents a bottle. I bought a years worth and stored it under my sink, then checked that off my list. By the time I started the final year, I had completed all of my storage items, filled a deep freeze with food and had enough toilet tissue to last into the new century( I have a deep seated fear of running out of the stuff)!
 Had I not taken the steps to store up for the year ahead, I would not have made it without great difficulty. I had even bought stamps, birthday candles, school supplies, and Christmas all a year ahead of time.

5) Take time to review your goals and your steps. Are you making progress? Have your priorities changed? We have to stay on course and remind ourselves daily of what the long term effect will be. I did finish school and get a job just about the time my last box of washing powder was running out. However, I may never run out of deodorant for the next 10 years! Without keeping my eye fixed straight ahead, I would not have stayed the course. I read inspirational material, I prayed, I did everything I could possibly do to make it happen and God did the rest.

There are many other things we should do regularly, make short term goals, mid range goals and of course long term goals. When you reach them you will find that you have an almost euphoric sense of happiness. It gives you greater determination to keep on reaching for your larger dreams.

I hope you can use these ideas in your own life, they really work if you have the determination to follow through to the end. I recently went back and looked over my planner and realized that I have reached nearly all of my goals. Its time to make some more and get to working on them!
 Have a great week!

Just Smile!

OMG! I love mashed taters!

Do You Ever Feel Like This??

Trailer Love!

WOW! What a trip! I have just returned from Norfolk Va and brought this cute little lady home. We had the most wonderful time. It was the first vacation in several years. Donnie and I drove out and picked up the trailer last Sunday and then camped until Friday, before heading home. One of my life long dreams was to visit Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello, so we made sure we saw the sights and just loved every moment of it. For those of you that do not know me well. I love everything about history, so this little trip was right up my alley. Yes, I'm a nerd! I love reading autobiography's instead of fiction. I take trips to museums instead of the beach. We are happy to be back home, but I'm sad that tomorrow its back to work for me! Y'all have a good week.

New Sister on The Fly Trailer!

Here is a photo of my new trailer( this is a stock photo and not the actual trailer). I am planning a trip in a few weeks to go pick her up! super excited! Now, I have to decide on a theme and a name. I have had 3 vintage trailers in the past including a Shasta and two Serro Scotties. This is a 2009 reproduction of the Shasta trailers common in the 1960's. There were only  a little over 100 of them made. It is small enough to travel with the Sisters and large enough for me and hubby. THE most important feature of this little trailer is a bathroom! No more porta potty! And it has a shower, air conditioning, microwave, DVD player and a flat screen TV. We are going to Virginia to pick her up and while we are there a little detour to Monticello! I have always wanted to see Thomas Jeffersons home and this is my best chance. Wish we had time to travel on to Washington, but I can only take off a week of work. Ok gals, need ideas for a theme and a name! Any suggestions are appreciated! See ya soon.

Transformation!

 Believe it or not those cabinets used to be light stain and scruffy, with bright orange counter tops. We painted it white, added new hardware and used a paint technique on the counter tops to simulate granite. I don't have a close up of it, but it does have the flecks in it and looks so much better. Im sorry I do not have a before shot, but trust me you would not have taken a photo of it either! This is the kitchen in Donnie's old house. Everything was original to 1983 and was stuck in a time warp. I bought a new gas range and sink also.

 I wanted to show you the difference in the chairs I have been working on. I bought the table and 6 chairs for $100 at a yard sale last year. They have been taking up space in the dining room and haven't had time to work on them. I bought some Annie Sloan chalk paint. Dry brushed the chair, sanded it a bit and put a coat of wax on them

  This is the before shot and this is after. I covered the seats with a waverly fabric that I really like. It has a cream background with a block stamped look. I have enough to make some matching drapes, after I finish the six chairs!   Staying busy.

Thank You! And Other News.

 I would to like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who sent emails, prayers and encouraging thoughts my way this past month. It has been a difficult time for us and knowing there are wonderful people out there that lift you up in prayer is so appreciated.
 
We have been so busy and spending extra time with the grandsons lately. We have had two pool parties for all our grown children and spent past 2 Sunday's with them. It is always a lot of fun, but it sure does wear me out! Thank goodness for Chef Bryan, who contributes his talent to every meal. I dont know how we got along without him so long! He makes it all look so easy, and it always tastes incredible. The cafe he and Jennifer own is really doing well, I have been there a few times at noon and it is packed out. Im so happy that Texarkana Tx supports their business and keeps them growing. The above photo is my little Logan, he is growing up so fast! This was his 1950 look, love the hat! Below is my darling Jensen. He is my little man. Im convinced he looks just like me. Look at those fat little cheeks, yep they come from me! He is such a good baby and plays quietly, you hardly know he is around until it is time to eat. Then he sounds off quite loudly. I am very blessed to have them living close to me.

 I wont be able to post for a few weeks after today. I am taking a special independent study at the University to finish my BSN degree in August. Classes start Tuesday, so I will be tied up with school. We also sold our home last week and have to be moved out by June 22!! It is very short notice, but I can get it done. We made alot of progress yesterday and the movers will get the big stuff. Problem is, I have so much stuff! I really do not know why I have so many dishes. There are at least 4 different sets and many of them have all of the serving pieces etc. I have been trying to clear out some of my collection and give to the girls, but they can take only so much. The house we are moving into belongs to my husband and it had to have a total remodel. So in our spare time, we have been painting walls and cleaning it up. It has been sitting empty for a very long time. It is also stuck in a time warp of 1983 and really needed updates. I have had some new carpet and laminate floors installed a few months ago. The kitchen is the worst of all. The cabinets were still that light varnished look, but all worn out with ugly hardware and bright orange countertops! I never knew orange was in style. Trust me they are terrible! So my part of the deal, if I had to move into his house was a updated kitchen. Now I didnt go overboard at all. We painted the cabinets white, I added new hardware, bought a new gas stove and microwave combo and had the countertops refinished to 'look' like granite. The entire makeover was less than $2000.00 and it made a world of difference. The kitchen floors are still oak parquet which I would have love to replace, but I knew better than to ask. So I bought some new floor finish and 3 coats later it looks brand new! His house is about 1000 square feet smaller than this one, so I really have to cut the clutter and get creative with storage space. The bedrooms are tiny and all of my furniture is really large and bulky.  I am challenging myself to sell many things that I have hung on to for years. If I am not absolutely in love with a piece it has to go. One of my co-workers is coming over later today and buying 3 items from me, so feeling ok with that. They were not really special in any way. Well, got to get busy and cook breakfast. yall have a great week and will be back soon!

Zoe Jane

 Her tiny little feet, she is so precious and looks just like her beautiful mother! Jennifer and Bryan are trusting God for peace and know she will be waiting in heaven when they arrive.

In Memory Of Zoe Jane

We lost our little angel today

 Zoe Jane Ogburn

May 17,2012

Update

Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging messages. Jennifer had a doctor appoinment again today and has been admitted to the hospital. They are going to monitor her for a bit and check labs. She will be transferred to UAMS in Little Rock soon.

Needing Prayers!

Today we recieved some disturbing news that our daughter's unborn baby girl is in danger. She went to Little Rock for some tests and doctors told them the baby has a 20% chance of survival. If she makes it in the next 4 weeks, they will deliver her at 26 weeks gestation. As you can imagine we are devasted by this news and praying for a miracle! This is Jennifer's first baby and words cannot express how she is feeling right now. Please take a moment and send up a few prayers for our baby Zoe and our family. Thank you!

Simple Living

I grew up a farm girl and simple living just comes natural to me. I love to bake,sew and keep a garden. As time goes by I long for those days when I could stay at home and cook to my hearts content. Make a new outfit for one of my children out of my scrap stash, or grow some vegetables in the backyard. Life made it necessary that I must work and provide a living for the me and the children. Now that the kids are grown, I wish for those days again. At the time, I wished for an easier life and strived to make one for my family. I finally made it as far as careers go, and am very thankful for that opportunity.But I am now setting a new goal for my life and that is to let go, simplify, and gain back some of that satisfaction I once took for granted. Maybe Im getting old, but I think back more and more to the days I spent with my Granny and the stories she told of her life. She was constantly prepared for another depression to hit at any moment! I used to think how silly that was, now I see the wisdom in her words and preparations she had made. I work daily until I feel like I might drop, come home,cook dinner and go to bed and then do the same thing all over again the next day. I am constantly wishing for the weekends to arrive and realize that I wish away most of my life. Its time to take some of it back and learn to enjoy everyday that I have!

Simple Living My New Motto!

A Small Finish!

  Hope you are having a great weekend! I havent done much of anything except work on this quilt for the new grandbaby. I finally put my dresden quilt aside to start another project for a little while. Besides time is getting away from me and if I dont get busy on baby quilts, I wont have any made when she arrives! I made this using 3 charm packs of A Walk In The Woods. I love Little Red Riding Hood, so thought it would make such a cute quilt.

Well, have a birthday party to get ready for! Have a great day.

New Cookbooks

 I was so excited to find a copy of The Farmer'sWife cookbook at Sams last week! I could'nt wait to get home and find some free time to sit down and read through it.I have picked out a few recipes to try out this weekend.

  Gonna make some fresh strawberry shortcake using the Elvis pound cake recipe that I have. It is so good and sooo many calories. I see my my diet going out the window this week.

 I also picked up a copy of Pioneer Woman. This is her latest cookbook and has such wonderful recipes. If you have never been to her website take a moment to head over there and say hi!

 When I went out this morning my squash plants had blooms on them! Oh, I miss fresh squash! We planted 2 plants last year and had a glorious plenty, but planted four this time to share with the kids and people at work. My little 2x12 garden space is just right.

 I have repotted many of my plants and herbs in the past few weeks. The petunias are going crazy and was happy to see all of most of them coming back from last years pots. I planted some more cilatro and lavender this year. A few pepper plants and a tomato plant and I will be done.

Have a great weekend and enjoy this good weather!

This Is Love!

This little man has stolen my heart!

Ready to Quilt! Finally

 I know everyone is tired of this quilt top! I have been working on it since February and just finished the borders today. I really want to hand quilt this one, but it will take me forever to finish it. I am thinking I may take it to the church ladies to work on. They quilt for the public at a reasonable price.

I have several more projects in the works and that will free me up to finish them. This entire quilt is machine pieced, hand applique, 50 blocks, Ruby fabric. I really enjoyed the process and learned a few new skills!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has had a very blessed day and enjoyed their families today. My grandkids had an egg hunt this afternoon at my house. But it has been very quiet otherwise. My husband has been in Alabama all week hunting turkeys. So I have been sewing and cooking all weekend. I have really enjoyed the free time and a chance to get caught up on my chores. I still have not finished my quilts ,I decided to enlarge the Dresden plate to a queen size. I made 25 more blocks and just finished appliquing them today. I plan to finish sewing them all together this week and start quilting next weekend. Since I have 4 projects started and none of them finished. I am not going to allow myself to start anything else! It is so tempting to join in on all of the many projects out there in blogland! But with work and school it leaves me little time right now to work on my quilts. I am so amazed at the women who can post all of these projects every week. Well, maybe jealous is more like it, I would love to have enought time in my schedule to complete several projects a month.

Have a great week !

Two Quilts!

  Hey yall! I know I have been out of touch for a couple of weeks. Things are so busy at the hospital that I have been working some extra shifts! Needless to say there has not been alot of sewing going on. The first quilt I wanted to show you is a pattern I found on Moda Bakeshop. I pieced it with Moda Hometown fabric, which I love so much! I have had to order the backing and havent quilted it yet. Most of my time has been spent on this scrappy Dresden Plate quilt. Im really in love with it, it is made from my favorite Ruby fabric and is my first attempt using applique! I am so happy that it is nearly ready to quilt. I have put some serious time into this one! Sorry for the poor photos, I am having to use my phone right now to take pictures.

I am trying to decide how to finish this one. I have the lime green dot for the backing and wondering about just sewing all of the blocks together to make a scrappy binding. Let me hear from you, I need advice!

Have a great weekend, I will be working again tomorrow so see you next week.

A Wonderful Weekend and Applique Class

 Ok, I got so excited over my quilt class that I forgot to take any pictures! Seriously! So here are a couple of new ones of the grands.Im not quite sure what is going on with Logan's hair. I think his mother was just being silly....Ok I hope his mother was just being silly. Grandma will have a talk with her if this is a permament condition!

 I went to Waxahatchie Texas this weekend to take an applique class at the wonderful Common Threads Quilt shop! I took off work a few hours early Friday and drove to Dallas so I wouldnt have to get up at 3 am on Saturday.I spent the night in a great hotel, ate a nice dinner, took a long long long hot bath, read a book and slept on a king size bed with 6 pillows all by myself! Yes, is was good! I really needed a day away just to myself to de-stress. Saturday morning the class started at 10am and I was so excited I got there at 8:30. I browsed around the square a bit and finally the shop opened at 9:30. There was already a line of women waiting to get in. I struck up a conversation with a few of them and made some new friends. The class allowed 25 students to participate, they had broke it down to 5 stations with 5 students at each. You had 2 instructors to help you with your tutorial and 30 minutes to work on the new technique. When time was up we all switched tables and went to the next instructor. I thought it was brilliant. The fabric templates were already cut, they provided the supplies, a fabulous lunch was served and on my gosh I learned so much! They had a great goodie bag for every student and there was just so much to look at. Denice has the shop decorated with Civil War quilt reproductions and they specialize in repro fabric. It was such a treat to spend time just browsing the store. Oh and did I mention that they had shopping bags already fixed for you. When you found something you wanted you ask the clerk to place in your bag and at the end of the day you checked out with your purchases. That was nice, because after every class there was always a new little gadget that was a must have item.

I just loved it and the whole day was so relaxing. Thanks to Denice and Common Threads for such a great day! I love this card. I cant remember whose blog I first saw it on, but yes, I could go for one of those jobs myself! Have a great week!