Keep moving forward

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I guess I have to say that I do have a New Year’s Resolution for 2012 after all.

Keep Moving Forward.

Everyday. No matter how large or small the steps.

That’s it.

I think it came to me because of my current employment situation. If you don’t know, the company I worked for closed on June 30, 2011.  So, I am unemployed. In the past six months, I’ve had two potential positions that, in the end, didn’t work out for me. Funny thing is, I’m pretty cool with that. At this stage of my life, I really don’t want to find another job working for someone else. I’d much rather spend my time and effort working for myself. So, for the first few months of unemployment bliss, I tried to come up with an action plan that would lead to self-employment, while looking for potential outside employment. I stumbled, floundered, pretended to be working on a plan, vegetated, worked on a few house projects, played on the computer, read, planted a fall vegetable garden and found myself not moving forward in any productive way.

It was getting to me. I knew I should be more productive, but just couldn’t find my way. So, after a lethargic few months the heavens of inspiration finally parted and I find myself with so very much to do!

One, is my gourd art. (I grew several hundred gourds on our back forty a few years ago and have kept them for some future projects.) The next step is to add a page to Cindy’s Country Corner and offer them for sale! I need to set up a ‘shopping cart’ and my paypal account on my website to make it easy for gourd lovers to buy them. That will happen in the next couple of days. In the meantime, if you are interested in having a gourd of your very own (they will go fast and make great gifts, btw), comment on this post and I’ll reserve the one you want! Prices range from $10 to $25, plus shipping.

Here are some photos.

These are the solids. Cleaned, primed, two coats of paint and two coats of varnish, they sell for $10 each.
(L to R) hand painted folk art ($25), decoupage sunflowers ($20), striped ($20 sold), leaf imprint ($15).
Ladybugs ($20)
Flower Power ($25)

 

Obviously, I can’t make a living at this. I’m no artist extraordinaire. But, I really like flexing my creative muscles! What do you think?

 

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Hello 2012

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Another year behind us and a new one starting.

As for me, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. But, I do look forward to each new year full of hope and optimism that I will live my life better than the year before. In all honesty, I must admit that I am never nearly quite as successful at this endeavor as I want to be. But, who knows? The new year is fast approaching and I have yet another opportunity to get it right.

Here are my five favorite New Year’s quotes:

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.   – Oprah Winfrey

New Year’s Day:  Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.   – Mark Twain

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.   – Edith Lovejoy Pierce

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this:  To rise above the little things.   – John Burroughs

And, my absolute favorite:

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.   – Benjamin Franklin

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles in the past several days about New Year’s Resolutions. Even the US government on its site USA.gov lists the top resolutions with links to sites to help you achieve your goals!  Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions for 2012?

 

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Happy Holidays!

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It’s Christmas Eve as I write this. Brian and I just got home from a round of golf at Holly Hill Country Club.  It was pretty and sunny and a high of 65 degrees today.  I hadn’t golfed since May when my sister Pam and her husband, Gary, visited us for their vacation, and boy, it showed!

In a nutshell, my golf game sucked. You want to know my score? 129. Yeah, I know, no one scores that! And, it’s ironic since I actually had some really great shots, today! Honestly, I can hit a straight drive 150 to 180 yards EVERY SINGLE TIME. I swear. It’s my fairway game and short game that pretty much bite! On the worst scoring hole, hole number 7, I hit a fantastic drive, followed by eight additional shots to reach the green. Then, for a surprise, I sunk a 30 foot putt, to finish the hole with a 10! Seriously.

Brian, on the other hand, even with what I suspect is a torn rotator cuff, had a good golf day. He swung his club so gently that the club did most of the work and he eliminated his slice!

If you’ve ever played at Holly Hill Country Club, you know it’s name alone is an oxymoron! Far from country club stature, it’s a short nine hole course, with a little club house, swimming pool and tennis courts attached. The fairways are wide open and there’s no water that really comes into play. Well, except for today, when I somehow found the water twice. But, it is a great place to practice your short game with only two long par-5 holes. To play 18 holes, you go around the course twice.

Since Brian and I are living on a very limited income these days, and we’re basically broke, the golf outing was our Christmas gift to each other.

Now, we’re home and in our loungers and spending a quiet Christmas Eve evening watching sports and computing (Brian at the TV and me at the keyboard here with you).

On Christmas Day, Brian and I are spending the day alone together, too. It’s just the way it worked out this year. We’re okay with that. As a matter of fact, we have a tee time at Lake Marion Golf Course, the only course open, on Christmas day. But, the weather is predicted to get colder on Christmas day and it might rain and since we blew our wad today, we are cancelling that plan.

We are planning a nice breakfast and then later, dinner for two for Christmas day. I’ll probably spend some time working on my crafts and Brian will watch bowl games and we’ll play computer games. I’m glad he’s my best friend!

So, to close, I want to wish all of you Happy Holidays! Merry Christmahanakwanzika or whatever! I don’t care who you are or what you believe, you are my friend and if your winter solstice holiday means peace, love, joy, then I wish that for you and yours!

I have three camellias bordering our house. They bloom in the winter. Pretty, aren’t they?

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