New Year's Resolution - well, I made a resolution last year that I unfortunately did not keep. My resolution was to stay on top of important events like anniversaries, birthdays, etc and send REAL cards to people. I also wanted to be more prompt in returning personal emails. Well, I think I did a little bit better, but nowhere near where I want to be. Therefore, it remains a resolution for me this year.

Over the past week, I have also set another resolution. I refuse to live in clutter. I am determined to get my housekeeping skills in order this year. Now that I am actually living with Kalonji and we are a "real" family - I find that the clutter builds so easily! It is too easy to make excuses for picking up and putting things away where they should be. Not anymore. Slowly but surely I have been de-cluttering, making a pile for Goodwill and getting the house in order. I have done well in spending a few minutes a couple times a day to tidy up and put things away and I'm very proud of myself. Must keep up the progress! My Body-For-Life is going well. I've completed 7 days now and been true to the program 95% of the time :-). Of course you can read more about that on my other blog. However, b/c I am constantly reading and researching fitness/health information, I have not stitched as much the past week. But, I do have a few overdue pictures to share:

• Handmade Houses of Provence - by Michael Powell. I started this back at the end of October and fell in love with it. There are five different "panels" to stitch that make a composite pictures. The threads are in Anchor, so I actually had to go buy some as I have only done one other project with Anchor. While I was initially excited, the colors in the particular area I am working on are not exactly appealing to me. However, I do love the design so much, that I have no doubt I'll be back to this again in a few months.
• Feline Navidad -- yeah, this was supposed to be a Christmas present. I'm close! Maybe this weekend will be it. The recipient will not mind though - I know she won't. :-)
• Day - this design is by Maria Van Scharrenburg. I love her patterns and I initially started this back in March 2004. Then, I put it down and didnt' touch it again until a few weeks ago. This is the design I was working on when I found out I was pregnant with Kaleya. The night I started it, I was over at a friend's day for a stitch day and I remember them joking with me about being pregnant b/c I was telling them how tired I had been lately. They were so right!