Just thought I would check in ~ we had a quiet weekend ~ I didn't leave the house from Thursday until today!!! For those that know me ~ that's like a miracle! I think I'm resting up for all the fun we're going to have this year ~ or from running myself ragged last year ~ that sounds more like it.

Regarding my 'one little word' that I chose as my mantra for the coming year ~ I think it has value!! The word is "change" and as I go about my day and am tempted to say or do some of those really unhealthy or annoying things that are so much a part of me ~ that word goes marching thru my mind! Not every time that it should, but it's helping! Of the first 12 days of this year, I have hooked every day but one (making great progress on that 'hands' rug). With a nice exercise room like this ~ wouldn't you think I'd use it faithfully ~ I'm trying ~ I've exercised every day since the 4th (that was the day I determined that I can't ignore the benefit of exercise any longer) except for Sunday ~ I've eaten oat cereal every morning but one to help lower my cholesterol ~ I'm making changes ~ so far so good!!

All the Christmas stuff is put away ~ my friend, Vivian, wants to come see our organized basement so she can get motivated to work on theirs ~ and I can actually say "Come on over!". That truly is a good feeling! My office is another matter ~ I have considered whether this was a good idea ~ to show you a picture of the mess I work in every day ~ or use it as a tool for motivation to get it organized ~ to 'change' my work environment! So here it is ~ in all it's glory ~ it will be a couple of weeks before the transformation will be finished ~ this is tax prep time, time to get the year-end reports done, get the w-2's and 1099's out ~ but as I'm doing this, I'm going to work on putting this place in order!! CHANGE ~ it's a good thing!

Another good thing is that my England Memory Rug is going to be in a book on pictorial rugs that is coming out this fall! Last week, I had a photographer come and take professional photos that are required by Rug Hooking Magazine, the publisher of Jane Halliwell Greene's new book! I'm very excited to have my rug accepted ~ that rug was definitely a labor of love and tells a story. I happened on Jane's blog one day in the fall when she put out a request for pictures of rugs that might be suitable for her book ~ I emailed ~ she emailed ~ and she liked what she saw!! You can check out Jane's blog here. Jane is a painter and a rug hooker ~ her blog and website are very eye catching! Sheri, who writes the Shabby Sheep blog, is also going to have a rug in the book ~ I know she is thrilled, too!

One more good thing is that all by myself ~ I installed a new counter on the blog. The other hit counter that my son put on for me, all of a sudden quit counting this past week!! I was absolutely elated and had just told my husband that there were over 12,000 hits and I couldn't believe that many people had looked at these ramblings since August. And it was like the universe heard me bragging and said well, guess what honey ~ we're done now!! There are all sorts of policies and rules and I don't know if I broke one, but it wasn't counting anymore. So after a couple days of waiting to see if it would come back online, I found another site and after more time than I want to admit ~ I figured it out and those nice purple balls at the end of the left-hand column, give me the info that lets me know someone out there is interested in what I have to say! And the blessing is, it gives me even more info like how many are new, how many are returning readers ~ so that malfunction turned into another good thing!

Those two new rug hooking forums that I wrote about in my last post, have taken off like wildfire!! So many interesting rug hookers have joined and both sites have informative forums and one has an online class ~ they are addicting ~ I can hardly keep from checking them hourly to see who I know that has joined and what they have to say! They're both great additions to our rug hooking world!

That's it for today ~ more snow and bitter cold in our weather forecast ~ if you're somewhere warm, be so grateful!!!