As the holidays come to a close and we begin a new year...

Oh my goodness my primitive friends, I have missed you all so much ! I am looking forward to catching up on all your blogs now that the holidays are finally over and things are (hopefully) settlling back down into some sort of order. I never actually meant to take a blogging vacation over Christmas, but from the moment my youngest came home on Christmas eve with just minutes to spare to make it to church, life has been chaotic and just a tad out of control. We did have some exciting news though...my youngest son got engaged on New Years Eve to his high school sweetheart. She is a super sweet and very pretty girl and I am determined to be just "The Best" mother in law ! I cant say that I think getting engaged at 19 is the best thing to do, but I did the same thing 25 years ago and have never had a single regret about marrying the hubs...you guys all know I am over the moon for the man and he feels the same way about me, but I still wish they would wait a little longer, but I have decided that it's their life and the best thing I can do for them is to pray and try to encourage them and be a good example. Here's a picture of them from last night...

In looking over all the pictures taken over the last couple weeks I realized I didnt get a single picture of us as a family or of me with the hubs...which was a good thing since I have packed on 11 pounds since early December...UGH. Guess its time to stop using the exercise bike in my bedroom as a clothes rack and actually get on it and move the pedals...UGH, UGH. I can tell you exactly what packed on those pounds though...hershey kiss cookies. I only bake them for Christmas (unless I am properly begged) and  I have ZERO willpower wheres these delicious little gems are concerned, zero. I thought by putting them in the freezer that would help...um, nope, I found out they taste even BETTER frozen. I made lots of goodies as gifts this year so I had tons of cookies on hand ...Oh did I mention I didnt start baking until just a few days before Christmas ? Yeah, I planned food gifts and then waited till the last minute...yep thats how I get myself into so much trouble. Well, since I kept eating those cookies I had to bake more for the gifts I had planned...TWICE because I just couldnt stop sneaking one cookie here, one cookie there and like magic...the cookies just disappeared and then re-appeared on my hips. I was already stressed out and I am a stress eater (is that a real thing or just my excuse I wonder). I was already in one of the WORST muscle flares I have had in over 3 years  which means I am notmoving as much or as rapidly and I think I  tried to console myself with those doggone cookies and now I had to dig out my fat jeans...ok, my fatter jeans if I am being honest. .

Well, enough about the woes of an overindulgent, overwhelming Christmas...HAPPY NEW YEAR ! I really am excited about the new year and hope to add lots of new fun stuff on my blog and hope to get some new followers too. I will be doing another giveaway, listing more wool for sale, adding some new lessons in my rug hooking tutorial series and putting together some new rug hooking kits.  As the promise of snow looms near I am trying to think of some great projects for spring and summer. Since finances for so many are really stretched this year, I will be offering more "ruglets" and ruglet kits for sale since they are smaller and more affordable. If anyone has any requests or suggestions, let me know.

Well gals, I look forward to catching up with you all and I hope you all had fabulous holidays filled with love and laughter.

Grace to you,
Margie