Welcome 2009!

Happy 2009! Isn't a new year wonderful? I often think the powers-that-be made an observance of time in order to give us a sense of renewal and hope. It's a little like recapturing our childhood. The possibilities are endless and what's more, the DESIRE to achieve them is endless...for a bit. :

We went to California to visit the Hub's family and take the kids to Disney Land as their "big gift" for this year. I don't like the idea of going broke for a day as everyday, in theory, should be a gift but it was a great trip. We saw Duane's youngest sister and it's been a while since she's spent time with her nephews. They loved her!

We have some record snow and weather while we were gone and bless-him the Hubs was having a fit about it all. He loves the snow and we hardly get any here in the PNW as there have to be "just right" conditions for such an occurence...lol. It was indeed a white Christmas and since we flew home Christmas Day it was a special gift just for him. I can take or leave the snow.

Made some new woolies and one was a gift for a lovely lady in Oregon that comissioned me for the lions. She requested some black bears and soon thereafter a tiny little fish made it's way to her house.

The fish is Penny (For Your Thoughts) Goldfish and was a special, "thanks" for liking my oddish art.

The bears were a total pain to photograph (black is no bueno to capture) but here are a couple of attempts:

Not all the comissions were a huge success and thank goodness this one wasn't paid for until I was finished (which means she didn't have to pay anything)! Lol. I attempted to felt a couple of my cro-sculpted horses but stuffed them BEFORE I felted them in my front loader with no shoes to agitate. With those two factors they felted unevenly so I'll be making them all over again...ugh! It's a compulsion to finish anything I fail at and sometimes it really stinks! They were intended for five year old twins so they were suppose to be able to handle rough loving.

They turned out kinda cute in a "fat pony" sort of way:

True to the Resolution Cliche the Hubs and I decided it was time to lose weight. Twenty pounds for both of us and more exercise. The exercise part is easy for both of us, we both maintain frequent routines. The hard part will be the diet. Who in the world invented that insidious word? It just sounds nasty!