Happy New Year, everyone!

I must confess that between Facebook and Twitter, it’s very easy to be lazy and neglect my blog. It’s become crusty and, with the latest weather, quite encased in ice. But, I’m only a few days late for welcoming in the new year!

I don’t do new year’s resolutions. However, as I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed a change in my outlook, tastes and general preferences. This year, for me, has a theme: no more clutter. This applies to material things as well as mental things. The material de-cluttering started months ago and has been refreshing. The mental de-cluttering is a bit harder as it’s attached to some of the material things — do I *really* need that thingie that months of time on Google still can’t figure out? What about this project I swore I’d get to “eventually?” If eventually isn’t here by now, chances are, it’s not going to get here. So… out it goes!

On a different note, I’ve fallen in love… only I don’t know his name! I’ve made him my kitchen mascot. Here he is “au naturale.” Isn’t he awesome? He’s sitting on the island in the kitchen and greets everyone who comes into the house through the garage with his big toothy grin. He’s made from scrap metal parts and the knife and fork came with him. Have any ideas for a name? I need HELP!

Here he is decked out for the holidays in a bright colored hat and hey, how’d he get that candy cane???

He’s fiesty and lots of fun — but he needs a name! ARGH! Currently, he’s swiped the fur-trimmed hood to my daughter’s puffy pink winter coat to keep his knobby knees warm because it’s quite chilly outside here. If he doesn’t hide from the camera, I’ll see about getting a picture of him all bundled up in THAT getup!

Stitching-wise, I’ve been s-l-o-w. But, my favorite project by far HAS to be Decko! I’ve got several hundred more stitches done and should add another picture, but that would mean I’d have to stop stitching! I’ve gotten to some of the background to the left of his ear and it’s this gorgeous purply-pink! YUM! He’s such a handsome chart and a great stitch and a cat and abstract and — well, you get the idea. So no new starts for me this year. I’m hung up on a cat!

Not the Serenity you may be thinking of, although you will hear things like, “I can kill you with my brain.” being stuck into conversations in this house more often than not being as there are Firefly fans around here. However, it’s Bernadette Lusk’s Serenity Fairy that’s been poking at me for a really really really long time. I positively love this background and know that I would never get bored with this. *sigh*

I believe I whimpered about needing some silk for Lady P’s Spanish Mystery Sampler. I have quite a bit more done, but that would require me to get up out of my chair and take another picture and I don’t have quite that level of energy yet this morning, so here’s my first picture for you to look at. It’s stitched 1 over 2 on 40 count Picture this Plus Thistle Linen with HDF’s Exemplar White Chocolate Silk. I am stitching the monochrome version of the chart. So when Lady P was talking about there being birds in this section of the chart I had no clue what she was talking about until I saw one of Nance’s WIPs. Then I got my clue. Thanks, Nance!

A month ago, I was a judge for the Northern VA Regional Odyssey of the Mind tournament. In summary, a team of 7-8 students, ranging from kindergarden up to college, get together to solve one of the six problems CCI has published for that year. My problem was #3, The Wonderful Muses. For regionals, we saw divisions I, II and III, which means Kindergarten through High School. These children were amazing! They sang, they danced, they acted, they built incredibly creative sets, they played musical instruments, one team had a victorian dress made from a plastic trash bag and another team engineered a rig that made their muse fly!

This past weekend, I had the honor of being asked to judge at the State tournament. This time, I only did division III, the high school level, as there were quite a few more entries and more than one set of judges were needed. Two of the teams we saw this day would make it to the World Finals. (No pressure on the judges at all… *gulp!*) The performances were spectacular… as a technical judge, it was hard to deduct points when we knew the teams had worked so hard to get where they were. After each performance, we talked to each team about their costumes, sets and performances and all the children were high on adrenaline and very willing to talk about what they had done. It was great to see that the arts are still alive in our children. I’ll be going back next year and years after. It was exciting to see and very rewarding!