T-shirts, anyone?

My cousin, Neil Butler also sells t-shirts that show off his artwork. Pick up yours here.

The Swirl Begins

I recently started crocheting a sweater for myself. I am using yarn that I originally bought for an afghan, and I am loving the color combination. The sweater is called the Swirl, and it's really unusual. I hope it works out. Thi may be the first step to me completing a New Year's Resolution, but I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself :)

Irish Artwork Anyone?

My cousin, Neil Butler, is having a sale at his store on bigcartel.com. He is an Irish artist and has some really cool prints for sale. Check it out here.

New Year's Resolutions

Well, here are my resolutions from last year. I don't think I did very well :(

1. Knit a sweater. Fail. I did not knit a sweater. Again. That's two years in a row. I have, however, started crocheting a sweater this year, the swirl. Hopefully, this will be the year of the sweater.

2. Continue working on my diet and exercise routine. Fail. My husband and I had a difficult time with this one last year. We moved in December of 2009 and hubby threw out his back. It was really bad for months, so we stopped exercising. I had to stop too, so he wouldn't feel bad :) Since we were not exercising, it seemed silly to diet. Then I had my big MRSA thing this summer, and that stopped us again. Overall I gained back all the weight I had originally lost plus a few extra pounds. Major fail.

3. Continue working on my craft business. Fail. I bought a display case on Craigslist and started working on some jewelry displays. I will post pictures soon. Promise.

4. Try some new crafts, like fimo canes. Fail. I didn't really try anything new this year. I could blame the MRSA again, but I feel like I may be overusing that excuse :)

5. Write a novel in a month. I did start my novel, and in the month of November I wrote 12,000 words as a NaNoWriMo participant. I plan to keep working on the novel and to participate again this year. It was so much fun!

6. Do some charity knitting. Fail. Absolutely no charity knitting occurred.

7. Enjoy my life. I think I may have put this one in there so that I would have at least one resolution I could keep. I had a realy fun year, even though there was a lot of craziness. I have been working on my new house, I went to Oregon Country Fair and a few other shows, and have great friends and family. You can check it all out here.

8. Keep reading and keep a list of what I read. Yay, another one I accomplished, although I was disappointed with the number of books I read. You can see my list here.

Resolutions for 2011
1. Complete a sweater
2. Read more than 33 books
3. Keep my craft room organized
4. Get my craft business going
5. Stick with my diet and exercise
6. Enjoy life everyday

Let's see how well I do this year :)

Books I Read in 2010

Well, here is the final list of books I read over the past year.

• The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
• Waiting by Ha Jin
• Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
• NIce Girls Don't Live Forever by Molly Harper
• Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper
• Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper
• Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
• From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
• All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
• Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
• Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
• Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
• The Twits by Roald Dahl
• Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
• Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
• Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Jane Nelson et al
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
• A Wind in the Door by Madeline D'Engle
• Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
• Crash by Jerry Spinelli
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
• Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
• Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
• The Oath by Frank Peretti
• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

27 total. Not so hot compared to the 33 I read last year :( I also started writing a book this year. I wrote about 12,000 words during the month of November as part of NaNoWriMo. It was so much fun, and I am definitely going to continue working on this book and try it again next year. I have already started my 2011 reading and recently made a little library in my craft room, so maybe I can beat 33 this year :)