New Year's Resolutions...

Its January 1st and I'm am SO. READY. FOR. A. CLEAN. SLATE. called 2014.  I saw a great quote on Facebook that said, "Today is the first day of a 365 page book with empty pages.  Write a good one."

I'm on it.

We'll start with today....the laziest of New Years Days...spent loving on my kids, playing games, watching movies and eating cheese dip.

My kind of day.

I do have to backtrack to that cheese dip, though.  Its actually kind of amusing how that all came about....for New Year's Eve we went to a party at a friend's house.  She is Columbian...her other friends that came are Puerto Rican and I was the lone "American."  We were all supposed to bring something to share.  Columbian chicken with ham and pineapple and a delicious gravy from Columbia...rice and beans and and flan from Puerto Rico and Velveeta Ro'tel Cheese dip from the good old U.S. of A. 

ha ha ha...when she told me to bring something from my country I had to laugh...I threw out a bunch of options including tater tots, hamburgers, ribs, etc...and she jumped at the Velveeta cheese dip.

So...the American contribution to the New Year's celebration was cheese dip. 

Makes me laugh.

Ok...resolutions...I've got a few.

I lost 60 pounds in 2013.  I love that.  I have 60 more to loose to be at my BMI recognized goal weight.  So....Resolution 1 is the reach my goal weight.

I've already got my zumba classes lined up and I'm starting crossfit this month too.  yikes!

Resolution 2....sprint triathlon.  I do not like to run...but I love to bike and swim...so if I can enjoy two out of three I'm thinking a sprint triathlon is a good goal for me.

Resolution 3.  Cook with less processed foods.  I want my kids to love veggies and real cheese and not macaroni from Kraft.  Please disregard all previous comments about velveeta cheese dip.

Resolution 4.   Draw.  I bought a sketchbook and my goal is to draw more...with Bella in particular.  I want her to love art...she's a good good artist.  So we will be following this woman's lead....I've already done our first picture and am working on the second.  I'll be posting more about them.

Resolution 5.  Blog at least 3X week and get my website up and running.  That means you'll be hearing a lot more from me.  I'm hoping that's good new.

Cheers to a New Year...and much happiness in 2014...

2SCR Banner

Can you believe its AT MOST...69 days from now when all the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Soldiers return home? Well, at least if our Commander keeps his promise and they are all home by the end of May.

I remember the start of this deployment and how LONG 69 days felt. Two months, 1/6th of a year, about the same amount of time as kids have off in the summer for school...

It felt like forever.

But here we are, nearing the end of our time away from John and I can't believe we actually made it.

We made it!

Ok...lest I speak too soon... the real purpose of this post is to show you the little squares I made for the Welcome Home Banner. Some ambitious angel of an Army Wife decided to make a 12X12 square welcoming home every soldier that deployed from our Regiment.

She is sewing them all together...not quilting it or anything ridiculously crazy like that, but its eventually going to be a gigantic patchwork banner for our soldiers.

And, of course, she invited anyone and everyone to make a square for their soldier. So I did...Actually, we made 2 for John and one for each single soldier in his shop.

A friend heard I was making these and asked, "Oh! Do you like to sew?" I had to laugh...of course my reply was that as much as I'd like to claim that domestic gift and much to the sadness of my mother, I did not get the gene that makes for a great seamstress. Our squares consist of felt, hotglue, glitter and puffpaint...but I still think we did a pretty good job.

And the single soldier squares...

I also made a square for the fallen soldiers.  Sadly enough I have to add yet another two names to this square for soldiers that died in combat a few days ago.   

The squares are due by the end of March.  I have a little extra material so I will probably make a few generic ones for other soldiers who don't have a square yet.  It's a small way to show my thanks for all they do.

Light a candle...

Light a candle until they all come home...

Today I opened up my email to find (at my last count) the 15th Fallen Dragoon message from our rear detachment commander.

Fifteen soldiers who have died in the past 10 months...

Today's email hit me so hard.  In two and 1/2 months these soldiers come home.  I'm sure this soldier thought he was nearly done....headed home...in the last stretch.  I'm sure of that because thats what I have been thinking and feeling.  They're almost home!  We're nearly done!

But the reality is that its 2 1/2 more months and anything can happen.

And as I read that email message and considered the life of this young soldier I couldn't help but cry for him and his family.

Just say a little extra prayer for our soldiers tonight. 

And if you have an extra 20 minutes to spare...these moving tributes of fallen soldiers everywhere can really put into perspective how much they gave...