Here it is...New Year's Eve. Wow! Another year has flown by. So many changes, some good, some bad, and some ugly(my waistline!), but, mostly good. A lot has happened during the past year. I'm looking forward to the new year, a new beginning, a new resolve to make some positive changes in my life: of course, the usual resolution to lose weight and become more healthy, to become more organized, my second most popular resolution, and last, but, not least to finish that novel that I've always wanted to write and actually did start a couple of months ago!!! :) Three goals, I think that's a good number of goals or resolutions. Some people don't believe in "resolutions", but, I just look at them as goals. Without goals and dreams, we are without hope. So, I believe it is important to always have something to strive toward. God wants us to have dreams, and He even said, "Without dreams, man will perish." So, there, we all need hopes, dreams, goals, and yes, maybe even a resolution or two. Here's hoping and praying that you have the courage to dream, and even more importantly, make your dreams come true, with a lot of help from God, of course! Have a very happy and blessed New Year!

I enjoyed my little mini vacation--two snow days, then the weekend. Now, they've called and said we have another snow day tomorrow!(Monday) I just knew we'd go back to school tomorrow, but, the side roads and country roads are still icy, so I suppose they're trying to play it safe. I Love my snow days and was very thankful to have them, but, now I'm ready to go back to work, because I know we'll have to make them up at the end of the school year. Bummer. Besides, breaking ice twice a day for the horse and dogs is getting old really fast. I'm ready for this to melt off, so we can get back to our normal routine. I worked out in the snow several hours Saturday making trails from the house to the horse barn, from the house to the dog barn, etc., with no boots, just wet tennis shoes and dry socks every couple of hours. Now I know why people have heart attacks when they are shoveling snow. That's VERY hard work. Every muscle is sore, and my cold has, of course, worsened. So, I guess I should be thankful for the extra day off to nurse my cruddy cold. Lots of chicken noodle soup & rest tomorrow, hopefully. Hope everyone is doing well & staying warm.

Yay!! Two snow days in a row!!! Did I say, I LOVE snowdays?!?!?!?! We had lots of ice, maybe two inches, then, several inches of snow on top of that!!! I think we got, at least, a foot of snow, maybe a little more.

Yesterday my daughter & I put up our Christmas tree, so now with that done and all the snow on the ground, I'm starting to get in the Christmas mood. Actually, I'm starting to panic because I've done very little shopping. I'm a terrible procrastinator, but, this is really bad, even for me. I think I'm done with my daughters presents and maybe two or three other people, but, sadly, that's it. I just don't know what to get anyone. At this point, I'm seriously considering just getting everybody gift cards so they can pick out exactly what they want. That would be so much easier and save a lot of time and frustration fighting the crowds at the malls, not to mention gas money.

My daughter just left a few hours ago to go spend the night with some friends so they can play in the snow- sledding & four-wheeling. So that means I get to sleep in tomorrow morning!!! I normally get up around 6:30 or 7:00 to fix her breakfast & give her her heart meds. on the weekends. Then, I try to go back to sleep, but, rarely do. Once I'm up, I'm usually awake and thinking of all the things I need to be doing. But, I'm going to sleep in tomorrow for sure. Of course, since she's gone, I won't sleep in real late (8:00 or 9:00 is late for me) because I'll have to get up & go chop the ice in Charlie's (the horse) water, then, do the same for the dogs. Man, that just plain sucks, I don't know how ranchers who have all these animals do it in the winter. You have to do it more than once a day when it's this cold. Plus, our dog barn roof is about to fall in from the weight of the ice & snow. So, I'm hoping that doesn't happen before we can get it fixed. We wedged 3 big wooden poles where we could so it will hopefully hold until tomorrow, when we can work on it more. It was late in the evening when we discovered what had happened. Hoping that the dogs don't get squished!!