I’m not officially participating in the WIPocalypse, but I am going to knock out a few of these buggers.

• Starry Night – started October 2004, 2 pages of 15 complete, approximately 14%
• Nordic Needle Rose – started September 2004, 3+ pages of 6 complete, approximately 60%
• Autumn Sunset Sampler – started June 2005, 1.5 of 4 pages complete, approximately 30%
• Nauvoo Sunstone – started April 2011, finished size  6×6, approximately 50%
• We Seek After These Things – started July 2011, finished size 8.5×7, approximately 5%
• crocheted scarf
• ummmm….

I’m sure there’s more. There just has to be LOL. If and when I find more, I’ll add them to the list.

I’m surprised to see that Nordic Needle Rose is actually my oldest WIP. I was sure that Starry was. And what was I thinking starting two big pieces so close together? Sheesh.

The scarves (and sometimes baby blankets) only get worked on during church. I listen better when I can do something with my hands, and these sorts of projects don’t require consulting a pattern to distract me. I get funny looks on occasion from people who don’t normally sit near me, and once a visitor decided to confront me about it.  When I was able to show the visitor and her member friends that I got more out of the talks than they did, they backed off, and I think word spread a bit LOL.

My goals for 2012 are to have 12 actual cross-stitch finishes (Nauvoo Sunstone will definitely be one of those), plus some undetermined number of crochet finishes, and to complete page 3 of Starry Night. I think I’m going to keep Starry on the stand all year rather than switch out at some point. But if I manage to finish page 4 as well, I might decide to swap.

December has been a crazy month around here. I would be glad that it’s over, except that I know most of the crazy isn’t actually over.

My older daughter applied to three colleges. Her first choice (BYU-Idaho) and third choice (Aurora University) have both responded and accepted her. Aurora is offering a 50% scholarship off a base tuition of somewhere around $25,000 a year. The BYU scholarship application process opens this week, but their base tuition is around $4,000 a year. Yes, you read that right. Her second choice (BYU-Provo) won’t respond until February, but since she’s been accepted at Rexburg where she really wants to go, it’s a moot point anyway.

Because we are converts to the LDS Church, there are additional scholarships and grants available to us that applicants born into the church cannot access. I’m hearing rumors that we can pretty much count on at least 25% coverage from those additional resources. Plus with her academic record, she will definitely qualify for more. I truly believe that I won’t have to worry (much) about the financial aspect. If she’s meant to go to Idaho, it will happen.

I’ve gotten some more done on Autumn’s Sunset Sampler, but not enough to take a picture. Filling in these blackwork leaves takes a TON of time for what seems to be very little progress. I think it’s time to take this one off the floor stand for a while and get back to Lady of the Flag and that over-one skin. What WAS I thinking when I did that? LOL.

Christmas went well. As usual, I hosted my entire family. I made turkey, gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, Cracker Barrel-style green beans, corn, breadsticks and salad. My mother contributed a couple frozen pies that I heated up, and my SIL brought appetizers. Not an elaborate meal, but plenty good enough. The kids got lots of clothes from everyone plus some movies and other fun stuff. I got the pasta maker I wanted and the Ball canning book, plus a Visa gift card that I used to order the pressure canner I wanted. That will be arriving later this week.

So….. 2011.

I only had two resolutions for 2010, and I actually managed to succeed in both. Get a job, and lose weight. I didn’t lose a lot, only 5 pounds, but I didn’t set a target so merely being at a net loss counts as a win.

For 2011, I’m going to keep it simple again. Continue to lose weight (and again, I’m not setting a goal number, that seems to actually jinx me), work on building my food storage to a 3 month supply level in all categories, and finish Lady of the Flag. Uh oh. Did I just say that?

I had an interview yesterday with an attorney in a nearby suburb. The job sounds great, he sounds like he’s interested in me, but he’s not planning to have someone start until after tax season. The office is very sterile, and that concerns me because I work much better with music and he does not like having music playing in the office (I asked because of how bare people’s desks are). I’ll take it if offered and I’m still available.

I then had a phone interview today – yes, on Saturday – for a work-from-home typing opportunity for an attorney downtown. He’s temporarily displaced from his office because of an environmental issue, and his assistant recently relocated to another state. So there’s a possibility of an office position once things get settled down in the building. It almost sounds like I’ve got the work-from-home portion clinched, at least, but I’m not counting on it because that’s just the way things seem to go for me.

I also have a potential interview for next week with yet another office. The coordinator at the staffing agency called on Friday to feel out my interest level, she’s trying to get more info and has my availability so she can go ahead and schedule the interview for me without further delay.

And I’m stitching! I spent a little time on the Christmas Fairy while at my parents’ house last week, plus a couple hours today on Autumn’s Sunset Sampler while playing an online game with my father.

The import old posts project is on hold at the moment, mostly just because I had other things that were grabbing my attention. I’ll get back to that sooner or later.

And odd, I’m now seeing an RSS error on my dashboard… “XML Error, out of memory at line 1, column 0″. Make any sense to anyone?