The birds they sang at the break of day
“Start again”, I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be

Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold and bought again
The dove is never free

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

We asked for signs, the signs were sent
The birth betrayed, the marriage spent
Yeah, the widowhood of every government
Signs for all to see

I can’t run no more with that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places say their prayers out loud
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up a thundercloud
And they’re going to hear from me

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

You can add up the parts, you won’t have the sum
You can strike up the march, there is no drum
Every heart, every heart to love will come
But like a refugee

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in

Thanks Mess. The light gets in. Angela

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Next we have a lovely use of old book pages:

This is a wonderful link to a page full of tutorials for we crafty types, last count there were 90 of them waiting to tempt you:

Source: thegunnysack.com via Angela on Pinterest

This last pin might help you de-bug yourself….

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“Time wounds all heels.”

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On a Septic Tank Truck:
Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels

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On a Plumber’s truck:

“We repair what your husband fixed.”

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On another Plumber’s truck:
“Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.”

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At a Tire Store
“Invite us to your next blowout.”

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On an Electrician’s truck:
“Let us remove your shorts.”

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In a Non-smoking Area:

“If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.”

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On a Maternity Room door:

“Push. Push. Push.”

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At an Optometrist’s Office:
“If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.”

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On a Taxidermist’s window:

“We really know our stuff.”

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On a Fence:
“Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive!”

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At a Car Dealership:
“The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment.”

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Outside a Car Exhaust Store:
“No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.”

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In a Vets waiting room:
“Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!”

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In a Restaurant window:
“Don’t stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up.”

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In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
“Drive carefully. We’ll wait.”

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Sign on the back of yet another
Septic Tank Truck:
“Caution – This Truck is full of Political Promises”

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I usually bake and make lots of cookies for Christmastime, but this year those dolls were too important and time consuming, so I am just getting around to cookies now. I love my chocolate chip cookies, Boyfriend loves my peanut butter ones. I don’t have to ask my daughter Shell what kind of cookie she wants. For her it’s always these no bakes, hands down. To me this is one of the easiest cookies you can make, no baking required. They are really chocolatey too! We have been making these for years, I will say they don’t always turn out perfectly, but even less than perfect they are always tasty. I took my pictures with the camera on my phone, so they aren’t quite as good as normal. But here we go….

Have all your ingredients measured out and ready to go before you begin, and be sure to read completely through these instructions first too. Now, begin your cookies. You have to move quick with these babies, get ready, set, GO!

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal

2 cups sugar
½ cup cocoa
½ cup evaporated milk
1 stick butter
2 ½ cups quick oatmeal
½ cup peanut butter
1 tspn vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter. Bring to a boil over med high heat, while slowly stirring. Let boil 3 minutes exactly, stirring the whole time. If things are boiling hard, lower your temperature just a little bit. (Try to be exact on time, but it is better to boil a few extra seconds than a few seconds less than 3 minutes.) Remove from stove. Beat in peanut butter and vanilla, add oatmeal and beat well. Do as quickly as possible as cookies tend to dry out quickly. Drop by teaspoonful on wax paper and let cool, and be careful. Cookie stuff will be VERY HOT. The cookies will go from a glossy shine to a duller matte finish as they cool.

Makes 30 – 50, depending on size of dropped cookie.

The main thing is to be sure to follow the directions exactly, the boiling time especially. But even if they aren’t perfect, the results are still yummy! You can use crumbs as an ice cream topper, or just alone too. If the time is a little short when you are making  the cookies, sometimes they stay shiny and a little gooey. We think they still taste yummy, but the texture will be different. If you go a little too long, the cookies will be dry and crumbly. Don’t get discouraged if they turn out like this, nibble away on your less-than-perfects while you cook up another batch !

I hope you enjoy this fast recipe. Once you try it, pop in and tell me how they turned out. Have a yummy day! Angela

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As time has passed I miss her more on odd days it seems. The first year of grief after she died was HORRIBLE! I don’t even know how me or my dad got through it. The next few years it was more on holidays, or maybe when the kids did something special that I missed her. When Shell graduated I cried because mom wasn’t there. When Joe and Jessica had our April Fool’s baby boy, I cried. When Katie had her first daughter I cried because mom didn’t get to see her too. But I know Mom has seen her great-grands, just from a heavenly perspective.

It’s funny how much I miss her at times. Then again, there will be weeks and weeks where I don’t think of her as often. Memory is a strange thing, and really seems to have a life of its own. I never know when something will happen: I’ll hear a song, or see a certain flower or smell something that reminds me of something she use to cook….then ding! Up pops a memory and I get to enjoy the moment while I ponder whatever the situation is. Same thing with other friends and family that have passed, random things just bring it all back.

Part of me remembering Mom today is probably because of all of the sewing I’ve been doing, or trying to do, lately. I’m even headed to Georgia to take several sewing classes later this week. I hope to have some fun things to report from the trip too. In the meantime, I’ll just be happy to remember my sweet and feisty Mama. Hope your memories are happy ones too! Angela

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I like having this to help me track myself daily, instead of just a standard to-do list. I have tried the lists, but this has been working better for me. Again, either is an improvement over sticky notes. It is just my daily reminder of the things I need to do because I really do seem to be having problems remembering things. I know that forgetfulness is one of menopause’s lovely symptoms, and I also have a Dad who generally loses things on a regular basis too, so I do tease him regularly that this was not one of the things I wanted to inherit from him.

So, here is a pretty standard daily agenda to use for an example for you:

Agenda – Week of 2/26/2010
Read my devotional notes. I also want to spend 15-30 minutes just reading the Bible. (right now continue with my 90 day plan)

Once a week, take my measurements as I continue with exercise.

Read Juice Plus conference material first, my virtual office conference notes, in my notebook and on my virtual office. Listen to cd/dvd’s of Juice Plus.

Monday: Work on current alterations. Rip out waists, get seams ready to sew. Make list of things I need from Hobby Lobby – zippers, ribbon and patches. Check Fine Feathered Friend hop. Finish Daughters hem. Make sure I have what I need for networking email I send out Wednesday.

Tuesday: Finish paying bills. Check on temp jobs. Work on blog, continue with alterations.

Wednesday: Send out PNC email. Continue cookie post for blog. Work on a project from my list or Pinterest.

Thursday: Finish any leftovers from the week that I can. Work on blog, check Friday hops and go ahead and link up to the ones open. If I have something finished, list it on Etsy.

Friday: Finish up what I can, deliver alterations from the week.

Saturday: Make pattern for backpack and skirt. This evening, go to friend’s wedding.

Sunday: Sabbath rest. Buy a newspaper. Maybe organize those notebooks too. Exercise, then take measurements. Have weekly agenda meeting. Review daily list timeline.

***** Sew Katie’s Apron, maybe cut out 2nd one from Ikea fabric. Things float here until I have them finished.

List any upcoming meetings here: Wednesday March 14 PNC meeting at Earthfare

I got this idea from the book: The War of Art, and it is helping me track what I need to do. I can make it as detailed or as vague as I like, and if something doesn’t get finished one day I can copy, paste and move it to the next day. Easy peasy. How do you keep up with what you need to do? Would you share your ideas with me please? I would love to hear about what works for you too! Thanks, whatever you are working on I hope you have a productive day! Angela

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Here is the new plan. I have really been praying for wisdom to do this well, to give myself incentive and encouragement to accomplish what I hope for my business and my life. I am also taking my time limits off of this list, that didn’t encourage me last time. It just made me feel like I was always behind.

My daily list is roughly this:

1. Get up at a regular time every day.
2. Eat breakfast, coffee, vitamins.
3. Read my devotions.
4. Exercise. I am currently using Callenetics. 1 hour, twice a week. More if I feel like it, but at least twice a week.
5. Read Juice Plus material sometime during the day. I need to continue to educate myself about it.
6. Sew alterations for whomever I am currently working for.
7. Look through my projects and pick out a few to be working on and towards.
8. Regularly read for at least 30 minutes in evening as well. Work with Heartmath, read my business books, sewing information, Juice Plus magazine, etc.
9. I am still shooting for 8 hours of sleep. I have done this as often as possible and it does seem to be helping my energy for me to sleep a little more. (For years I probably only got 5-6 hours a night and thought that was enough for me, but it wasn’t.) So that means go to bed before 11PM, so I probably better shoot for 10:30 bedtime, then I should make it by 11.
10. I also believe in a Sabbath rest day, for some this is Sunday, for others it is Saturday. My weekly routine will include one of these as well.
11. I will be working some temp jobs as well to supplement my income until the alterations/selling stuff I make gets me to the income level I need.

The last plan caused me to be grumpy and stressed several times. This one is less stringent and helps me remember things I want to do. I can add to it as needed for new projects or other things I need to get done. I will also use my daily agenda to help with that, and I will share that tomorrow.

Do you notice a difference without regular exercise? I didn’t realize how much of a difference it was until I managed 2 weeks of Callenetics. My back felt much better, and my daughter thought I had lost weight even though I hadn’t. That was another nice benefit. Gonna try and keep exercising regularly this time.

I also have some business goals I want to share, things I want to develop for business and do for business.

101 Business Goals –

1. Share Juice Plus with at least 1 person a week.                                                   Ongoing
2. Continue to network for insurance.                                                                         Ongoing
3. Network for sewing and Juice Plus as well.                                                           Ongoing
4. Take my measurements as I continue with exercise                                        Weekly
5. Complete alterations for current customer                                                          Weekly
6. Make grocery bags from recycled t-shirts                                                             February 2012
7. Sew apron for daughter, and 1 to sell                                                                     March 2012
8. Sew skirt, make sure pattern works, then create tutorial                                          March 2012
9. Make skirt to sell as well                                                                                               March 2012
10. Take classes in Georgia at Expo                                                                                  March 2012
11. Make rubber ducky things                                                                                           March 2012
12. Make chicken blanket for Easter                                                                             April 2012
13. Sew Raggedy Ann’s – 3 for granddaughters, 3 to sell                                       April 2012
14. List something on Etsy                                                                                              April 2012
15. Create link on Accidentally Angela facebook to list yard sale things              April 2012
16. Sew baby quilts for 2 friends and make at least 1 to sell.                                   April 2012
17. Make the purse from my Scandinavian book                                                       April 2012
18. Make scarves from material I bought in Williamson                                          April 2012
19. Look through my projects and add new things to this list                                  April 2012

All in all, this is more reasonable than the last attempted plan for sure. It is more of an outline of my day than the strict list I was trying to follow before. As I’ve mentioned before, these plans and lists are always flexible, the purpose is to find a way to help me remember the things I need to do and want to do, and I love having it written out instead of just using the sticky notes again. If you have any ideas or encouragement for me, please share! I would love to hear your thoughts on this as well. Thanks! Angela

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A new day is here. We are almost into March and I am wondering at how fast January and February flew past! Maybe with all the problems we had going on that helped grease the tracks, I dunno. But either way, March will be here in a few more days and I want to start it off way better than the last months.

I am going to make a much lower key daily plan for myself. I will share it just so you can see I am a little more realistic, hopefully. I love reading self help books and blogs, and using organizational tips I find in lots of places, especially Pinterest these days. If you haven’t checked into Pinterest yet and are interested, let me know and I can send you an invitation. I have to admit to suffering from pinning addiction at first, but now I can pretty much catch up in just a few minutes with what is happening there, and it is always available for me to pin my interests too. I will share in a later post a little bit more about that. Back to my self help and organizing ways….

I will share my new and improved plan tomorrow. You can see my super overachiever schedule here. Oh well. Like I said, the old one worked for about 2 weeks, even started exercising again. Then everyone got sick, life kinda fell apart and yada yada yada. Even if I get a bump in the road, this new plan will help me stay focused enough to remember what I am trying to accomplish.

Do any of you have memory issues? I do have some problems with forgetfulness too and I am planning on using a daily agenda again to help me keep up with things I need to do as well as things I want to do. I use to call myself the sticky note queen. I would have them all around my computer monitor, and even under my keyboard. It worked pretty well for me because I did keep going through them and when they were finished I could toss them, but my current computer is a laptop and the sticky notes don’t seem to work too well on it. Hence the use of a daily agenda. I have a question for you: how do you stay organized and remind yourself about things you need to do? Ideas folks! I need your ideas! Thanks, Angela

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I really am beginning to question the point of trying to make a plan. This week I planned on sewing all week. Started out great too. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I did a lot of sewing. Wednesday morning, very early, Boyfriend’s grandmother passed away. His family lives a few hours away and it took a little time for them to get here. BF was collecting Grammy’s things and waiting for them. So the rest of the week has been dealing with this and helping his family.

I use to think I always needed a plan, but my plans so seldom happen now I’m just not sure. One person thinks I like drama too much, like I can plan someone’s death right?  Some have the attitude, “Well, that much really can’t happen, you must be exaggerating.” Sorry folks. I’m not.

For the last 2 months, the grands have been sick with double ear infections and bronchitis. They recovered, then BF and my daughter got sick, sick enough to need a little help. Then I got sick, then daughter got sick again. This time she coughed so hard she cracked 3 ribs and couldn’t pick up anything! She was also in a lot of pain, and the 2 yr old was wide open. Before she could fully recover, she started throwing up one night, and we thought she broke a rib. There was actually a loud popping noise and suddenly she was in excruciating pain. Turned out to not be broken rib, she just pulled all the muscles in her diaphragm,,,ouch! On top of all that I have been trying to get my alterations business going as well. Oh, and I almost forgot I worked a temporary job for a while for a flower company to help with Valentine’s orders. Whew! As I said it has just been one thing after another for weeks now. Several of my friends have joined me in praying for health, for rest and for me to not lose my mind. Prayer always helps as well as having friends to talk to….

So, a few months ago I made a ridiculously stringent daily plan out for myself. It actually worked for about 2 weeks, then life decided to interrupt my plan. Imagine that, right? I bet a few of you completely understand what we’ve been going through too. At this point I’m still trying to figure out what I need to be doing, and how I need to be doing it.

Obviously life is still not according to my plan, but I want to work on a better personal plan to use on the days when life has not blown up, or thrown up or broken something. My next daily plan will not be as rough as the last one I put together. Here’s hoping your plans are going a little better for you than mine have for me. Talk to you soon! Angela

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