I am so sad that the Colts lost on Sunday. I enjoy sitting in our family room while everyone watches the game. I don’t understand football so I don’t attempt to watch. I enjoy hearing all the hollering that goes on during the game. I have been catching on just by listening but I still do not understand downs. Give me a good basketball game any day.

There sure are a lot of celebrities having babies lately. Gwen Stefani and Nicole Ritchie delivered baby boys. I am glad that they have their lives in order. It is sad when couples have kids but aren’t really interested in being parents. Kids are the ones who suffer.

The courts around here are full of lawsuits where people act immature. They waste money bringing things to court when what they are suing for is ridiculous. I wish the laws were changed so that the person making a claim, has to pay the court for all the time they wasted. Our county is asking for another judge because our court system is backed up. Structured settlement payments are often taken because clients need their money in order to get on with their lives. My friend, who works for a judge, tells me that I don’t want to know everything that goes through our courts.

I digress to my claim about parenting. The kids who go through the courts are often second and third generation clients. I wish there were classes in school to teach morals and ethics.

I was tagged for this meme by my sister who writes over at It’s My Imagination. It sounds like a lot of fun so I am going to get started.

Here are the rules for this meme:

1) Go back through your archives and post links to five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. But there is a catch:
a) Link 1 must be about family.
b) Link 2 must be about friends.
c) Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.
d) Link 4 must be about something you love.
e) Link 5 can be about anything you choose.

2) Post your five links, and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.

Link 1, something about family. This post about my hubby having a fun day out is one of my favorite posts. I named it Guy Thang.

Link 2, something about friends A nice time we had with friends was when we shared our friend’s joy after she had weight loss surgery. It was a hard thing for her to do and we wanted to give her support. I talked about it in my post called Peaceful Wednesday.

Link 3 something about myself. I kinda bared my soul a bit in my comments to another homebody. It Makes You Go Hmmm led me to another writer that I enjoy.

Link 4, about something I love
I am going to choose my post about quilting. I love to choose fabrics and finally see the finished quilt. See my snowman in this post Ready For New Quilt projects

Link 4, anything I choose would be my silly post about boogers. This post cracked me up and I didn’t get a single comment. LOL I called this post Get Your Finger Outta There!

Okay, now to tag 5 people. Two need to be people I have recently become acquainted with.

I think I will choose Mrs. Lavendar over at Simply Heart and Home. She makes wonderful pies. I can almost smell them through the computer! She has one of the prettiest blogs I have ever seen. It is like looking at my grandmother’s old fashioned wall paper when I look at her site.

Another blogger that I am getting to know is Chris at Lone Black Spider. She always has something interesting to say. Her blog is not about spiders!

I love reading The Sassy Southerner. You can’t help but fall in love with her writing.

I keep checking on Laura and her little girl who just had surgery. Laura’s Daily Life

I had no idea how much trouble it would be to get a pair of eye glass frames that felt right. I started out trying no line bifocals and I just could not get used to them. I didn’t know where to look through the lenses. I suppose, I could have gotten used to them but they were giving me headaches. My eye doctor decided I would do better with lined trifocals. They used my same frame but made them trifocals. I wish I would have picked a larger frame. I find myself looking over my glasses when I look at people. It is very awkward. I am constantly adjusting these frames on my nose. I don’t think that my eye doctor will do anything for me short of having me purchase another new frame. I am too embarrassed to do that.

My frustration took me to the Internet where I made this great discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com. From what I read on their website, they have very low prices. That is what I need to make this whole thing less painful. Who would have thought it would be such a pain to get a pair of glasses that fit. It is heck getting older.

It has finally arrived! Izea Ranks is the new tool that shows your blog traffic. Izea Ranks uses real value to find out how popular your blog is and how much value it has for advertisers. Sign up for an account, then claim your blog by adding in the code to the footer or header of your blog. Your real time blog stats will be available immediately for you to view. I thought the code was already installed on my blog and it wasn’t so it is a good idea to check.

I was surprised to see which blogs are in the top 100. I plan on learning from those bloggers. Get signed up at Izea Ranks and happy blogging.

I love Saturdays. I have fun staying in my pajamas and sew away the hours. Today I hope to get all the rows of my latest quilt put together. When we meet for quilt guild next week, I would like to ask my friend to machine quilt it and finish it for me. I have never had any of my quilts professionally quilted.

I have tried my hand at machine quilting and have mixed results. It is hard to learn how to machine quilt. There is not a good way to “practice.” You just have to go for it. It seems that the faster my machine goes, the more even my stitches are. Just when I think I am doing a good job, I stop and check the back of my quilt and find places where the bottom thread is gapping. I don’t know how to stop that. I tried to sign up for a machine quilting class at the Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge in March but by the time I tried to register, the class was full. The registration opened on Wednesday and everyone must have rushed in to sign up. On Thursday, the classes I wanted were not available because they were full. Darn.

My friends approach me with their child’s order forms and I know that they hate having to ask me to buy more junk. You know the quality of the stuff offered. I have been there and know how they feel. I feel their pain. It seems like the minute school starts, our kids are handed packets and told to get out there and make money. I hate it. It isn’t so much that they have to sell the stuff but rather the amount of time and hassle it takes to deliver it. I would rather get together as a community and earn money to give to our schools. In order to keep our taxes low it is necessary to have other ways to bring money to our schools. Programs like band, sports and others need the money in order to continue operating.

There is a wonderful program, Shoutback, for fundraising that is outside the normal sales type of fundraising. Shoutback has an auction system that makes fundraising easy.

Shoutback is an easy way for schools, churches, Boy & Girl Scout troops and other organizations to make money. I plan to tell our youth minister about Shoutback. I think he will appreciate a unique way to make money for our church’s youth programs.

Ah, the holidays are over. Now it is time to settle into the new year of taking care of business, washing clothes and fixing meals. I am also looking forward to learning new things at my quilt guild meetings. We finished making a snowman wall hanging just before our break which began in November. I have to remember to bring my note stating 4 things I hope to achieve in quilting.

I have trouble making mitered corners when I put binding on my quilts. That is an area I would like to improve. I would also like to learn to put unusual colors together. I am always playing it safe when I choose fabric. It would be fun to go a little crazy. LOL I am not sure what to list for the other two things. I will have to think on it.

The new year brings a few changes to our business. We have been displaying products that have not moved for awhile. It is time to rethink those products. They take up valuable space on our showroom floor. It is time to find more equipment financing and call our salesmen! They will be thrilled. They are always pushing new displays and products. It will be fun to be the one who initiates the conversation. We have always gone with the adage that you can’t sell from an empty wagon. My take on that is that you can’t sell from outdated displays! So, bring on the latest, razzle, dazzle! I am checking with Crest Capital for financing because they have the least amount of hassle when applying for a loan. They have small businesses like ours at heart and simplify the process. Crest Capital has expertise in financing a broad array of equipment, vehicles, furniture and software for a variety of industries. I am looking forward to working with them.