Welcome back! Ah! Doesn’t it feel great to be starting out the New Year at work?

Well, maybe not. I may have occasion to rethink that enthusiasm in the near future. Right now I am looking at the diary I’d already prepped before I left for the break and feeling like this week should be a cruise. There doesn’t look like anything urgent popped up, so I shall just attack everything methodically. And play the tunes. As at the post-lunch snooze attack, my personal inbox is cleared & lots of reporting done.

This year I’m going to continue with the Smalls and WIPocalypse, and add in a reading challenge. I’m going with a suggestion of Stone Soup for Five blog’s and putting the Challies poster up at work so I can see some progress. I want to read less trash in 2016 & put more of the good stuff into my head. WARNING: this challenge is compiled by a Christian so if you don’t believe or aren’t exploring Faith, I would suggest that you research another reading challenge. There are plenty out there in Blogland and lots of “tick the box” graphics on Pinterest.

I’m also part of a One Little Word Repeaters Club on FB. We all gave up the prompts partway thru 2015 & none of us are motivated enough to pay for the prompts again this year, especially when we can easily log back into the 2015 class & re-print. I am still undecided on my word – MAKE or MOVE. MAKE because I feel so much better if I do craft something every day and MOVE because I need to. Maybe I should commit to two words?

Stitching wise, I started the New Year right with #newyearnewmira and kicked off Raven Queen. Surprisingly she does appear to work on the fabric I dyed back in August or September or whenever. The stand from Andie means I can cope with stitching on 32ct again, even if it’s uneven. And blissfully, I’ve had no carpel tunnel symptoms for nearly two weeks (except when I was painting the gate). Taking a complete computer break for the holidays was the right decision to make.

I’ve decided to rotate my Mira WIPs in the expectation that none become a UFO. Plans will be in my January WIPocalypse post – as otherwise I’ll have nothing to say then J but here’s a recap of Decembers Goals:

• Set up planner for 2016 with monthly layout for stitching goals & rotation notes, and Week-to-View for the normal stuff, including blog planning COMPLETED
• Work out what WIPs I am taking into “16 in 2016” COMPLETED – I only have 8 including one I need to start, so this could be pathetic!
• Stitch Lenna’s RR portion – Moonlight Laguna mermaid COMPLETED
• Keep up with December Daily. I’m opting to use a Heidi Swapp album in a different format from normal, and a Project Life kit that isn’t Christmas-y at all, but I thought better suited for our Summer. I’m also printing the photos on our printer here at work daily & I’ll re-print on proper photo paper later on. Better to have everything recorded than to stop like I did last year as it got too much. COMPLETED TO DEC 23RD so heaps better than last year!
• Start Mermaids of the Deep Blue so it’s a WIP to take into “16 in 2016” – technically a bit of a cheat, but there you go. STARTED & FIRST ROTATION GOAL REACHED.

In fact, I got further than this with the two smalls stitched and a portion of Rose of Provence. I put her on the stand when I reached the MOTB goal just to see if I would recover my initial enthusiasm or if I really did want to walk away from that fabric. I’m relieved to say that I did settle in for the three days she was on the stand & that I’ve given up on a tidy back. Threads go here there and everywhere on this one – no lumps so it’s OK.

How are y’all doing?