Oh...

...man.

2012 is going to be amazing.  I love my resolutions and celebrate the hopefulness that fills me almost every morning.

(Yesterday was tough after spending 11 hours gutting the garage with DS2 in preparation for moving out of our storage unit but even then, the idea of saving $130 a month is a hopeful thought.  $1560 a year is a trip to Japan, right?)

So, today has been a good day.  Worked out my sore, exhausted self for an hour last night at the gym and came home feeling great.  Good night sleep, good day at work.

Came home to my facebook friends and learned, sadly, that a former stitching friend can no longer stitch because of a new physical condition.  She reminded me that one of my resolutions for 2012 is to finish my "Firefly Faeries" cross stitch.  The last time I worked on it was the last time I visited Eden, Utah, which was about three years ago.

I have dozens of projects (cross-stitch, quilt, doll, embroidery) stashed around my house, waiting until I can retire when I will have the time to do them.

Naivete, your name is Debi.

It never dawned on me that 1) As I aged (arthritis, eyesight, attention span), it would be more difficult to do the stitchery that I've collected and 2) the economy would tank and I would have to postpone my retirement for possibly as long as 15 years, taking me to 70, when my body would have even more problems.

Hence the resolution.  I want to complete some of these more difficult projects while I still have the chops.

So, I dug out the faeries, my favorite of the UFOs.

Locate the project..

...and the fibers.
 

Snap it into a frame...


...and add the protective covering for the edges.
 

Mount the absolutely essential magnifying lens...

...and I'm ready to stitch.


All I need now is the chart.  Ah, yes, there it is.  I'll just mount it on its stand and...

2012 Resolution #2 - Clean up my language.  No more "f" word.  Actually I decided to replace the common "f" word with the word "forgive".  But "frustrated" seems more appropriate right about now.  "Furious," maybe.  "Fearful"?  "Faltering?"

FAIL.

Three years.  I have no memory of writing myself that note, so no idea what the problem is.  All I can do now is wait until I can "follow" the directions I left myself three years ago and make a new copy of the chart (or two or ten or maybe just "four") and highlight my way through the chart to see where the error is.

I know I left out two vertical rows in the blue dress but was able to make it "good enough."  Somehow - because I left myself that note - I'm thinking the green dress has more serious problems.

"Foolish" Debi.  It's 2012.  It's going to be "fabulous."

Keep moving "forward." 

Walt Disney never steers me wrong.