Day 308 of 365

I'm done gambling. Not just done because I'm home from my mom's birthday trip to the casino, but done done. Done for a very long time.

I'm not a very good gambler. I love the thrill of winning - even the anticipation of winning - but the low of losing is just as powerful a feeling. I love having something that I can get so immersed in that I forget about everything else. But the losing times are miserable and I'm not interested in experiencing them anymore. So I'll do what is right.

I'm going to become one of those people who don't like to gamble. A couple of people I met at the casino helped me make that decision.

One gal I've met before. Every time I've been to the casino in the last year I've seen the same lady at the same particular penny machine. Last time I went I struck up a conversation with her and heard her "story". She's on disability and comes to the casino every other week and spends a few days each time. Each trip she plays hour after hour every day on that same slot machine. If I'm heading to the casino, she'll be there - and she was again this trip. I don't want to be that person whose life revolves around the casino, or even the person who is recognized as a regular.

The other gal I met last night. She was sitting at a penny slot machine next to me and kept repeating, "This is stupid." I didn't pay too much attention to her, but saw she had about three dollars in the machine. Then she told me she had put $100 in the machine and hadn't won anything yet. When she got down to a dollar left in the machine, she put in another $20 bill. She still was muttering about it being stupid. (I got the impression she was talking just as much about herself as she was the machine). $120 lost in a penny machine. I don't want to be that person who loses that much on one machine, particularly in pennies.

Knowing myself and my all or nothing way of being, I  made a conscious decision before I left the casino not to return. (At least anytime in the near future.) I have a full life here at home. I have activities that I can immerse in and forget about everything else.

When I got home, a package in the mail confirmed I was making a good decision. My two books ordered from Snapfish. One of all my donation projects for the year and one of my rose garden from this year.

I love the books and am proud of the work I've done and the pictures I've taken. The ten dollars I spent on the books is a much better use of my money than trying my luck with a slot machine.

Make Decorative Binder Clips with Mod Podge - Day 307 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday

Sometimes my husband sees something in my sewing room that he likes.

He saw a clipboard I made and wanted one. I made him his own.

He saw a kids' quilt I made with baseball fabric and wanted it. I made him his own.

He saw a grocery sack holder I made and wanted it. I gave it to him.

But the binder clips from today's tutorial? Yeah, not so much. I was excited about them. I use tons of big black binder clips at work all the time, and I thought maybe my hubby did too. So I told him I'd make him some. I could do star fabric, or red, white and blue, or some patriotic fabric. But he just laughed at me. I think he thought they were the stupidest things he'd ever seen.

I don't care. I like them. I'm using them. And I'm going to make more of them.

Supplies:

• Small scraps of fabric
• Binder clips
• Mod Podge®
• Brush
• Scissors
• Something to protect your work surface

Looking for more sewing and crafting projects? 
Click here to see all my tutorials!

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Click on the video for step-by-step how to instructions to make these decorative binder clips from fabric scraps and Mod Podge:

Day 306 of 365

Next week is my mom's birthday. I always struggle with what to get her, especially with her birthday being so close to Christmas. But this year it was easier.

She likes to gamble. When she lived in California she went to the Indian Casinos a lot and made her way to Reno quite a bit, too. She went so frequently that she always got offers for free rooms, but since she moved back to Idaho she hasn't been able to use them. She has been itching to take a trip down to Jackpot. Actually itching probably isn't a strong enough word for her desire to get some gambling in.

So today I'm picking up my mom and taking her on a casino jaunt for her birthday present. She'll get to gamble to her heart's content for the next two days. Since I still have money leftover from my trip with my husband, I'll get to gamble a bit, too. But I also have leftover work that I didn't get finished over the Christmas break, so I'll be bringing my laptop and papers and folders and files and notebooks along with me for a work session.

Speaking of leftovers, I finished up my flower quilt. Yay! 5 years late, though.

Day 305 of 365

I almost started a new sewing project today, but I stopped myself. I made a conscious decision not embark on any new sewing projects right now.

I have plenty of leftovers.

Leftover, unfinished projects from years back fill a basket in my sewing room. The basket has bugged me on a daily basis year after year. Every day I sew I see that basket. Every day I sew I put that basket out of my mind.

But not today. Today I picked up one of those unfinished projects (my favorite one of the bunch) and got to work on it. Finally after a few years I now have the applique part finished.

With any New Year's Day luck I might be able to get it quilted before the day is over. And this one is going nowhere. It's staying right here with me to hang on a wall somewhere.

Day 304 of 365

I'm not one for New Year's parties. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions either.

Just looking back over 2011 I could never have predicted how my life would have changed.

A year ago this week I had yet another surgery. A lengthy one-armed recovery at my daughter's apartment. Months of even more physical therapy. When the therapy stopped, I counted. Thanks to the back issues and surgeries, 17 of the previous 18 months were spent in physical therapy.

I started a blog. I've been writing and taking a picture every day.

I was able to return to work part-time. I promised myself I wouldn't overwork myself but I did.

I sewed like crazy for kids' and military causes. I did more sewing this year than all my other years combined. When given a choice on my birthday of a new sewing machine or a heck of a lot of quilt batting, I chose the batting. I started filming how-to videos of crafts and cookies and posted them on You Tube.

We grew a vegetable garden and I was able to can and freeze things from the garden. Thanks to my two new post-surgery shoulders I could hang up my laundry on the clothes line for the first time in a couple years. I spent a lot of time sitting on the patio watching momma hummingbird feed her baby.

I had to start giving myself extremely expensive shots to combat arthritis. My hair started falling out. My arthritis didn't get better. I rode an exercise bike every single day. And then I stopped biking and started walking. And then I tried exercise videos, and eventually I stopped exercising at all.

I stayed up late with my daughter taking pictures of lightning. I traveled to the casino by myself and spent the night. I hated it and came home. I started riding the bus to the casino for the day and liked it much better, well enough to go back a couple more times.

I de-cluttered and then stopped. Then I started up again. Then I bought new things and got rid of some old things.

I realized some people are interested in what I'm doing and what I'm saying. Over 15,000 people have visited here so far this year. (A sincere thank you to those who have been here for the sometimes bumpy ride.)

There would have been no way to predict where I would be right now. So no resolutions, no promises, and no hopes for the new year. Just something I found when I was cleaning up some papers this morning. I have no idea when I cut it out or where it came from, but it obviously struck a chord with me then and it still does now.

I'll be going into the New Year with this in mind.

And to you, I hope you have a safe and joyous New Year.