In With the New... and Old!

Am I the only who can't figure out where 2012 went?  Or the holidays for that matter?!  I can't believe I'm back to school on Monday... and that the date ends in 2013.  I'll surely be writing 2012 until at least February.

A little known habit of mine is that each year I make a whole list of New Year's resolutions.  I aim for about 10.  Last year I kept all but 3.  Pretty good in my books!  Some people argue that you should be trying to improve yourself all year, not just in January.  Agreed.  I find that writing down some priorities helps me to focus for the year though.  I try to have at least one goal in several major areas.  Here are this year's "highlights".

Exercise goal:
- Add a weekly swim to exercise routine.

Eating goal:
- Try at least 1 new recipe per month that has leafy greens (swiss chard, kale, etc.) as a main ingredient.

Work goal:
- For every negative phone call home, make at least one positive phone call home.

Spiritual goal:
- Attend a retreat and/or read a book regarding spiritual gifts

Family goal:
- Give or send a birthday card to all parents and siblings (including in-laws)... on time!

Last but certainly not least - Beading goal:
- Complete all jewelry repair work before making any more new jewelry.

I have had this bin of jewelry needing repair or rebuilding for years now.  Items come and go, but I would say that about half of them have been sitting there for at least a year.  I guess I just don't find repairing jewelry to be as much fun as creating new pieces.  That said, there are some beautiful items that I paid good money for (okay... $10 at most) that I would love have back, so it's time to get them fixed. 

I'm going to start this week with repair work for other people.  If the Christmas season reminds me of anything, it's that it is better to give than to receive.  That's not to say that you should stop buying me wonderful gifts like you did this year!  Thank you!!!

Over the holiday season I agreed to repair three different bracelets.  Come to think of it, I hope that nobody was planning to wear one of those bracelets to a holiday party... too late now!

I thought that all three repairs would be quite easy.  67% isn't that bad right?

Two of the bracelets belong to our friend Ashley, one of the few females in the MBA program with Tom last year.  She did a project with Tom in entrepreneurship class about starting a "design-your-own" jewelry business.  I'm happy to help her with any of her jewelry needs in case things in teaching keep going downhill and I need her help in pursuing a career as a jewelry maker.  Actually she just had a couple of really pretty bracelets that were out of commission over easily-fixed problems... I love being able to fix those things!  Both bracelets simply had a jump ring (small round loop) that had opened up and deformed.  It took a grand total of about 5 minutes to fix them both.  The number of days it will take to return the bracelets (in addition to the 3 weeks I've already had them) has yet to be determined.


The last bracelet belongs to a friend of Joan's.  Joan, if you told me who the friend is, I really can't remember now.  Anyway, it's a really beautiful bracelet, and the only problem is that the elastic that the beads are on is so stretched out that the bracelet is too big.  To make my life even easier, the bracelet was made of 16 pieces that held 6 beads each.  The beads wouldn't have to be touched, I would just have to put elastic cord back through the 16 pieces.  Putting a new elastic through 16 pieces should be a quick job right? Wrong!  It turns out that putting the elastic cord through the small holes in each piece wasn't so quick or easy.  Did I mention that each piece had 4 holes. It took me 10 minutes to get the elastic through the first piece.

10 mins x 16 pieces = TOO LONG!

Thankfully I'm a science teacher and a problem solver.  I got out my sewing basket and grabbed a needle threader.  I got the elastic through the next two holes easily.  I'm not sure if I got over confident or what, but I must of pulled the next one really hard, because the needle threader ripped apart instead of pulling the elastic through the hole.  After a quick search I discovered that I only owned one needle threader.  I tried using a needle to push the elastic cord through the hole, but I put the needle through both the elastic and the hole, without pushing the elastic cord anywhere.  I needed a needle threader.

I live in Arnprior and Tom was at work with the car, so going out to buy a needle threader wasn't much of an option.  I made a makeshift needle threader (then a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) out of a needle and thread, and within a half hour I was done the bracelet.  It's a really fun one!  I wish I could take credit for the design.  This one should be returned to Joan within the week, and to her friend... well that's not my problem.

Happy New Year!  I'd love to hear about your resolutions if you've made them.