keeping secrets

I can keep a secret

I work on Christmas projects all year long and keep a file of pictures that I write about all at once after Christmas presents are all distributed

for the past few months I've been working on a project that is not a Christmas project, but because I wasn't sure about my ability to carry off the technique or the response of the intended recipient, I decided to stay under the radar with it

that project is now to the half way point, and I've decided it's time to come out of the closet

this is the piece

for the last week or so I've been working on this every day, having decided there is no point putting it off -- it's time to get it done!

beside that, I need to get it off the design wall so I can put some other pieces up there

it's been a big week

for the past month I've been using the "pay as you go" system at the local recreation center to do water aerobics a couple times a week

on March 1 Medicare kicked in for me (love that I won't actually be 65 until the end of the month, but I can start using my benefits on the first!)

with Medicare my Kaiser insurance pays for me to have Silver Sneakers, which means my health insurance includes allowing me to go to the gym to stay healthy

for the first time in my life I'm a card carrying gym member -- talk about teaching an old dog new tricks!

along with the trips to the pool (which is supposed to help my knee), I'm still fiddling with my diet in an attempt to control the issues of keeping sugars and fats down

I admit I hate this part -- I do not like having to say "no, I can't eat that" especially when I'm still working out what "that" is

my attempt at making this less difficult is to play with the food

this was a recent "art salad"

for the first time since the 2nd of January I've begun to work on a piece of beading

frankly, I'm more than a little frustrated with doing these pieces and listing them on Etsy and never selling any of them -- since that is the main reason I make them

this month, however, one of the groups I belong to on Etsy announced a challenge that has a them that interests me, and since I had everything I need already, I'm going to try out an idea that I'm not even sure will work

it's a beginning

 

nice progress being made on the sweater I'm making for my daughter -- there are 208 stitches in each row, and I can do 4 rows in a hour, which is my self-imposed required time to work on this each evening in front of the TV -- moving right along

I'm still working on this piece too

(this is not a newer picture than the last post -- it's big so it's hard to photograph without putting it up on the design wall -- which right now has something else on it!)

it's coming along too

and while I'm working on the first water piece that deals with the dust bowl, I'm also thinking about a second piece that will involve these three images

the brain is busy -- need to work faster to make these pieces "real"