Happy New Year!

I certainly hope this year is better than 2012 was. I lost one of my cousins in June. Dave was only 53. He died of heart failure. I miss him. He was such a good man. He never married or had a family of his own, but everyone in our small town loved him. 

We also lost Midget, our old Norwegian Elkhound. He was 14 years old. such a good old boy. He was always my shadow. I cried all day the day we lost him. I still miss him. Rest in peace old boy.

 We lost both of my female rabbits. Sassy and Sara were both due to have babies when the terrible heat wave hit. I did everything I could think of, but I couldn't save them. Now Sammy is a pet. I just haven't had the heart to get any more rabbits. I guess raising rabbits isn't for me. Sam will just be my pet. 

We had a terrible problem with coons getting our chickens. They were literally tearing our chicken house roof off and pulling the chickens off the roost. We spent a couple of weeks stalking the chicken house during the night. Even bought a baby monitor and put it in the coop. We finally had to put tin down over the shingles of the roof to keep the coons out. We lost 3 roosters and 3 pullets before we got this stopped. Didn't lose any ducks. I guess they are too noisy.  So now I have 8 hens, 2 roosters, 2 drakes, and 7 duck hens. We bought waterers that I plug in to keep the water from freezing. Choring in the winter is not easy. 

So as you can see, 2012 was not kind to us. I am hoping and praying for a much better 2013!  I have made some goals that I hope to reach this coming year. Of course, not all of 2012 was bad. I decided at the end of Sept. that I had to lose some weight and start getting healthy. Since then, I have lost almost 20 lbs. I have been exercising and feel much better. The holidays have been rough, but I actually have done better this year than ever before, on not eating lots of junk. LOL  Kevin joined me on the weight loss journey. He has lost over 40 lbs. Yeah, I know! Guys lose faster that girls. Not really fair, is it. LOL

My goals for 2013
 1. Get healthy
 2. Lose 50 lbs
 3.Learn to knit socks. I have a book and knitting needles ordered. 
 4.Make a Carpenter Star for mom's 75th birthday.
 5.Make a quilt for my niece and her fiance who are getting married in October. 
 6.Finish up the 2012 BOMs that I fell behind in.
 7.Raise a large vegetable garden.
 8.Get back into juicing at least once a day. 
 9.Last but not least by any means, read my Bible more consistently.

  This is a pretty good list for me. Now to just stick with it. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe new year. We are getting a snow storm here, so hopefully most people will stay in off the roads tonight.