Intention

noun in·ten·tion \in-ˈten(t)-shən\

Simple Definition of intention (from Merriam-Webster)

: the thing that you plan to do or achieve : an aim or purpose

Full Definition of intention

1. a determination to act in a certain way : resolve

2. import, significance

3. what one intends to do or bring about

4. a process or manner of healing of incised wounds

5. concept; especially :  a concept considered as the product of attention directed to an object of knowledge

That’s it – my Word of the Year.  I decided I need to focus on where I’m headed and what I want to achieve – as opposed to just letting each day take me where it will.

“Our intention creates our reality.”  --Wayne Dyer

Last year, my Word sort of fizzled out some time in March.  I don’t want that to happen this year.  To help keep this year’s word in front of me, I created a planner.

I searched for quotes about Intention and included one for each week.  Some are about what Intention can do for you, and some are reminders that it takes more than just intent to make progress.

“Mindfulness has helped me succeed in almost every dimension of my life. By stopping regularly to look inward and become aware of my mental state, I stay connected to the source of my actions and thoughts and can guide them with considerably more intention.”  -- Dustin Moskovitz

I printed out calendars for each month as well, and space for notes, plus a review at the end of each month.  I even made a separate section with specific goals and space for more notes.  Oh boy, am I ever organized!

I had the most fun, though, binding it all together.  I saw a post  somewhere once where the binding had heart patterns in it.  So, I figured why not put the year on the spine?  It’s pretty rough (and it was really a hassle to do!), but I am amazed that you can actually read the year!  Wow!

So, now that January is almost over, how am I doing?  Well . . . . . my intention was to write this post at the beginning of the month .  . . . . and my intention was to actually write two posts – one for the Word and one for the planner.  But, hey!  At least it’s still January!!

Maybe February will be better.

Saying Goodbye to 2015

This is the time when everyone is posting a wrap-up or recap of the past year before turning toward the New Year.  Well, actually, everyone else did this LAST week.  I’m always late!  Sigh.

I didn’t seem to take as many pictures this past year as usual (Note to self:  add “take more pictures” to the ToDo list – item #3,086!).  The one advantage is that it was easier to put together this summary layout.

Most of those photos were posted here at some time during the year, but in case you missed one or two, here they are.

Dolls:

Quilts:

and Other:

Well, now that that’s out of the way, I can get started on this year.  Lots of fun stuff coming up.  I’ll try to keep you posted and (ahem) take more photos!

If I Were A Superstitious Woman . . .

I might be worried about how the last week or so predicts my next year!  It’s been a bit frustrating, really!

It started with this guy:

I’m showing you his picture again so you can see the before.  Once he had a body I baked him again.

Yikes!  I didn’t notice his head was right up against the heating element.  Oh my.

So, his hat just needed to be bigger.  I couldn’t bear to put him aside.  He’s so darn cute!  Here is the rest of him.

It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing to get to this point.  That beard had some issues, too.  But I learned a lot of lessons on this project and I’m ready to motor on.

Posting to the blog became a problem when I started getting errors in LiveWriter.  Seems LW and Google have stopped talking to each other.  I started using LW because I don’t have the patience for posting directly on Blogger.  Pictures are a problem, and you know I like to use a lot of pictures!

Eventually, I discovered some other bloggers having the same problem, and followed them to the solution – OpenLiveWriter.  Yeah!  We’re back in business.

Er . . . maybe not.  No internet on the (new) laptop!  Everything else seems to be working, so I start trouble shooting and get no where fast.  Eventually, the tablets lost access, too, and that pointed to our WiFi. 

So, new equipment installed, devices reconfigured, and NOW we’re back in business!

I’m taking the view that all the equipment has been upgraded and all the “bad” stuff has already happened.  So, smooth sailing and blue skies and all that from now on.  Right?  Right.