* The photo at left {the wall paper} is a lovely snowy photo of a building in Ellsworth, Maine. So pretty! I LOVE the combination of Snow and Red Buildings almost as much as I love Red & White Quilts!

...and now, comes the Drum Roll up to the New Year! We don't go out, but New Years Eve is still very enjoyable here at home; we watch a movie on the telly, eat chips and onion dip, and don't feel under huge obligation to stay up 'til midnight! THIS YEAR though, I feel as though I would like to personally escort 2021 OUT the door! {Maybe with a Kick in the Pants, out into the ICY freezing air, never to be seen again! WHAT a year!}...and this is a perfect time for us to envision, what is the change we would like to see, in a new year? What kind of life seems "just right" for each of us? What can we work on to make that happen? Dreams? Aspirations? Can you picture it? Let's!

There are things I wish for the world, and don't know of a specific way to help, other than digging in and being sure that what comes out of my "house", at the very least, doesn't cause more harm. Things I wish for the family; grow more of our own food/shop more from farms/ put up more food ourselves. Read more. See every opportunity to HELP, where help is needed. Be more encouraging. Get outside in the fresh air more. Be with people more-laugh and enjoy more experiences with others. It's nearing New Years...I go through this every year :o) As you know. <grin>

This afternoon I am making a GiGunda Meatloaf. (If there really IS a word GiGunda I have NO idea how to spell it!) It's part of the New Years plan. Cook more at home. Cook more when you do cook, so that there is always something you can pull out of the freezer/canning cupboard to make a meal when you don't feel like it. Go Me! If I was clever, I've pulled enough hamburg out of the freezer to make three bread-pan sized meat loafs! This is a favorite recipe, and probably the one I'll use today!* I don't generally use the bacon on top, so you can shorten the cooking time some! (Fabulous way to use up my leftover bread ends too!)

These were Katie's Christmas present. Seriously 5-10 minutes and all three were toast. She LOVES a "stuffie"...so much fun!...But we have never in 9 years found one she didn't eat through in mere minutes! Ideas? It's pointless to sew these guys up, as it would just be another couple minutes 'til they were spilling stuffing again! Ask me how I know. We've done the fire hose ones too.

Slight break there while I got the meat loafs in the oven. Hmm. Meat LOAVES? Meat loafs? Hmmm. Whatever...smells delish already! ::::some time later:::: I wound up getting FOUR meals worth! We ate one and three are in the freezer! That feels GREAT!

Now, before I fall asleep at the keyboard, I guess I will head to bed and maybe even read for a while. The current book is Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression, by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. The author was one of the Little Heathens in her youth :) I'm loving it so far - a light hearted glimpse at a time mostly forgotten. Lives that while poor in cash, were rich in experiences and relationships.

Happy Quilting All, and oh so close to a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Marcia :o)

" If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going". Prof. Irwin Corey