My friend Laura did this questionnaire on her blog, and I thought it was a great way to review 2008, and get set for 2009. Here are the questions and my answers.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’
ve never done before? I ran in the Race for the Cure- a 5K in memory of my friend Peggy who died in March and in celebration of my Aunt Lori who is a breast cancer survivor.
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? Here are last years resolutions and if I succeeded or not:
- Being nicer to my family...I have come to see myself differently than I ever wanted to be these last few months. I have a shorter temper, less patience, and am quick to react. I don't want to be this way, so, I have resolved to be better.
**I tried, really hard- does that count?! I am still working on this one!
- Not sweating the small stuff...we have all heard it before, I have more than a dozen times, and it sounds simple enough, but sometimes, for me, anyway, I have a really hard time doing this. I let the little things get to me, and they can quickly take over my day. I want this to change as well, so I have resolved to do better.
** I am trying, and will keep trying!
- Keeping this blog up to date and as a journal of the things in my life. I have found great joy through typing up a few thoughts every few days, and I want to continue so that I can see the progress I have made through the year, and my children can see all that we have accomplished. I want to keep a journal, and write more often, so I resolve to do that.
***I did this one!!
Whoo hoo!! I actually completed a resolution! That is awesome!
Here are my resolutions for this year:
- Work hard to get our house ready to sell in a few months.
- Run the Race for the Cure again in May and better my time.
- Go to the Temple at least once a month- thanks to my parents, we are scheduled through June!
- Shop less- this one is a toughie!
- Serve selflessly in my calling.
- Pay more attention to the details and not worry so much about the things that don’t need worrying about!
- Be a better friend.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend Ashley had twins that I adore.
4. Did anyone close to you die? My friend from college, Peggy. She was 32 and left behind an adoring husband and 2 little boys. I miss her more than I thought I could.
5. What countries did you visit? Uh, none, but we did visit the beach again!
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? More love and patience with my husband and kids.
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched in your memory and why? The wind storm in September- it was so strong that it nearly knocked me over as I stood outside trying to talk to my neighbor. It was the most bizarre weather occurrence here in Ohio that I have ever felt or witnessed. We lost TV and
Internet for nearly a week! I was dying! Sadly, most of our neighbors lost power for that amount of time- school was even closed for three days!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Not losing my mind when things went awry.
9. What was your biggest failure? Nearly losing my mind when things went awry.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I started getting headaches like I have never had in my life. They drive me crazy and nearly leave me debilitated for the time.
Meds don’t seem to work, but thankfully they
aren’t as often as they had been over the fall- I think they run in line with seasonal allergies, to be honest.
11. What was the best thing you bought? A new washer.
12. Where did most of your money go? Kohl’s- duh!
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Vacation
14. Happier or sadder? Happier.
15. Thinner or fatter? I am pretty much constant with last year- but trying to lose a few and stay in shape with the
Wii Fit. I can't give up the treadmill, either.
16. Richer or poorer? Well, our savings say we are richer, but that is because we saved our entire tax return from last year, and our pay checks now are more because we changed our deductions. We need a lot of money if we are going to move this year.
17. What do you wish you’d done more of? Listening
18. What do you wish you’d done less of? Wasting time
19. How did you spend Christmas? With my family and brother- our tradition of Christmas Eve with them and dinner on Christmas- I loved it!
20. Did you fall in love in 2008? I
didn’t fall out of love, so I must still be in love! I am one lucky girl.
21. What was your favorite TV show? We love Prison Break,
SVU and Life- and this year we started loving The Office.
22. What was the best book you read? I read a lot this year- but the Twilight series are probably the best. I also read The Host, A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Glass Castle, to name a few- they are all wonderful. I joined a book club with some girlfriends and that has been a blast- we are going to read, read, read this year!
23. What was your greatest musical discovery of 2008? MP3 players for my kids and listening to them singing out loud- though it is not in tune, it can be music to my ears!
24. What did you want and get? A vacation- and we took my mom- the best decision for that!
25. What did you want and not get? A new house. Maybe this year!
26. What was your favorite film this year? I saw 2- Indiana Jones and Twilight- neither was that fantastic, but I still would watch them again- and that says something because I rarely re-watch movies.
27. What did you do on your birthday? We had been at the beach the week before, so I went out to
Easton with Bonnie, Tiffany from New York and Alexa for dinner and ice cream- it was so fun.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Less home repairs.
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? I bought clothes that actually fit me- and believe it or not- the sizes vary in each item-I won’t tell you the sizes, but I was happy and surprised. My wardrobe expanded and each item I bought I made sure I loved, and
didn’t buy just because it was on sale or clearance.
30. What kept you sane? Since I am barely sane, I will say….the scriptures, and my daily routines.
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I try to only read the front page of the magazines at the store, and I only watched E! a few times, so I
didn’t really love anyone in the celebrity market.
32. What political issue stirred you the most? I
didn’t love anyone running for President this year- I barely wanted to vote at all. I was so disappointed that the two choices this year were who they were- I so thought we could do better than them. I was not shocked when Obama won- whoever ran against McCain stood a better chance than McCain. Sadly I am afraid for our nation now.
33. Who did you miss? Dana’s parents.
34. Who was the best new person you met? I reconnected with many people on
Facebook this year, and that has been super fun.
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. I learned again that things don’t always happen when and how I want them to. I still need to learn patience and accept and love what comes my way.
On our way out, I snapped these of Emma and Celeste in the snow- they are darling.
It is so cold here, yet Celeste refuses to wear gloves- so when she touched the snow, she cried when her hands were freezing! Duh!!
Story time only lasts about a half hour, but it is just enough for these 3 year olds- we will see what next week brings!
Courtesy of Dana- who I fired after missing the shot with his principal!
Love the action of him in basketball- he has really stepped it up in defense and got the Defensive player of the game this week.
We are so proud of all his accomplishments, on the court and in the classroom. As a matter of fact, the 3rd graders all had to read 4 books this 9 week grading period- and they have to test on each one of them. When the grading period started, Alex was grounded, and in his room, so he had not much else to do but read. He started reading 2 a day, and taking the test the next day. This went on for the week or so he was in his room. Well, he was on a roll- he just kept going and going. Today he takes his 50th test- yes, he has read 50 books in under 9 weeks! These are chapter books, too- not 10 pagers- all on a 4th or 5th or higher grading level. He isn't even in competition with other 3rd graders anymore- his teacher told me the next girl has 30. He just wants to keep it up- he is in competition with himself- and his goal was 50! This morning I said, after he takes the test, he can take a reading break for a while. He said, nope, I am going to get 2 more today. He is motivated! And, incidentally, we have not rewarded him for this- he is doing it solely on his own! We are so proud of him! We love you, Alex!!
She still had that little girl face last year...
Look at the difference one year can make:
Her hair is so long, but so fine, and she doesn't really seem to mind it, even when it hangs in her face- thankfully she will let me put pretties in it- but they come out the minute we get home!
I had to bribe her to keep this headband in her hair for the picture- the bribe, gum- yes, this girl will do anything for gum- including staying in her bed all night- bless Dana for figuring out what she loves...it is priceless!
This week, I am buying a new back door- if that isn't exciting, well, I don't know what is- seriously, I am very much looking forward to it- and I will post pics of my new kitchen curtains, courtesy of my wonderful mother- and so just hang on a day or two- I will keep trying...
This is just one of the paneled walls.
This is the last partial wall- the one that leads to our 4th level.
Here is Al doing the paneling- you can see how fresh the new color looks.
Here is Celeste keeping busy while staying out of the way: She was watching Kung Fu Panda!
They are nuts!
It worked, only Alex got his hand in wet paint, rushing to get upstairs- and practically the whole basement was wet, so that was pretty good!
And here are the finished walls: The one on the left is painted and the one on the right is the original- can you see the difference? It is slight, but so much lighter!
This is going down the steps now:
The whole room is just so much more open now that it is uniform in color. I can just feel the difference in it.
I chose eggshell for the first time, and I loved it! It is very durable and washable! Love that it hides a little of the glue residue too!
Well, there you have it. I also cleaned out the toys that we have down there- and put a ton away- the ones they have outgrown. The pile is so condensed and the space is much nicer now. I just loved watching him do all the hard work- a change for sure!!
Our kids are getting better at smiling at the camera on the tripod.
I realized that Celeste is the only one not in a red shirt!
She is so funny- she loves to have her picture taken- can you tell?!
Daddy's Buckeye Girls
We played a really great game, I thought. We just couldn't pull off the win. We were severe underdogs, and we only lost by 3 points. That is pretty good. It truly doesn't matter to me, we will be back next year and will go for it again. I still love our Buckeyes, and we are training our children well, don't you think?!
I love this action shot- this is him driving it in to score!
He got defensive player of the game- he is getting more aggressive!
He loves being #22, since that is Aunt Ivy's football number!
He is usually the one to take the ball down the court.
He is working on rebounding- he needs to get his hands up!
It's 2009- unbelievable!! I am very excited for this year to begin- this is going to be a GREAT, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC year!! I don't know all the reasons why, but it is and I wish the same for all of you!
