There are lots of good things that happened to me this year ...
I got a new (to me) car in March that has proved to be reliable and practical - I'd had enough of plunking money into my old truck! Plus, the reduced gas bill is VERY nice. Even when prices were sky high, I was laughing!
We continued our work on the house and I now have most of the upstairs re-done - except one bedroom (needs wallpaper stripped and new paint), part of the bathroom (just needs paint for now and eventually, replacement of the ugly blue sink/toilet/bathtub), kitchen (need new counters) and part of the dining room (just have to strip the ugly floral wallpaper at some point and paint). We have all the materials for a couple of other projects, but we just have not found the time to do them - namely tiling and installing wainscotting in our main entry way. I can't wait to see how gorgeous the slate looks when we finally put it in!
I got knocked up in June after 1.5 years of trying to get pregnant. Of course, the downside of that would be puking for five months straight and then giving that up for almost-constant heartburn (I should buy shares in Tums), but hey, it'll all be worth it in early March!
I bought myself a cocker spaniel puppy in October and he's the new little light of my life. I'm never lonely when Murphy the Smurfy is around! He's almost five months old now and he is my constant companion and shadow when I'm home. He is especially nice now that he is past the teething puppy stage and prefers to chew on his rawhide bone rather than on my fingers and toes. He also helped convince hubby that having a dog in the house, at least part time, is not such a bad thing. I'm working ever-so-slowly towards having a chihuahua or other small house dog at some point!
I also joined the 21st century with the addition of a dishwasher and the re-wiring of the basement so the dryer can be hooked up again. I can now do my household stuff twice as fast! Might seem small to many of you, but after five years of doing dishes by hand and hanging laundry to dry on a line, this is a huge improvement to my life! I can do more than one load of laundry a day in the winter! Although, I have to admit, I love hanging laundry outside in the summer and will probably continue to do so. I love being able to do six loads in a day and have them all drying on our huge laundry lines outside.
At work, we received a new publisher in August and since then, he and I have worked very hard and we've turned a paper in decline into a paper that is better than it's ever been in its 97 year history. I'm very proud of this transformation and the role I played in it!
Relationship wise, hubby and I didn't get divorced
and I think our relationship is better than ever. We still scrap and fight - we're both pigheaded and stubborn - but it's less often and less severe. I think every year that we are married is a huge accomplishment in this day and age. We're coming up on four years of marriage, five years of living together and six years total of being together pretty quick here! That's almost 25 per cent of my young life with this one man!
Personal-business wise, I am taking a break from freelance writing - doing too much writing with my real job to even consider it. This summer, I took and sold a ton of photos and for the first time, saw my work appear in the AMHA magazine - twice! Back in September, I decided to take a break from accepting new web design clients until after my baby is born in order to minimize stress.
Another thing I consider to be a personal accomplishment is seeing my oldest nephew turn his schooling around. Last year, he was going through a stage where he didn't care about school and was falling behind, failing, or just not doing well in a lot of subjects. I worked with him during the summer and encouraged him to think about his future and I am so happy to report that he is now passing everything and has improved his grades considerably and has a plan for his future. He is taking one course by correspondence to catch up on what he messed up on last year. He's also holding down a steady, part-time job. I know I can't take sole credit for his transformation, but I will certainly take some!
