1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I wrote an obituary, had a booth at the apple festival & held myself together when Troy almost died.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t ever make resolutions, I wouldn’t keep them anyway & then I’d feel like a failure. I just try to better myself every year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, my friend Sarah did on March 20 and my friend Summer on November 2 or 3.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, my grandma, on August 7.

5. What countries did you visit? None. We aren’t much on the whole world-traveler thing.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A little more money & a little more privacy for Troy & I.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? June 12, August 7 & November 16-22. Rhi attempted suicide on June 12 & because of that we finally got answers & help for her bi-polar disorder. My grandma died on August 7, at age 93. And Troy first went to the hospital for help on Nov. 16, was told to go home & go back the next day for a test. He was admitted to the ICU on the 17th, with sepsis, a gangrenous gall bladder & would have died if he hadn’t had surgery that night. He was discharged on the 22nd.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Probably coming out of my shell & participating in a local pagan group instead of thinking i have to be solitary my whole life. That took a lot for me to overcome so I could, but I’m thankful that I did.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not taking Rhi’s suicide threats seriously enough.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I have spent every day since November 22 sick.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My laptop.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My son Erin has come a long way from where he was this time last year, Rhi has also made a lot of changes & improvements.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My former friend, Blake.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills - car payments, credit cards, rent.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Rhi’s graduation

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Mockingbird by Eminem, because Rhi listened to it so much.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Sadder
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner
c) richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spending quality time with Troy

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Avoiding my grandma

20. How did you spend Christmas? With my family & then with my friends.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? I fall more in love with Troy every day, so yes.

22. What was your favorite TV program? True Blood, Dexter & Californication

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t waste my time hating.

24. What was the best book you read? Jim Butcher’s Dresden series & Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I don’t think I discovered any new artists, but I developed a love for Rock Band, does that count?

26. What did you want and get? A laptop & a Nintendo DS Lite.

27. What did you want and not get? Nothing that I can think of.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? The Dark Knight

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I don’t think I did anything, although I didn’t have to cook. I turned 42.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? For the back half of the year not to have been filled with so much sadness, fear, loss & stress.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Comfortable, like every other year.

32. What kept you sane? My friends & Troy.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Barack Obama, but only in a “I really admire & support you” kind of way.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? The economy & the election

35. Who did you miss? Garrett, Ryan after he moved, Dave

36. Who was the best new person you met? I met a lot of really awesome people this year, it would be unfair to name one of them as the “best.”

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Not to take the people I love for granted. Ever.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Unwritten Law - You Can’t Save Me

“You can’t save me, you can’t change me”

Troy has a Pocket PC, and it takes a micro sd card, which, in order for him to load things on it from his computer, requires an adapter. You put the tiny card into it & it makes it the same size as a standard SD card. Well, Troy broke his adapter about a week before Christmas, so we went out to find a new one. We figured it would be as easy as it was 6 months ago when we bought the first one, but no. Walmart didn’t carry them anymore, neither did Staples, so we went to the last resort - Radio Shack. They had one left & had no plans to carry them again. Apparently the technology has changed again, so he has to make sure he doesn’t break this one, or he won’t be able to use it anymore. It doesn’t really matter, I got him an iPod Nano for Christmas & he’ll use it for the exact same things he was using the Pocket PC for, but he tends to pack rat everything & keep using it long after he needs to.

I just can’t believe how quickly things change sometimes, though. 6 months ago those adapters were all over the place, now we bought the very last one that was available in our town. It’s crazy.. but then, I never knew what an SD card was 6 years ago, either.

Well, not really, but things feel like they’re gradually returning to our version of normal. Rhi is planning to move out this week sometime, which quite frankly, I’m looking forward to. I like having her around, don’t get me wrong, but we got a bit spoiled when it was just Troy & I last summer. We got used to being able to do whatever we wanted to, when we wanted to, not cooking unless we wanted to, it was hard to get used to having both of them back at home. Erin will still be here, but honestly he isn’t around that much & we have no idea if he’ll be going to jail in February or not so we’re kind of in a holding pattern with him.

Troy is back to work after his surgery & hospitalization, even though at the moment he’s on vacation. He’s been off so much in the past couple of months that it’ll be very hard for both of us when he goes back & doesn’t have anymore vacation days, for the year. We’re just not one of those couples that start fighting if we spend too much time together, we’re actually quite the opposite. If he works too many overtime shifts or I’m gone too much, we start arguing more. We just really enjoy each others company & a lot of people don’t seem to understand that. At least we didn’t spend this December looking all over for a car insurance quote we could handle, like we did last year. We managed to get everything that needed to be paid by the end of the year taken care of fairly early in the month so that all we really had to worry about was the standard monthly stuff.

We went out yesterday & spent the majority of Troy’s end-of-year bonus buying XBox 360 & Rockband 2, because we’re basically addicts. We wanted a system that we could play Rockband on & Erin requested XBox 360, because of a couple of games that he really loves to play, so we decided to just go for it & stop talking about it. Most of the time, we talk ourselves out of doing everything like that. I’m happy that we didn’t this time.

I’m just so tired. Tired of being sick, tired of being tired, tired of hurting, coughing & having no voice. I’ve been sick since Troy got out of the hospital on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It’s been one thing right after another. I slept until 11 this morning & all I want to do now, at 6pm is go back to bed. I feel so cheated, I’m not excited for Christmas, I’m not excited for anything. I walk down the hall & have to sit down & rest, because it wears me out. I went grocery shopping Friday & almost passed out in the store (seriously, I had to sit down in an aisle). I’m so ready to feel good again, and not just for one day. I felt good yesterday, for the most part, but I must have overdone it, by going to a few stores, because I feel horrible again today. If there were anyone to sue for being sick, I swear I’d get me a Utah version of a Seattle injury lawyer & let them do their thing, but who do you blame for having a lousy immune system? I’m not going to sue my parents. I’m not goign to be mad at at Troy for having to be in the hospital, I just want to be well again.

I guess we’re probably having a white Christmas for once, considering there’s about a foot of snow on the ground at my house & 18 inches at my mom’s. We have more in the forecast through Christmas Eve, so I’m pretty sure we’ll get a bit more, at least. I still haven’t dug my car out, I haven’t felt the need to go anywhere that badly, yet. Troy is back to work as of last night & he’s on night shift, so if I need to go anywhere, I’ll go in the daytime & use the XTerra, since it has 4WD.

Speaking of Christmas Eve, for as long as I can remember, we’ve gone to my mom’s house, had party type foods, visited & opened presents after it got dark. Mom called me earlier this week & asked me if it would be okay to change it to Christmas day, because they want to go to a program at their church on the 24th & they get lonely on Christmas because none of us come over. I’m okay with it, even though I have plans for that night (which I made because we never do anything on Christmas *L*). Christmas Eve will likely feel pretty strange now, though.  I think we’ll pop up a bunch of popcorn, watch Christmas movies & then open our new pajamas.

I got a nice surprise at my door tonight from my friend Christine! She sent us The Original Christmas Classics DVD set & I was so thrilled & touched by her thoughtfulness that I almost cried. I can’t wait to watch it on Christmas Eve with the rest of our movies, I’ve always had a warm place in my heart for those old shows, especially “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

I got all of my baking finished, and of course, the stuff I made last week, like chocolate chip & peanut butter cookies are all gone already. I made frosted & sprinkled sugar cookies tonight, hopefully they’ll last until morning or at least a little while after Rhi discovers them. Anyway, I’m going to play a little Pogo for awhile & then I’m off to bed.

The other day, we were sitting around talking with the kids about things they were feeling nostalgic about. I was pretty amused, because I had really been looking forward to the day when they would start to feel that way. We started out talking about all of the video game consoles that came out before Erin was even aware of video games, and how happy he was that he had had a Sega Genesis and how happy it made him when we bought it for him. We started talking about a bunch of other things, like music and videos and what was cool when each of us was a certain age.

Of course, I conrinued to think about it, and remembered when we got out first microwave & how cool we were because none of my friends had one yet, and then mom & dad bought a video disc player and later a VCR. We seemed to be pretty up on our technology at the time, because we had things that none of my friends did.

I remember in the 90s when it was the coolest thing to have your own toll free number, and how parents would get one so their kids could call home whenever they needed to. We never had one, my parents figured we were going to call collect anyway, and of course, they were right.

We talked about fashion & what had come back & what we hoped never would, and had a really good time remembering & visiting with me. It was a really cool afternoon. I hope we’re able tohave many more days like that as our relationship with out kids grows & changes over the coming years.

Troy & I headed over to Vicki & Charley’s house this afternoon. Dawn was meeting us over there with Justin & the three of us women had plans to just go somewhere & hang out awhile. So we dropped the guys off to play Rock Band & the three of us headed out to lunch. I was pretty good & had a grilled chicken sandwich without mayonnaise, even though I also had fries, I figured it wasn’t as bad as having a big greasy burger & fries. We took our time eating & visiting & then we headed to Dollar Tree. Dawn had bought an awesome coffee cup the day before that I pretty much fell in love with & had to have, and of course I bought other things, too, because I can never get just one thing.

When we done with that I ran home to take some more cold medicine & then we headed for Walmart so Vicki could buy her kids their Santa gifts. I ended up getting a couple of pairs of pants on clearance, a cute thing for Troy’s stocking & a gift for Rhi while we were out. We then headed for Vicki’s house & sat around laughing at the guys while they played, messed around on the internet awhile & then sent the guys out for food.

They did eventually suck the three of us into the game & we sang as a group, sometimes, though we were laughing so hard we couldn’t do anything  else. I’m pretty sure that no matter what we ate today, between the shopping and the laughing, I won’t be needing any Lipovox to help in my wight loss, for today, at any rate!

We just had a bit of a scare here. It was nice & quiet in the living room. I was watching videos on YouTube, Troy was playing Fallout 3, Rhi was in the bathroom and Erin is gone. Tiny was sleeping under the coffee table & Buster was playing in front of the loveseat. I have no idea where Diode was, but Tiny woke up, bumped her head on the table & went after her like shoppers going after a good deal on Seiko watches. It was crazy. She was running after her so fast that she was sliding in the kitchen floor & Diode was terrified, running just as fast in front of her.We yelled at Tiny several times & she didn’t seem to hear us, finally Troy got in between her & Diode & yelled at her again, and she stopped.

We have no idea if Tiny was dreaming & woke up, thinking that whatever was happening in the dream was still happening or what, but we were pretty sure that she was going to hurt Diode. It took me a few minutes for my heart rate to go back to normal, for sure.

Other than that, Troy finally figured out what to get for Jason for Christmas, so, other than stocking stuffers, we’re finished! We managed to somehow lose Erin’s stocking though, so I’ll have to buy one, since I don’t really feel like sewing right now. We have no idea how we did it, but there is no stocking in any of the boxes, so I know we did. It may have gotten thrown away or something, who knows?

I never did say what the “one left” in my last post was, did I? We need to buy one more gift. Troy still hasn’t decided what to get for Jason & he really needs to figure it out, because I’m not going to this time. I figured out what he could get my mom & pretty much did the same for the kids with the names they drew for the family party, I just want to be done, now. I think I must be getting my Grinch on this year or something!

I was checking out my search referrals earlier today, and as always there are things that perplex me, like “hamburger costume,” “bathroom pics,” and “pizza flops.” No one in my family has ever dressed as a hamburger, none of the pets have either. You don’t even want to see my bathroom. Trust me. Pizza mistakes or flopping onto the floor? Neither happen around here much, although our favorite pizzeria burned down last week. There are the standard “life insurance quotes,” “clipping coupons” and stuff like that.. but here’s one, “New Hampshire auto insurance.” I live in Utah? I don’t think I’ve ever even visited NH. I realize that a lot of referrals are just based on words that are used within the blog & they get put together when people search, but they still never cease to make me laugh, at least a little bit.

I finished up my shopping yesterday. Dawn & Rhi came with me & we cruised around downtown until we found some pretty cool things for my friend Vicki & my sister-in-law, Sereena. The weather was bitterly cold yesterday afternoon, and stupid me forgot to wear a coat. I always do that around here, because we have a lot of very warm days here, even in the middle of winter, so I never assume that I’m going to need one. Anyway, by about 7:00pm it was snowing, and while we didn’t get a ton of snow, we got 2-3 inches & the roads were icy & nasty. Rhi & I went out at around 11pm to get some pomegranates & a tree skirt (I actually just wanted a cheap Christmas table cloth, but they had none) & it was super slick out.

It’s still fairly cold today, but it hasn’t snowed since I got up. I fell asleep on the couch while I was reading & had a nice little nap at some point this morning. It’s very rare that I ever lie down on the couch, but the one we just got is more comfortable than the old one, so it may happen more often. I managed to get out little 3 foot tree put up and decorated this afternoon. I’m hoping that it’s secure enough that the kittens won’t knock it over, but I know we’ll be picking up & putting ornaments back on until I take it down again. Tomorrow we’ll go to storage & get the box with the stockings & hangers out, so we can hang those up.

I remember when the kids were little, I was really into decorating for the holidays then. The past 2 or 3 years though, I just haven’t been that excited about it & I might not even do it if it didn’t feel weird not to, you know? I’m wondering if I’m almost to the age where you only ask for practical gifts, like Miele vacuum cleaners & KitchenAid mixers. I don’t see that happening, but I do have to wonder what happened to my Christmas spirit. Maybe I’m just depressed that the kids are grown & don’t seem to enjoy the holidays as much anymore or something. I don’t know.