The Secret of Living

From Sundry's blog - though I should have done this in December, I guess, but December wasn't a big blogging month around here, what with all the travelling, etc. But I figured I did this last year and it wasn't bad, so here is 2011's version.

{Feel free to do this meme - just remember to post a link at this post (and let me know too - I'd love to read anyone's yearly recap!)}

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

I sent a child to high school for his last year, and went on a college visit with him. And I just can't believe it. I also went on a train AND a plane alone for the first time in years. It wasn't something I'd never done before, but I managed to go away with my husband for five whole days by OURSELVES. That hadn't happened in... um, since pre-kids.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Here’s what I wrote for 2011, and what happened with each one (in bold):

I don't plan to make any real resolutions this year. Goals maybe. Here they are:

Potty train R. Once and for all. Please God! Well, not 100%, but he's in underwear. Some weeks are better than others, some days I want to throw in the towel, and other times, I think we're about there. At least for once we didn't try and fail spectacularly.
Keep teaching R to swim. He loves the water so much and it will be much more fun for all of us when he is less likely to drown. SUCCESS. He can keep himself afloat the entire length of the pool. We need to keep working on it, and he doesn't swim in a perfect sense, but he does this half treading, half forward motion thing that works just fine at keeping himself up. He is definitely LESS likely to drown - but that doesn't mean we don't watch him constantly.
Go to Zumba. The goal is to make it there at least once. Once will probably be all I will manage, since my body will probably die in protest. Complete and utter failure. I didn't go even one time. I'll try again this year.
Sleep a full night. At least once. Yes. I did this. At least once. It was a pretty low bar, after all.
Go on a camping trip with my family. No, we didn't manage this one this year. Almost but not quite.
Go on a real vacation with my family. Hopefully to South Dakota, but anything that isn't Florida would be nice. Also note: combining camping trip and real vacation would be fine. Especially if it is to South Dakota, which was one of the best camping trips that K and I ever had, pre-kids. Well, we did go on a half Christmas trip, 1/4 visit my family, 1/4 vacation trip. But that 1/4 vacation was in the Everglades area. That means Florida. We just didn't have the funds for a separate trip this year.
Get out of all non-mortgage debt in 2011. I hope we make this one! It is possible. Difficult and will require discipline, but possible. SUCCESS!!!! We're so stoked about this one. Now to build an emergency fund and send a child to college. Yikes.

My one-word resolution this year is Rest. I think new goals is a great idea though.

Finish pottytraining Robbie. Pray that it will happen.
Go to a Zumba class. Just one, I am saying to my couch potato self. Who knows, I might like it?
Keep teaching Robbie to swim. It's fun and we both enjoy the pool.
Sleep better. That means going to bed earlier more often.
Go on a camping trip with my family. I'd still like to go to South Dakota again.
Be more thankful for the blessings I've received.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

A few friends, but nobody super close. I'm moving into where my friends are becoming grandparents, not parents.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not this year, thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?

Not me. My daughter went to France and England. I did drive through 10 different states in one trip though. Yes, ten. In a very giant circle.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

Peace. More stamina. More sleep. And as always, more healing for Robbie. Please.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

August 24. The day my mother called me to tell me that she had just found out that she has lung cancer.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting Robbie onto a GFCF diet instead of just GF and getting him to eat more foods. Definitely my biggest achievement.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not sure.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Yep. Hurt my neck somehow and that cost me two weeks of life, just laying around doing not much. Of course it helped me get more rest ;-).

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My Kindle. I am amazed at how much I love it.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Paying off both cars and the last credit card. WOOHOO.

13. What did you get really excited about?

Going away with my husband. For FIVE! WHOLE! DAYS! I think I'd like to do it again too.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

"I'm Going to Love You Through It" by Martina McBride. It came out last summer and I heard it for the first time right after my mother found out she has cancer.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Sadder. By a lot.
– thinner or fatter? Thinner. Not by much, but I'm still trying.
– richer or poorer? In absolute numbers? Poorer, but with no debt, we're managing even with less income. Not that I wouldn't welcome being able to say richer next year.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

More exercise, more sleep, more time with my older kids. More talking with my mom. Not my dad - I've done more talking with him in the past 4 months than I ever have. I'm loving him through this as he supports my mom. Somebody has to nag him about his own health...

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Lots of things.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

We travelled to K's family - more here.

19. What was your favorite TV program?

Still NCIS. I'm working my way through the past seasons through Netflix, just to make sure I've seen them all. Just yesterday, I saw one from season 3 that I'd never seen before!

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

I read more this year, but it wasn't much that was memorable. I'll keep trying.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

I listen to a lot of music. Love Pandora stations, love watching country music videos, love lots of things. But favorite? This year, I'm drawing a blank.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

I enjoyed most of the films I saw in the theater. But... I don't remember names. I'm feeling like I'm getting old. Or nothing was all that memorable. Oh, wait, I did finally see The King's Speech. I mostly liked it a lot.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

46. And here's what I did.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Um, complete and utter healing of my son's autism? Or at least complete potty training. Sigh. And how about having my mom's cancer discovered BEFORE it went outside her lung and became stage 3. It would have been very nice if they could have just cut it all out and been done with it.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

I don't have to answer this one. Sundry said: This question is so abysmally stupid I hereby renounce it from all future questionnaires. I am in full agreement with her.

26. What kept you sane?

Sane? What's that? If anything... I just keep walking. Because insanity is not an option. Appealing to some extent, but not an option.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Bacon is even more yummy when you get to share it with Robbie.

So I didn't do this earlier this year, but I like looking back over the year usually. So here we go, in a traditional year end review.

A Year In Review - 2011:

January 2011: Tradition... continuing in my annual New Year's Review, every year of this blog!

Next year's first sentence of the first blog won't be about this review, thus breaking the tradition a bit.

February 2011: Outside my window... Warm and raining. It's 55 right now, but there is a cold front and strong storms coming soon. It may be 55 now, and feels like 55 - but tomorrow morning it will be 22 and feel like 9! That's very cold for here.

I put the whole paragraph instead, since it's from a daybook meme. I was interested in reading about last year's weather. It's been so warm this year. Too warm. But the raining part appears to be staying the same.

March 2011: Outside my window... Definitely spring. Cold, warm, hot, cold, repeat. I could do without the thunderstorms and tornado watches, but they are part of spring here.

Another daybreak meme - anothe paragraph instead. We had tornado watches yesterday - in January! Which is yet another sign that this weather is weird. Spring weather in winter.

April 2011: Hello! I have high speed internet again.

That was frustrating last year - two weeks without good internet on any of our computers. I am sitting at our main computer right now - our desktop. The wireless card or something like that appears to be broken. We were wondering it the computer was broken - but then we ran a ethernet cord from the router to the desktop - and voila, no problems at all with the internet. Now we're trying to figure out how to keep a cord on it without tripping over it. If we can figure out how to run it through the attic, we will.

May 2011: When you think May Day, do you think about children going around a pole, dancing a fun dance with ribbons?

I wrote about our second loss, the day we found out that our second pregnancy, so longed for, had ended in missed miscarriage (what a term. as if you would "miss" a miscarriage.). Today I was looking up menopause symptoms, wondering if the fatigue and other little things I've been experiencing lately were more signs of perimenopause. I know I'm not in menopause yet due to a) hormone tests last year, and b) I had a period in December. But I think I'm nearing the end of this infertility dance and I'm relieved to think that I won't have to deal with a big part of PCOS anymore.

June 2011: I haven't been blogging because last Saturday, we began Operation Underwear.

That was at the end of May that we began Operation Underwear. Current status: 100% "pee" trained. Only two pee accidents in the last two months - and to be fair they weren't entirely his fault. Bowel movements? I'll give it a 60%. I'm tired of the whole process, tired of the accidents, tired of cleaning underwear. But... there is not denying that we've made incredible progress. He almost never has an accident away from home, and that's good too. We will persevere. I hope.

July 2011: I'm supposed to be a SAHM.

Ha. A Seven Quick Takes Friday meme, centered about all the time I spent in the car the day before.

August 2011: 108. The high temp two days ago.

Oh my. I'd forgotten already? The unrelenting heat? We spent most of the summer above 100 degrees, often more like 105. Our A/C bills were horrid. I am happy to do spring in January if it keeps our gas bill down!

September 2011: I often use this space to talk about challenges we're having with Robbie and autism, but today I think I'll just tell a few things that are positive progress for a change.

This was good to read today. I haven't had the energy to write about Robbie and autism this month, or about the IEP, or about how I'm feeling - because you know this is my blog, and it's all about me me me me me. Sigh.

October 2011: Life keeps spinning around these days.

Yep. That sums it up. I just keep trying to put one foot in front of the other. Life won't stop for anything.

November 2011: I started writing again this weekend.

I didn't try NaBloPoMo, not in any serious form. I tried writing on my private blog but even that broke down. I just haven't been writing all that often. The feelings are too deep, too hard to put into words a lot of the time. And oh, look at this, it's a lighthearted meme and I'm having trouble keeping it light. Insert :-). That lightens it up, right?

December 2011: Felix Navidad! May your hearts be joyful as we celebrate the birth of Christ.

The one and only post in December, to wish all 3 or maybe 4? of my regular readers a Merry Christmas.

And now I will wish you a happy year to come, even if it's nowhere near January 1st.

Happy 2012!