Here I am with a lot on my mind, but with nothing to say. Let's give it a try, shall we?
The new year is upon us. If we believe in prophecies and such, we had better make it a good one, because we don't have much time left, and what we do have is flying! That's if you believe in prophecies. Even if you don't, time is still flying, and our time here is precarious at best. That's why we have to make it great... we have to make it count! Right? Right!
The question is, how do we do this? The beginning of a new year brings out the thought producing, critical, self-analyzing, self-serving side of all of us. We focus on how to make ourselves better, on how to make our lives better. We make resolutions, create goals, and for the first part of the year, we stick to them! After that, life happens, we get tired, the results aren't as mind-blowing as we had anticipated, so we give up, or we tell ourselves things like "I'll get back to that when..."
I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting, not because I'm feeling especially "deep," but because, as we all know, Facebook changed their format with the whole timeline thing. I went through every "event" since my induction to this particular social networking site. It was actually ingenious of them to put the change in place at the end of the year, causing some to look back on all of it. Let me tell you, some people need to seriously look back. What a bunch of freakin' drama queens, happy, then sad, "in a relationship," then out... pregnant, then oh my hell, pregnant again, when they had no business having the first sweet baby. Freakin' nuts! Oops, sorry, I digress. That will be my only rant.
Back to my own nuttiness:
Last year, I was as back and forth, as a bipolar would be. One day, I was happy, the next I was a mess. The wife was traveling, and I didn't handle it well. To be honest (or "tbh" as the kids say on FB), I hated it. When she was gone, I was an emotional disaster. When she was home, I was spectacular. Unless she was planning on going again. I didn't like her business partner, and I didn't like being alone. It's all here in my blog... way more so than on Facebook. That's my neutral zone... this is where I rant, cry, laugh, and hide.
Last year, we lost two beloved pets, and gained three more.
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| Tom Tom had kidney cancer... it was so unexpected. We love him and we had to actually move before I stopped looking for him. |
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| Calvin was 15 years old. He was the wife's best friend, and his loss was hard, but expected. |
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| Sweet Pea is the wife's new bird. She's always wanted a bird, and he loves her like her Calvin did. |
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| This is Cam's first baby picture with us. I bought him for the wife because she was threatening to sleep with Calvin's cremation box. She just wanted her baby... Cam ended up not being quite as snuggly, he's nuts as a matter of fact, and he's gotten quite attached to me. |
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| Florence was my kindergarten class pet that the new teacher didn't want... no one wanted her. Poor Florence. She is absolutely the easiest pet we have! |
Last year, I had the best teaching job I've ever had... kindergarten, with a curriculum I designed myself. Freedom in the workplace, especially when you're teaching, is a wonderful thing! My little ones and I learned so much!
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| Circus day animals |
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| Collecting dandelions |
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| A nature walk |
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| They wanted to take my picture |
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| Learning about reptiles |
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| Doubles math |
Last year, I quit said job, to stay home with the wife, and hopefully to start our new business. One we could do together... one that was my dream "business."
Last year, the wife sold her half of her company to the business partner (who practically stole it from her upon induction into the business the wife started), and now gets to say she retired at the age of 43. Her MS symptoms slowed considerably with the reduction of stress (stress from the travel, stress from the business partner, and stress from me because I hated the travel, and the partner).
Last year, we bought our beautiful new home, sold our beautiful old home (even with the treehouse from Hell obscuring the view. Luckily, people with young children bought the home), and moved to a small town.
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| The view of a beautiful night sky from our bedroom balcony of our old home. This view was taken by the treehouse, but luckily we had already moved out. |
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| I loved the fall leaves! |
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| The natural spring that ran behind our house. The kids would get out there and paddle boat up and down it. |
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| A fall picture of our old home. |
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| Our first view of what was going to be our patio |
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| Enjoying our patio |
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| Mine and the wife's OCD flowers that died in the extreme heat with not a drop of rain all summer |
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| The sunsets are my favorite |
Last year, I reconnected with old friends, and made some wonderful new friends.
Last year, we did some fun things! (pictures in no particular order, because I'm having problems with downloading them!)
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| Smores by the water at our old house |
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| The Rangers vs the New York Yankees |
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| Wifey and kids |
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| We went to the water park! |
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| We attended many high school football games! 6 man football!! |
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| We went to Washington DC and loved it! |
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| I love this picture of the Old Post Office in DC |
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| We've finally come to understand the boy |
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| We had snow!! |
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| Valentine's Day with friends |
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| I saw a sun rise reflecting off of downtown... beautiful in person! |
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| We planted |
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| and planted |
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| We saw some amazing sunsets! |
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| We learned to sail a BIG sail boat |
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| The girl's turn now |
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| Fishing victories with friends |
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| We watched storms roll in |
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| We witnessed the Mavericks victory!!! |
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| Loved going to the games! |
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| Dirk! |
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| The girl got braces and took it well... ummm, maybe not since she's hiding. Her brother took it well! |
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| We toured Cowboy Stadium |
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| The girl and I |
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| We bought a boat! |
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| We've gained outdoor critters |
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| We watched many sail boat races |
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| More amazing storms |
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| More beautiful sunsets |
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| I love this sail boat... |
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| More sail boat races |
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| A sunset and a sail boat |
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| We ate many cupcakes |
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| We bowled! |
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| Look at this strike!! Not a bowling strike! |
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| We saw some moonsets! |
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| I have so many beautiful sunset pictures... all different from the one before! |
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| The wife took this... we had so many this year! |
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| More of DC |
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| We played |
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| We saw fireworks! |
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| We went through here on our first and only business trip |
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| We witnessed the sad state of the Mississippi beaches during our first and only business trip |
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| We saw him often |
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| We made a trip to the ER |
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| MORE cupcakes |
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| We saw Roosevelt's dog... kind of |
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| Roosevelt's memorial |
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| We went on a cruise |
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| More snow |
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| More lightening |
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| We rescued a sick baby duckling |
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| More Baseball! |
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| I love Ranger Stadium... |
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| And more baseball |
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| Another feathered friend |
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| The wife takes some amazing pictures :) |
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| Cowboys Stadium |
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| Last night's view |
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| Another view of last nights after sunset |
Last year, the kids changed SO much. I would have to say for the better, because the boy has a few friends who come over, and the girl is loving her new school and making good grades. The boy has grown taller than all of us, which the girl is very happy about!
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| She would hate this picture, what with no make-up! |
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| He looked SO little! |
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| They're crazy! |
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| Senior night a month ago |
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| Christmas dinner about 2 weeks ago |
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| About a month ago! |
Last year, my only resolution was to focus on my writing.
Last year, I had all kinds of ideas of things I wanted to do. A new blog site, the creation of a video featuring LGBT families, so many things.
BUT....
Last year, I created a bubble for myself because I couldn't handle reading about the horrible things happening in the world.
Last year, I decided I couldn't change anything.
Last year, I started hiding who I am, more so than usual, because I wanted acceptance from people I didn't even know.
Last year, I became ignorant to politics.
Last year, I gave up my membership to an organization I believed in.
Last year, I knowingly, but unintentionally, supported businesses who hate "who" I am. Chick-fil-a for instance.
Last year, I took stances, I never thought my bleeding-heart, liberal side, would take, and I realized there was another side to myself... one that makes sense, but was disturbing none-the-less.
THIS YEAR:
No resolutions to make MY life better. Overall, my life is wonderful, and as I've stated before, I am so thankful.
I will focus on others.
I will volunteer as a child advocate.
I will volunteer with our local food pantry.
I will try to write a little every day, because this is, and has been my "dream" and I believe it is something I have control over. I'll try...
I will give up the idea of the business we've discussed, and put money into, because in my heart of hearts, I know it isn't going to happen. I will let it go, so it doesn't interfere with my life, and our happiness.
I will be me, and not hide who I am. I will not hide who we are as a family. The wife and I deserve so much more than that... I won't demand acceptance for us, but I won't live as if we don't deserve it either.
AND Oh MY GEEEEEE, I will get this little dog fixed, because he is making me NUTS!! Seriously!!
Thanks for sticking with me through this long post! Now I have got to get to the cleaning, I've been procrastinating over for days!!
