Wrapping up 2011

I have read these year end posts for the past few years and really, didn't ever feel like participating.  It was too hard to think about an entire year at one time or I didn't want to remember stuff or I just couldn't write about anything as eloquently as the other bloggers that I read.  But, whatever!  I think I will give it a shot this year.  

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Lived with my mother in law full time. Took Maggie to the dentist--haha. Spent the weekend at the Ballantyne Spa and Resort with Meredith. Ran a 7 mile trail race.  Sent Maggie to spend the week with my parents ALONE!  

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  I don't think I made any resolutions last year.  I knew I probably wouldn't keep them and I was just tired at the end of last year.  This year, one of my resolutions is to stop buying books for my classroom.  I'm kind of over reading kid books right now, I have a pile of kid books on my shelf at home to read that do not look remotely interesting to me and honestly, my students have a whole lot more money than I do, so they can buy their own damn books.  Or go to a library.  I would like to say that I will stop worrying about work but that is pretty much a constant mindset at this point, so I don't know that it will happen.  I have gotten really good about not checking my work email when I get home.  I have also gotten really good about taking melatonin at night when I know I'm going to lie awake and worry about dumb things.

3. Did anyone close to you have a child?  Well, my friend Kimberly and her husband adopted a 10 year old, who I love.  I got a birth announcement in a Christmas card from my friend Christa who apparently had a baby in November, so I guess that counts.

4. Did anyone close to you die?  Well, my grandmother died in March.  We drove down to GA for her funeral,  and a couple of my favorite memories of that weekend are seeing all of my dad's family and my brother and I taking the kids to play on the playground during the reception they had had Enough.  Jeff and I also had a rollicking good time on the see saw while the kids ran around, I believe.

5. Where did you travel?  Myrtle Beach, several times.  GA to see the fam.  We spent a week at Disney the week before Christmas, which was amazing and fun.  Wow.  Didn't travel too much this year, I guess.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?  More satisfaction and less frustration with my job.  More satisfaction and less frustration in general.  A larger house with a full mother in law suite.  More money, I guess.  Time to be a really good cook. More visits with faraway friends.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory?  Well.  I don't know that there are any specific dates that I remember, but some events I will remember are the night Maggie and I went for a walk at the beach while David was off playing his online game at Starbucks and we saw a wedding and watched people go fishing for sharks (IN THE OCEAN WHERE WE SWAM OMG) and then we went and got snow cones and it was such a nice little mother-daughter evening.  Sitting on the balcony of our hotel room with Meredith during a thunderstorm and drinking wine and reading my cringe-worthy old diaries.  Graduation day at the daycare and subsequent LAST CHECK we wrote to them.  Maggie's first day of kindergarten.  Maggie finally being tall enough to ride real rides at Disney and riding every single one of them and being totally brave, but still being scared of the characters.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  Learning to live with another adult in the house.  Running a 7 mile race and finishing it.  I seriously was SO proud of myself for accomplishing that.  We returned to church.

9. What was your biggest failure?  Assuming that people know that I am dissatisfied or annoyed with something instead of just saying something.  Even though it is sometimes unpleasant to sit down and have conversations about touchy things, it ALWAYS seems to end up better in the long run.  I wish I would just remember that the next time I get irritated or frustrated about dumb stuff.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Just the usual gross old sinus infections that I have since kept at bay with my trusty neti pot.  And yeah, I know, brain amoebas, WHATEVER.  Hooray for the neti pot and clean sinuses! Also, I hurt my ankle during the race and it still is not quite right.

11. What was the best thing you bought?  Well, I do love my iPhone and I depend on it for an awful lot.  I also bought a Kindle in the middle of the night (on my iPhone, no less) this summer and I LOVE it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?  Well, I would have to say Maggie's.  She is a SUPER awesome kid and she never complains even when we are dragging her all over the Magic Kingdom and making her eat dinner at a fancy restaurant at the Contemporary Resort until all hours.  She is also very good at entertaining herself and she is just a sweet girl.  I love her a lot.  David is awesome too.  The end.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?  I don't know.  There are a lot of dumb people in this world and I wish they would go far FAR away.  Oh, and the stupid politicians that keep passing dumb bills and laws that affect teachers in ways that make teaching not the greatest profession to go into any longer.

14. Where did most of your money go?  Mortgage, paying off my car (WOO HOO) and other bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?  Going to Disney.  I was excited about that trip in April when we made the reservations.  Spending the weekend with Meredith at the spa.  

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?  "Dynamite" because I listened to it a LOT when I first started running again.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:  a) happier or sadder?  b) thinner or fatter?  c) richer or poorer?   Happier, I think.  Maybe a teeny bit thinner.  Or let's say, TONED.  I have no idea what our financial status is.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Blogging.  I was looking back at my blog to remember some of this year's events and there are just so many blanks!  Argh!  Maybe I will be better about that in the new year.  Probably not.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?  Worrying about things that are not under my control.  Worrying about work.  Thinking about work.  I probably should have spent less time on my, uh, children's clothing message board.  That is a huge time suck.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We stayed home this year and minus a few bits of sadness at not being with my family, it was very nice and calm and fun.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?  Of course.

22. What was your favorite TV program?  Homeland.  OMG. I LOVE THIS SHOW.  Get Showtime so you can watch it.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?  Nope.  I still hate the same people.

24. What was the best book you read?  I loved Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  That's all I'm coming up with right now.  I read a TON this summer so it's kind of blurring together.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?  Hmm.  I don't think I made any musical discoveries.

26. What did you want and get?  Trips to the beach. A trip to Disney.  An iPhone and a Kindle. Fiestaware.

28. What did you want and not get?  A house at the beach and a pile of money.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?  The Lincoln Lawyer.  Crazy Stupid Love. Super 8. 

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?  I turned 36 and I do not remember.  I think people just came over. It was in January, people!  That is a long time ago!  Also, I got a unicorn Pillow Pet that the cat molests on a regular basis.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  I wish I weren't so stinking tired every single night after work.  I can barely muster a smile by the time I get home from work some nights.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?  Not stylin' and profilin'. 

33. What kept you sane?  David and Maggie. Meredith. Kimberly and Leslie. Stephanie. A SUPER team at work. All the parental people in my life who give me good advice.  

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?  I don't know.  Who do I think is hot?  Ryan Gosling.  Jude Law.  Christian Bale.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?  I am seriously pissed that people who have no idea what goes on in a classroom continue to pass laws that are of NO benefit to the teachers OR their students.

36. Who did you miss?  Pretty much everyone I care about who does not live right next door, which is TOO MANY PEOPLE.

37. Who was the best new person you met?  Hmm.  I am not entirely sure, to be honest.  

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.  That I need to speak up if there is something on my mind.  I should stop assuming that people know what I am thinking.  Things have a tendency to stay the same if no one says anything.  And even if what I have to say is unpleasant, if the person cares about me, it'll be okay.  They'll still like me in the end.  And if they don't, well, oh well.  At least I know I said what I needed to say.