Rules

1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random thoughts about yourself.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you have tagged them.
6.  No stuff in the tagging section about ‘you are tagged if you are reading this.’ blah, blah, blah, you legitimately have to tag 11 people. Like Kat, I’m tagging three people who are completely not obligated to do this. If I didn’t tag you and you still want to participate, feel free to consider this a tag.

Random Thoughts

1. I’m a crazy planner. I get really agitated if I don’t have some plan or another in the forming stages. I love lists and figuring out the details to things I want to do, or need to get done. That said, I’m terrible with following through with all my plans.
2. I try very hard to be level headed and mild tempered. I am over conscious of how poor my communication skills are, especially when I’m stressed over something. My hope is that by controlling errant emotions I’ll be better equipped for handling social situations. It doesn’t work, I’m still awkward. XD
3. It’s really common for someone new that I meet to think I’m 17 or 18 years old. Apparently my mannerisms, my voice and naturally small stature all make me seem about ten years younger. It’s actually rather funny to me. I could dress my age, I could wear makeup, and I could look in my late twenties. I can’t change the way I hold/conduct/express myself to a certain degree, the way that I talk, or the way my voice sounds. And, honestly, I don’t really care enough to bother. So strangers think I’m a teenager, so what?
4. I really love my earrings. I wear five small (fake) diamonds in each ear for just a bit of sparkle. Most people don’t notice them, but I don’t feel like myself without them. I have a tattoo, and don’t remember it’s there all the time.
5. I’m not really that into music. I like having it on while I’m cleaning, or in the car driving, but other than that, I prefer silence. I don’t have a favorite band or artist, and couldn’t name the genre that I tend to listen to. My husband thinks it all sort of sounds the same, and I have to agree, because as I’m listening to it, every song sort of just blends into the others to the point where I’m not actually listening to it, it’s just there.
6. As an English major everyone assumes that I’m really good at grammar and spelling. I’m actually really bad at both initially, but I know where to go to look them up before I send something off as a polished piece. And that’s the fundamental reason why I’d be better as a librarian than as an English teacher.
7. I love the way my hair looks just after I take it out of the towel after a shower. I hate it about five minutes later and for the rest of the day and night until my next shower.
8. I’ve never considered myself “girly”. I don’t wear makeup. I don’t wear scented anything (my deodorant smells like baby powder). I’m most comfortable in jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater. I wear sneakers or flats. My hair is either in a bun or a french braid. I used to keep my nails long, but with work they don’t hold up anymore. I used to think that there was something wrong with all this, and try to change to be more “womanly.” Then one day I decided to try not to care so much. I still find myself wanting to be that girly put together woman, and failing at it. I’m mostly okay with that.
9.  I live by my chap stick (Softlips strawberry, only), my husband thinks I’m addicted. I have an automatic subscription for Amazon to send me six 2-packs every 6 months. I always seem to be running low about the time a new shipment shows up. I have them stashed everywhere. Maybe my husband is right
10. One of my biggest fears (aside from death by fire or lightening) is that I’m not as good of a writer as I really want to be.
11. I feel guilty about doing things that I want to do for myself, so I put it off, and end up doing nothing at all. If I quit wasting time feeling bad about wanting to read a book, or make my hat, or something, than I’d get it done and be able to move onto something else. Instead I kill time on line only wishing I could do more for me.

Questions That Need Answering!

1. What sound or smell reminds you of your childhood?
   I don’t remember a whole lot of sensory details of my childhood. A lot of what I do remember is stories other people have told me about me. Thinking about it, I can’t remember smells enough to identify one. Even a candle I’d burned last week I wouldn’t recognize or be able to describe without reburning it now.
2. What humanoid species would you want to be if you couldn’t be human?
   A mithra!
3. What do you want to be when you grow up?
   An art teacher. Then I realized that I can’t draw and I’m not all that enthusiastic about teaching. I wouldn’t mind tutoring. I like sharing knowledge, but I’m more of a one on one than a lecture type.
4. When was the last time you laughed? What were you laughing at?
   I laugh pretty regularly, but never a real laugh. It’s more of a chuckle, oh that was funny and meh just after. The last real laugh I had was about a month ago, and I don’t remember what it was about. I was at work making sandwiches with a co-worker and we were talking about something. I don’t know what he said but it set me off and I laughed for like 10 minutes, I could breath, my eyes teared up, my cheeks hurt, but it felt so good.
5. If you could live in any fictional world/universe, which would it be?
   Mine. I know the names of four countries, and a little backstory to an ancient fifth. I don’t know the name of the world yet, but I suspect to find out once I dream up the fifth country.
6. What was the last book you read? Did you like it?
   Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. I did like it. I really didn’t expect to.
7. If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?
   Speed reading with an awesome memory. I would love to be able to read all the books that I have on my to be read list, and them remember everything I’ve read. I could do that conceivably in my lifetime, except that I’m always adding to the list and there’s no way that I can keep up.
8. If the Weeping Angels got you, when and where would you hope to be stranded?
   I’m not entirely sure what they are, as I’ve never seen the show. I want to say that I’d pick to be stranded in the 1400s, but to actually live there, I know I wouldn’t. Even if I was a Queen! Unless I could pack up the plans and directions for how a lot of modern inventions, medicines and theories work (and somehow find a way to not be called a witch and killed!) to take with me provided I could get people to follow any of it. It would get complicated and possibly deadly.
9. What is your favorite comfort food?
   Ice cream. I love patchwork by hood with some crushed up oreos and chocolate shell on top.
10. Do you collect anything? What?
    Too much. Junk, mostly. Candles, stuffed animals, and books mostly. I have too much stuff, but I don’t have a proper collection.
11. What five words describe you best?
    Reserved. Anxious. Daydreamer. Awkward. Insecure.

Questions That Needs Answering From You!

1. If you could wake up every morning, open your bedroom blinds, and look out a huge glass window at the perfect view, what would that view be?
2. If you had to choose your own epitaph of eight words or fewer (besides name and dates) what would it say?
3. If you could walk into any painting and actually experience the moment or scene it depicts, which painting would you choose to enter?
4. You’ve been given the chance to travel into the future to see how the world will change over the next 50 years. What change in particular are you most interested in?
5. If you could change the ending to any movie you have ever seen, what movie would it be and how would you alter the way it ends?
6. If, instead of actually writing out your name, you now had to “sign” your name with a simple drawing of something, what would you draw each time to represent who you are?
7. If you were to die tomorrow, what would you want people to remember you for most of all?
8. What is something that many people consider a modern-day convenience that you, quite frankly, consider a pain in the neck?
9. If you could be one of the world’s “most wanted” but wanted because of some great skill you possess, what skill would you want to have?
10. Most people have a favorite story or experience that they love to share with other people. Here’s your chance: What’s your story?

So, now I tag: Melissa, Clem and Caity. If you chose to do this, have fun.

First, I need to figure out what I don’t need any more. I have a pretty good idea of what I have. And I haven’t really needed to go through all the piles much since we moved in to get at any of this stuff. Obviously I don’t need it all then. It’s been four months.

The hard part is going to be parting with things that are still useful. I’ve been flipping back and forth today between getting rid of everything, and saving it all but finding a better system for storing it. Part of why I don’t use everything, is because I can’t get to it. I need some sort of middle ground where I can get to what I will honestly use, and get rid of whatever’s in the way of that.

Ideally, I’ll take everything out that I can carry and only put back what I honestly really love and plan to use. It will be all cluttering up my bed, so I’ll be forced to deal with it. Once my husband finishes building my desk, this is what I’m going to do.

Until then, I need to figure out what I would use if I could. I don’t want that day to be filled with indecision. I have a pretty good idea of what’s hidden away in all those boxes. If I don’t have a plan that I can print out and check off one by one, than it won’t happen. I’m just that kind of girl.

1. The candles (scentsy and regular) because I love pretty smells. I sacrificed one of my precious electrical outlets so that I could plug in a warmer. I plan to keep one on while I’m in my room to make it feel more like my room.
2. Some of the pens, markers, and crayons. The ones that work, but much less. I have a whole 3 drawer tower full. I’ll keep the lego box of crayons for my nieces to play with. That doesn’t take up much room, and keeps them entertained for a long time. The rest, I’ll limit myself to one cup on my desk and a couple in my writing bucket. I really don’t need more than that. Who needs a million pens?
3. I have to save my Sims disks because it reliably needs to be re-installed.
4. Jewelry can be saved in the little plastic tub I have. However it needs major purging as I don’t wear much of it.
5. Office supplies. Keep the ink and paper, post-its and envelopes. The binders, folders, etc can be donated?
6. The file box. File the papers. Shred the rest. Only use the one plastic box. The cardboard one can be re-purposed?
7. The projects drawer is probably fine. I do plan to make the pajamas that I bought fabric for. The floss needs to be organized better, but I still use it from time to time.
8. Old photos can be scanned. Old CDs can be copied to the computer.
9. The various tote bags I do use, they just need a home.
10. Sheets will live in the linen closet, once we make one.
11. Recipe box is a project in itself. Save anything worth saving, get rid of the rest.
12. Cat carriers can go in the closet.
13. Exercise stuff. It needs a home.
14. The books … oh boy. 
15. The stuffed animals?

Solution

1. Store the candles and bricks in one of the empty plastic bins. If it doesn’t all fit in the bin, than get rid of some.
2. For the stuff that my nieces get to play with, use another bin. Put the crayons with it and some paper and coloring books. The box of blocks will probably fit inside, too. The drawer tower that the pens are in, can be reused to house the bathroom supplies that are in a pile of boxes. If it doesn’t fit, we really don’t need that much anyway.
3. Where am I going to put the games? The original idea was to use a DVD rack from downstairs, but I don’t need that much space. If I clear out some of the books, I can use a shelf to put them on.
4. Throw it away, most is old earrings. The necklaces can go to my nieces’ box for play or keep whatever they want. The jewelry boxes? I could get fancier than the plastic little tub and use the brown one for the little that I’ll keep. The other one holds foreign money that my Dad collected. He might want the jewelry box as a prop. It plays music and kids will be entertained during photo shoots.
5. The bin that the supplies are in, isn’t working. There might be space on the new desk, or find a new bin. Email a local school to see if they want the used binders. One way to cover up the writing on the edge is with colorful duct tape, could suggest that. The folders and dividers are in pretty good shape and shouldn’t be a problem.
6. If it doesn’t fit in the file box, than I don’t need to keep it. Scan anything that doesn’t need a physical copy, unless I can find a copy online (statements). The box unfolds until I have a use for it.
7. It’s reasonably self contained. The two paint by number things I can donate to goodwill.
8. The originals can be stuck in a small box until I’m able to do the scanning and copying. It’s not a lot, and they can be put in a closet safely once in a box.
9. The closet can hold bags, too. They’re not going to damage the plaster.
10. Until then, they have to stay in the bin.
11. Keep the fabric binder since Mom made it for me, but get better pages for it so that I’ll actually use them. The barbie pink case can go. If it doesn’t fit in the binder, than I don’t need it, especially since I can look recipes up online or in my cookbooks. This is for the ones I collect from people.
12. Donate the little one to the SPCA, and keep the ones that my cats fit in. If I ever get a kitten, than I can spend another $15 for a new one. Or just use one of the bigger ones I already have. I don’t really want three animals, unless one’s a dog. Then I would need a dog carrier, since it wouldn’t stay small enough to fit inside the cat ones for very long.
13. Find or buy a cute basket to keep it in. Something open at the top so I can visually be reminded that it’s there. Maybe I’ll use it then.
14. This needs to be set aside to its own day. I need to really sit down with myself and figure out in my heart what I’m able to do. I will get rid of some to a used book shop, the ones I won’t read. The rest, I don’t know. I love my books. I love being surrounded by them. It was my dream to have a library. I now have one. I hate to give up on that already. I need better bookshelves, thinner ones. The husband and I have discussed a few possibilities. He says he’ll build me some after he finishes my desk. We just have to figure out how to best go about it.
15. They’re out of the way right now. I think they might make decent props for my parents’ studio. I’ll keep a few, then see if they want the rest. If not, a daycare or children’s hospital may take them. The few that I do keep can go on the window seat that the husband also says he’ll build me.

This is the first thing you see as you enter my library room. A pile of stuff stacked in front of a closet. The closet behind is empty, and since it’s blocked I didn’t get a picture. It’s got the same slope as the ceiling you see here, with two shelves along the short wall, and is only a little wider than where that door stops. The chimney is what stops it, but it’s all covered over … in horsehair plaster and crayon.

The blue tubs are our sheets and blankets for the bed. There’s books, boxes, art supplies, projects, jewelry boxes and bags with bags in them. Then there are several boxes with empty binders, folders and dividers leftover from college. At first I wanted to keep all my notes and everything, so I bought every class it’s own binder, etc. Then I finished school and realized that not only did I not care to keep it all, but it also was really heavy and took up a lot of room. I got rid of all my notes, but kept the binders thinking they might have a use someday.

I’ve used probably about 5. I took way more than 5 classes. The printer is also sitting on another box filled with them, so they’re useful for that. Honestly, the boxes I put stuff in are more useful to me right now than the stuff inside the boxes!

We have quite a few closets in our house considering the age of the house, but we’re only using one. The rest are all empty. We don’t want to just cram all our stuff into closets and forget about it all as we’ve done before. We want it to be useful storage.

We’re just at a loss.

This is the stuff next to that other pile of stuff. None of it is staying in my room. It’s the overflow bathroom things and some empty tubs. Why empty tubs when we have so much that could go in them? I don’t know.  I want to go through it and get rid of all the unnecessary duplicates of whatever it all is. From looking in the boxes, it’s a lot of soaps, lotions, etc that were given to me, or I bought and changed my mind on.

How do you get rid of stuff like that?

The home depot box is about 3/4 full of coat hangers. I have no idea how we ended up with so many of those. The closet behind is again empty, but it has a tall armoir type thing in it, that I don’t know what to do with (it came with the house). It takes up less space being left in the closet, and since we’re not using that closet right now anyways, than that’s where it’ll stay until we figure out the answer to both those issues.

Anyway, it’s all going to be moved into the small closet in my husband’s room where he’s going to put in shelves to also be a linen closet. It’s a nice idea, but as with everything else around here … it hasn’t happened yet.

The first of these bookcases, the full bookcase, are books we haven’t read yet. Most of them are mine, some are my husbands (that I don’t intend to read, like Dune), and the rest were given to us but neither of us think we’ll read. For some reason when friends move they decide that we both need to have all their books that they don’t want to take with them.  

Those doors are full, filled with most of my textbooks and some magazines. In the move we lost a shelf for the bookcase that is open, and the door broke as you can see. The box of textbooks from the first photo has what would be on the second shelf in this case. The top open shelves hold our hardcovers, and the one near the window has the nonfiction books. Inside the paintball box is my prom corsage.

This is stuff that could go into a closet and I’d not feel bad about just storing it away. The three cat carriers (the two plastic ones are sitting on a bigger one) get used once a year. The smallest doesn’t get used at all except as a place to store cat toys when I find them around the house. The chair isn’t all that comfortable and doesn’t fit in the room anyhow. The box is filled with papers, as you can see, that are waiting to be shredded. Max likes to sit in it.

These are the office bits. The box under my amazon box houses my Sims 3 games. The rest was all stuff that used to be on my larger desk before the move and desk downsize. The box with the M&m guy is pretty much filled with candy leftover from my Christmas stocking.

The drawers behind it are about the only useful storage thing I have, but it’s mostly empty, because the drawers don’t close very well.

These boxes should be a filing cabinet. I think I might have saved too much, but at the same time, I’m worried I didn’t save the right stuff. This is after a purge of paper when we moved in, to separate out things that needed to be shredded or just tossed.

I’ve held on to (most of) my collection of stuffed animals. I don’t know why. I’m not as attached to them as I used to be. They’re out of the way, and high up enough to be out of sight, too. So, they’re the least bothersome thing about my whole room, and yet still make it look cluttered.

The ones I would save are the crochet bedtime bear that my Memere made for me. The disney store Mickey mouse (and his friends, who got cut out of the picture), the sheep, and  a teddy bear or two.

The two newspaper wrapped frames that the reindeer cat is sitting on are my degrees. I plan to hang them up, sometime, but I don’t really have any open wall where they would fit.

My motivation behind posting cluttered and unflattering pictures of my house is to a) maybe get some feedback on what to do or how and b) put it all in a row so that I might be able to look at it objectively. There’s something about sitting in the middle of all this and being overwhelmed to the point of not being able to see how to fix any of it.

Question to the reader: Why do we save all this stuff and how do I get myself to part with it? And, when I decide what to get rid of, where do I get rid of it to?

For example: milk, carbonation, coffee, lettuce, onions, peppers, zucchini, spinach, lemons, mangoes, papaya, just to start, and then I can’t eat anything that is spicy, or peppery.

With so many things literally off the menu, it makes come up with food choices hard. I like sweet things, fruit included, and some savory things. I’m okay with herbs like basil, or thyme in small doses, and garlic is okay but again in a small amount. I don’t like overpowering food, I guess.

A coworker saw my lunch once and said I eat like a third grader. He’s probably right. Today for lunch I packed myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich and pudding cup (I also had a jello cup with peaches mixed in, and a granola bar but I didn’t eat them). I had a yogurt with granola to mix in and piece of cheese for morning break.

Now, I’m sitting here trying to think of what to make for supper. Even if I were to go out to buy all the ingredients to make whatever I wanted … I still have no idea what I want. This would be fine if it was a once in a while thing. Except it’s not, it’s every night. It’s also one of the very few things that my husband and I argue over. He’ll eat anything, and will try everything at least once.

I have gotten better at trying new things, after some prodding.

I really don’t know what it is about food, it always seems like such a chore when I have to eat. Maybe it’s because I don’t like cooking? But, even when I’m not the one cooking, I can’t make up my mind. I have a limited number of options that I leave myself, and it’s like they’re always unappealing.

Inevitably lately I’ve been munching on candy that I got in my stocking for Christmas. It’s really bad for me, and I think it’s been what’s been making me feel off lately. Not sick really, just meh. I love fruit, and I want to be able to munch on fruit instead of chocolates or nerds or something like that. I’m always afraid of it going bad, and throwing it out. Produce is expensive, and quickly perishable.

I like some vegetables, and mostly I like them raw. A few I’ll eat cooked, with butter on them. I’m okay with meat, I prefer chicken or pork over beef. I’m not really into seafood. Occasionally I’ll eat a white fish (like haddock or tilapia), scallops and shrimp. I can’t eat fried foods without feeling sick.

I eat too many starches. I love fries, potato, pasta, and bread. I like cheese and yogurt, but milk makes me feel sick. I love ice cream (vanilla or chocolate on occasion. As much as I love strawberries, they’re my favorite fruit, I cannot stomach strawberry ice cream. Mainly I like vanilla with toppings on it.) and sugary sweets, but not cake. I like eggs, but not the yolk unless it’s mixed in when scrambled.

I don’t like bacon, and my husband just doesn’t understand that at all. Not liking bacon just doesn’t register in his world

I’m trying to come up with a list of foods that I like, that are easy to make, and that are healthy. It’s a short list. My snacks list is longer, but it’s mainly variations of fruits, veggies and dips. My lunches list has two things on it, a tuna fish sandwich with cheese, or leftovers. There’s a flaw in that list. I don’t have anything on my dinners list to have as leftovers.

This is what stops me from meal planning like I want to. I can’t decide what to eat when I’m hungry, how am I possibly going to come up with a week’s worth of meals when I’m not? I can’t come up with one! How seven?

Question to the readers: What’s your relationship with food?

Now, I’m not sure.

I talk to one a little here and there, and I recently went to see her for a scentsy party. I had a nice time, but I feel like we only get together for these types of parties. I did go to her housewarming, but was late and only stayed a little while because of working. Work schedules are a big factor in planning any sort of get together.

I talk to another about once a month when I visit her at her work. The third I haven’t talked to in months, and don’t even know where she’s living at the moment. I know she and her husband bought a house, but not where. I have asked, more than once, and just never receive a reply. I don’t know why this bothers me so much. I guess I thought you told friends where you were living?

My husband came up to comfort me during my break down. He reminded me that not only do I have other friends, that we were also not the type of people to call anyone, and that everyone’s been busy lately with us all three buying houses this past September and October.

During the conversation I brought up the fact that I have more friends around the world, that I only talk with online, than I do offline. Even those friends, I really only talk to online. That’s part of what’s so hard about socializing with this group of friends, they’re not nearly as big into online things as I am. So, if they’re not online, I hear nothing from them. I don’t talk to anyone on the phone but my mom. Everything else is pretty much through facebook, twitter or email. I don’t even text that much. I try to plan times to hang out, but either I get no reply, or schedules just don’t seem to match up.

I miss having friends I could hang out with and play games. It’s not the same when it’s only two people playing a game, and mostly we don’t play games just us, we watch TV together (right now we’re on firefly) in the rare times we’re both home at night.

Then my husband said something else that caused me to have one of those light bulb moments. You can have friends who your only thing in common with them is location: you live in the same city, went to the same schools, etc. Or, you can have friends who your only thing not in common with them is location. It’s okay to have friends who you’ve never met face to face.

He said that if this group of friends is really my friend, than when things settle down, they’ll call or we’ll work out a day that works to hang out. In the interim, I do have other friends, and not to discount them because we haven’t been super close in recent years. I could contact some of them to hang out some time, if that’s what I really wanted to do.

But really, when do we ever go out anywhere? We both work 45–50 hours a week. Then we get home and have to put the house together, and keep it running. Mostly, he builds and fixes things around the house, while I do the day-to-day functioning type things to keep it going: like dishes, laundry and groceries, etc.

Our house is 161 years old, it’s like having another family member to take care of. I love my house. It’s just a lot of work.

Question to the readers: What are your thoughts on friendships either offline or online?

But, like I told my husband. They’re files. They’re not even real things.

I still feel lost without them. Very much like a piece of me is missing.

I’d still be me without my books. I’d still be me without my old (and honestly not very good, although not bad for a 14 year old) writing. Or, my kitten pictures of Max. My files are not me. My things are not me.

So then why do they feel so much like they are? Why do we have a need to personalize everything? Things come in colors, can be embroidered, can have different designs and styles. If our things don’t make us, why do we have to impose so much of ourselves, onto our things?

When I describe myself, the first two things I think of without fail is that I am a writer, and a reader. Secondly I list myself as a wife, and a cat-mom. I’m more than what I do, who I’m married to, and who I take care of.

But, what?

I think, at least in my case, our things become a shield. Our hobbies become an easy way to connect with people without having to really connect or converse. If I say I love to read, and someone I meet does too, that’s one thing we can talk about. That’s something to start a friendship on.

If I said I was an extreme introvert who found talking to people incredibly intimidating and non-desirable, well, then that conversation wouldn’t go quite as well.

Question to the readers: So, how do you define yourself?

So I will obviously be not getting the external drive fixed.

It’s really upsetting because that was quite literally everything digital I had saved over the last 14 years or so. Every. Last. Thing.

And now it’s gone.

However, I have my wedding photos on CD. And I have my WIP novel. I’d be a little more devastated if I lost those two things. The writing hurts, but to be honest most of it was crap from when I was a teenager. Going forward with my writing, I’ll just have to write all new stuff instead of revising all the old stuff like I planned. It’s not so bad.

I’m sad about losing our pictures. But as my husband said, we never looked at them anyway, and there were so many that it was hard to do so if we wanted to. We have a few printed out, and he has some on his computer. I’ll miss them, but we still have the memories. And I have some copies of a few on facebook, even if they’re poor quality.

The rest, the old website versions and backups, old sims saves, and I don’t even know all of it, I’m not too upset over. I had too much junk on there anyway that I needed to sort. The music isn’t lost, I just have to re-burn all the CDs, or not. I have the stuff I listen to now on this computer so I may not bother.

I feel like I should have learned something from all this. Obviously I need to back up my backups, because when the main computer dies, then the backup dies before I can re-install everything, I lose all of it. I don’t want to lose it all a second time. Except, I’d lose much less.

But what else? That I held on to too much old junk? I do that in my offline life too.

Question to the readers: Is there a silver lining to all this?

This is big for me.

However, the floor still got water all over it, but whatever. At least the floor’s a bit cleaner now, right? 

Photographic Evidence:

A rare occurrence in my house.

Question to the readers: What is your most hated household chore?

In 2011, it felt like I spent the year tired and always busy, but never getting anything done.

We bought a house. I got a second job. I finished half my novel.

I started exercising a little in the summer, but once school started in September the park was invaded by teenagers. I couldn’t run along the paths anymore when them crowding it to get to school.

Now, my external hard drive crashed, and so did the hard drive on my laptop.

For next year, I have only a few hopes. I want to finish at least the next quarter of my novel. I want to work exercise back into my life. And I want to try harder at being positive and happy. I usually am, but lately it’s been a string of things which make that pretty hard to do.

Question to the readers: What are you hoping to accomplish in 2012?

This is our first Christmas in our new home. It’s such a good feeling to have our own house. We don’t have to worry about the neighbors upstairs, downstairs and on every wall (just about) complaining about noise. Our oldest niece and my sister-in-law came over last night for a visit, and she got to play around all she wanted. We didn’t have to quiet her because it was after 8pm and she was laughing. She’s four, I don’t want to stop a four year old from laughing to make her think she’s done something wrong.

My husband loved the presents I bought for him, and I loved mine as well. Mostly, I’m looking forward to a nice lunch with my family, and playing games after. We did the same at Thanksgiving last month and it was a nice day. I don’t get to see my husband or my parents as much as I’d like.

Honestly, I don’t get to see my house as much as I’d like either. We’re always so busy with work!

We love our house though, and I’m really enjoying my new job ¹. The two things I miss the most about our old apartment are the dishwasher and the central heat/air. Oil heat is too expensive for us to leave it set at 74*F like I’m used to. Now, we leave it at 65*F. I expected to be cold, but the bathtub is cast iron inside (I think, it’s still got the coating on it like a regular tub but it sounds metal when you tap on it) and that thing just cups the freezing cold air inside.

Dishes used to be a quick thing, just toss them in and go do something else. Now, they’re a chore again. The one chore I hate more than anything. I’d rather scrub the bathroom than the dishes! They take so long, and since we’re recycling, I’m also washing the trash  Laundry is much less of a chore now, so I guess that’s a bit of a trade off. Now that we have our own machines in our place, instead of going to my parents’ house across town, it doesn’t take a week to do a load of wash! I can do several in a day.

It’s the little things which amuse me.

It’s fun to dream about all the things we’re planning to do. It gives us something to work for. When the days at work are long, we can remember why we’re there, and that X amount of hours will add up to fixing the chimney, or the porch, the basement, taking down the paneling, getting rid of the ‘70s pink carpet, adding a second bathroom, adding more than two electrical outlets to each room, rearranging and modernizing the kitchen, etc …