can we get this over with already?

i'm not a huge fan of new year's eve. growing up, my dad usually worked on new year's, and occasionally my mom would make a nice dinner and let me stay up to watch the ball drop, but that was really about it. i went out and did the big new year's eve bash a couple of times in college- once at the drake downtown and once in st. louis (1999! weee!), but both were on other people's dime, otherwise, i wouldn't have done it. i see no sense spending at least three times what you would spend on literally any other night of the year because of some arbitrary day on the calendar. like, would you go to all the fuss over april 17? neither would i. to me, new year's is just like any other day. it used to be that i'd have to remind myself to write the correct year on my checks, but since i got married the husband does all of our billing (and really, who writes checks anymore?), i don't even have to do that.

however, having said all that (nod to larry david), i am not sorry to see 2009 go. as far as years go, it wasn't a great one. here's a recap of the high- and low-lights from the year that was...

2009 was the year that on our vacation, every time we checked our cell phones, we had more bad news. when we got home from said vacation, we discovered our house was ruined by our upstairs neighbor's water heater leaking. which caused us to live in joey's parents (unfinished) basement for a month.

as sucky as all that was, in the end, we ended up with a completely remodeled house on somebody eles' dime, so as much as i'd like to, i can't complain too loudly. although, i still harbor deep resentment for the upstairs neighbors. unless they're reading this; in which case, we love them! (no, we don't.)

a day after we got home from vacation, already frazzled by the living situation, my mom's only brother died after being in a coma for a week and a half.

2009 was the year that we turned to adoption, and we are hoping that 2010 (or 2011) will be the year that makes our family a little bigger.

2009 was the year that i opened my etsy shop, and after selling for about 9 months, i am proud to say it's been moderately successful. not enough to quit my day job (not yet, at least :) ) but enough to keep it going throughout 2010.

so yeah, 2009 was... 365 whole days.

looking ahead to 2010...

• we are going to finish our homestudy in q1
• i'm going to write and sell some patterns (i'd like to eventually publish a book of patterns, but i think that's a goal for 2011 or 2012)
• i'd like to pick up a second language. preferrably one with no practical use at all. like russian. or portugese. (do not expect to see this on my list of things i did in 2010)
• as always, i want to hike part of the appalachian trail
• i'm GOING to finish joey's blanket (he'll divorce me if i don't, i swear it!)