Review of 2007

Friday, December 14, 2007
Another year is almost over. We are already almost half way through December. People are counting down the days till Christmas. I haven't even put up my Christmas tree or decorations or done many of the things that I usually so. It just seems that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season gets busier every year with so many things to be done. I used to try and get all of my holiday preparations done early...sending out Christmas cards, writing letters, going shopping, baking, putting up the Christmas tree, and cleaning and decorating around the house. Hmmm, I don't have very many of those jobs done this year.Things are becoming far too commercialized, and expensive. There are just too many demands put upon my time and those of my family. On top of that I am having a lot of problems with my health, and my ability to do the things that I once did.

This year there will be some gifts, but not a whole lot. This year I will be lucky to get any real cleaning and decorating done either. I've come to realize that there are limits to what I am capable of doing and of what I will do at this point. I hate the fact that I can't do the things that I once used to. There is only a week till Christmas. It is physically impossible for me to do it all. Hopefully the girls will be able to pitch in and help out, however I have my doubts on that. Both of them seem to have a lot of demands on their time as well, mostly with jobs or babysitting, school work and their own social life, so we shall see.Recently we added another cat 7 months old to our already busy household of two dogs and a cat. Despite the added financial cost, they provide a lot of extra love, and companionship, and I would be lost without them. I love animals, and if I had a bigger place I would have a houseful of them. For now I will enjoy the ones we have.My dad continues to go for dialysis three times a week, and although his vision is much worse, he is still able to manage on his own at this point in time, along with my help.

I continue to help out with administrative work in our church, and at the moment have had a lot of extra work to do there as we have recently joined up with another church, so it should be interesting as we get into the new year. Thankfully I still have my special friends, and hopefully will make some new ones there as well.I still live with constant 24/7 pain from my arthritis and the fibromyalgia, along with the chronic fatigue and various other health issues that I seem to routinely deal with. Some days it is a real struggle just to get about and do the things that I must do. Often there are things that don't get done, and jobs that I used to get done that are suffering. Perhaps one day I will be blessed to see a miracle happen. Life goes on, and so must I.

Times are changing, and if I want to go with the flow, I need to make changes as well. Somehow I need to learn to manage my time and my schedule a little better, and do certain things when my health permits.
For now I just try to do what I can, and to just take things "One Day at a Time

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Christmas is over for another year. At the last moment, well a few days before Christmas, Becca decided to dig the Christmas tree out of the crawl space and put it up after I had spent some time cleaning a spot in the dining room area. We don't use it as a dining room. That's where the dogs beds are, and my one desk, and a few other things, so why not a tree. Our house is crowded, and small. There is no extra space to even put the things that we already have, but hey, the tree is up, and it was nice to see it there, as well as to have a place to put the parcels under.

Everyone was tired this year and stressed out. I wasn't feeling good with either a flu bug or something and Becca was down sick with a cold and sinus infection, fever , ear aches etc. All the things that made us both want to say bah humbug....let me just crawl in bed and sleep. Instead, I felt that I had to keep going, had to make sure there was a proper meal, had to make sure that everything was done for the sake of my family and my father. There was a lot of fuss & fighting as we all stressed out and tried to clean up and pick up things to make sure my father wouldn't fall over anything as he can't see much. As well, I was worried about the mess and afraid with it being Christmas someone might happen to drop by as well. I certainly wasn't after perfection, but I just wanted to see some things picked up and out of the way so there was a little more space for getting through.

On Monday we went to visit my son & his family and to exchange gifts and make sure the grandchildren had their parecels as they were going away for Christmas to their other grandparents. We had pizza, but as the evening progressed I began feeling sicker and sicker and by the time we got home, all I could do was crawl in bed. Good thing I woke up in the middle of the night to make sure that 'santa' was able to take care of things.

I did manage to get dinner taken care of the following day and make sure everyone was ok before I crashed and had to lay down. I never did partake of the Christmas dinner, but by the time they had all finished eating, I was able to get some gravol down and spend a little time with everyone, as well as my visiting nephews before I had to go back to bed. That was at least good, and thankfully my hubby was able to take dad down home. Good thing as it wasn't long before we were all in bed.

The days are passing swiftly and we are almost at the end of another year. Just one more day....
I wonder how many people look back at the past year and can highlight special events, projects and things they've done or people that they've spent time with? I always feel at a loss for words when it comes to sharing the events of the past year with others. My life doesn't really hold any special highlights or at least not many that I care to mention.

During this past year daughter #1 turned 15 years old and started working at her first real job at McDonalds. She also spent a day going to work with a friend, and ended up working at Coles Book store part time for 3 months as well. So her life has consisted of school, working and friends.

Daughter #2 started doing a lot more babysitting as her sister gradually gave her jobs up. She turned 13 years old, and started her last year of grade school with plans to enjoy her last year together with friends, and seeing what all she could accomplish in her various sports events and running, and doing quite well too.

Hubby spent much of his time either working or puttering around with his guns and going to the gun range with his brother. He also spent time fighting in arbitration with his work and after two years of this nonesense, and being given a demotion, he finally managed to win and get back a job he had applied for as a mechanic in the cold end which meant more pay thankfully as it has been a difficult time. His mood continues to swing, and a good deal of the time things have been very unpleasant around here.

Me, well I seem to spend all of my time either running my father back and forth to dialysis, or running errands such as banking and shopping for him. As well, I seem to be constantly running #1 back and forth to work, or #2 to sports or babysitting, or trying to accomplish a few things around the house while dealing with constant sickness and continueing pain.
We did manage to get away to a cottage for three weeks this year and it was the first time ever that we had that much time together. Unfortunately it is a vacation that wasn't much of a holiday and one I'd sooner forget.

I started spending some of my time volunteering at the SPCA once a week when I was able to go in, and working with the cats giving them some freedom and play time. We also picked out a cat that was there, and decided to go all the way in actually getting another cat...something we have thought about for quite some time. So now we have two dogs, and two cats. This is something I really enjoy, however my health has also interferred in my getting out to do this as much as I'd like. I really do love spending time with the animals.

We seem to see more of my son & family over this past year and things are a lot better between us all. On the off -side to that, I rarely see any of my side of the family as they choose to stick to themselves and go their own way.

That's my year... no fabulous vacations, so special events, no special projects around the house, and nothing memorable to share.

I certainly hope that the coming new year of 2008 proves to be a much better year for everyone amongst family & friends, in relationships, and financially, so as I look ahead to this year drawing to a close, I just want to say this......

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY, AND MAY YOU EXPERIENCE GOD'S LOVE AND BLESSINGS IN YOUR LIFE THROUGHOUT THIS COMING YEAR OF 2008.