2012 Year in Review

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?

Played in a Scrabble tournament. I actually played in three tournaments and won 2^nd place in the third one.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t think I made any last year. I’m going to have to make a resolution to lose weight this year though.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My best friend’s daughter passed away this year.

5. What countries did you visit?

No countries again – but I have hope that I will some day.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?

More time to read.

7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Probably Jan 1 when Matt kissed me for the first time at New Year’s.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Selling my house in Canyon and buying a house here in San Antonio.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I can’t think any major failures except sucking at my first Scrabble tournament and gaining a million pounds.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Same as last year: Nothing major – typical colds, allergies and such. Lots of bumps and bruises from moving and delivering textbooks.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A new house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Matt has been a pretty awesome boyfriend and Josh still has a 4.0 in college.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I can’t think of anyone. Some of the kids at school are still brats.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Buying a new house.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

House hunting, beating Matt at Scrabble.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?

“Start of Something Good” by Daughtry

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder? Probably about the same. Still happy that I’m with Matt.
- richer or poorer? Only slightly richer because I paid off a few bills
- thinner or fatter? Much fatter – gained 15 pounds this year

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Reading and traveling.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Eating

20. How did you spend the holidays?

New Years (2012) – with Matt
Valentine’s Day – with Matt – sort of. Had a band concert so only saw him briefly on Valentines, but we celebrated together later.
Easter – Matt and I went back to Canyon
4^th of July – with Matt – cooked out on the grill and then just hung out at home.
Thanksgiving – with Matt and Josh – made dinner in the new house.
Christmas – here in SA with Josh and Matt

21. Did you fall in love in 2012?

Yes, Matt and I said “I love you” on Valentine’s day.

22. How many one-night stands?

None – dating Matt exclusively.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

I started watching Storage Wars this year though it’s not necessarily my favorite. I still enjoy watching House Hunters as well.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No – still friends with everyone as far as I know.

25. What was the best book you read?

I didn’t read as much as I wanted, but I did enjoy Perks of Being a Wallflower and a new teen series by Allie Condie (Matched, Crossed, and Reached).

26. What was your favorite film of this year?

Les Miserables

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?

Since I gained so much weight and refuse to buy bigger closthes, I’m limited to wearing the same 3 or 4 pairs of pants over and over.

28. Whom did you miss?

Still miss many of my friends back in Canyon.

29. Who was the best new person you met?

Not sure – only met a handful of new people.

30. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

I can’t think of any major lessons learned. Don’t move in the rain.

House Tour

Well as promised, I’m providing you with a video house tour. I hope the video works. I think my voice is a little muffled. I may have had a finger over the mic or something – not sure, but it took about 8 takes to get this done, so you’ll have to deal with it I guess. I didn’t realize I had to hold my phone horizontally to video. I took other videos vertically and when I played them, they were sideways. So here’s the tour of my house if you’re interested.

  

Shopping Day

This is my second attempted at blogging today.  I had another post written and then my computer decided to freeze.  I couldn’t save it or anything.  So here it is again… sort of. 

Matt and I went shopping yesterday.  We had to go to three Home Depot stores to get the drill that I wanted.  After that we went to Kohl’s to see if I could find something to spend my gift cards on, but I didn’t find anything.  I don’t want to even look at clothes until I lose some weight.  So I guess going to Chipotle for lunch afterward didn’t help with that endeavor.  We went to the outlet stores in San Marcos and even though I don’t need shoes, I did find some at the Sketcher’s store that I decided I needed.  I also got Matt a pair of cross trainer shoes as well since it was buy one get on half off.  We went to the Bose store and Matt got new earbuds.  After that it was the Jockey store for new underwear and socks.  We planned to go to the movie and see Jack Reacher last night, but traffic was backed up on our way back into town so we didn’t make it.  I’ve read the Reacher series and I don’t really see Tom Cruise as the the character, but perhaps he will surprise me. 

I’ve been trying to read The Hobbit as well but it is slow going.  Tolkien is very wordy and the tv is distracting.  Josh said that I only need to read a few chapters to be able to see the movie.  We’ll go see it when he gets back to San Antonio.  He left on the 27th to go back to Canyon to visit his friends.  Matt and I are going to a Scrabble New Year’s eve party on Monday. 

Well, I think I’ll do a little more cleaning and try to get the Christmas mess out of here.  Not the decorations, just the “stuff” like wrapping paper and such that needs to be put away. 

Just plain lazy

I’ve hardly done anything the past three days.  I have gotten out, but only briefly and only because I had to.  Wednesday I went to the store for a couple of necessities.  Yesterday, I went to the post office because I was out of stamps and had to mail some things.  Matt is off today, but he had to go to the dentist.  I’m not sure what my plans will be.  I have some gift cards to spend so I might get dressed eventually and get out. 

Yesterday I watched tv most of the day though I did put my new lamp together and work on some rosaries.  I thought about trying to sell them online again, but haven’t decided yet. 

We thought about going to Six Flags sometime during the break, but I’m not sure if I really want to.  I know, it’s a shock, but the temps are cooler right now and I think I’d rather wait until the spring.  I do need to get a new season pass though. 

I know I had promised to post some pics of the house… I just forgot to take them when the house was clean for the party.  Now it’s a bit of a mess again.  I’ll try to tidy up this weekend and take some pics – maybe even a video. 

Well, I think I’ll get back to doing nothing. 

Time for a do-nothing day

I don’t remember the last time I actually had a do-nothing day.  You know the kind of day where you sleep really late (and still take a nap during the day), sit around in your pajamas ALL day (really), and do nothing but sit in front of the t.v. with a laptop in my lap and being as unproductive as possible.  If I had someone that could bring me food, it would be complete.  Oh, yeah, Josh is here.  Perhaps I could text him and have him deliver goodies to me on the couch.  I guess that would be pushing it though. 

Christmas was lovely yesterday.  We slept in until around 9:30 and then I got up and made breakfast burritos (with and without eggs) and some cinnamon rolls.  We opened presents and it was a very good haul for everyone, I think.  Matt got me a Blue Ray DVD player, and really cool Ott Lamp for crafting, and gift cards for Kohl’s and Home Depot.  He drew the line at actually buying me a drill, but thought the gift card would be ok.  He also gave me his entire Monk DVD collection.  So now I have the entire series to watch. 

We headed out to see Les Miserables around 2:30, but when we got to the theater, it was sold out.  We headed to a different theater and we were the first to buy tickets for the 4:00 show so it was nice to choose the best seats.  Of course we had a 45 minute wait before we even got to the previews, but it was worth the wait.  I thought the movie was awesome with the exception of Russell Crowe.  He just didn’t seem to get “into” the character.  Otherwise, I thought the cast was amazing.  When we got home, Matt hooked up the DVD player and we watched the 25th anniversary DVD of Les Mis as well. 

Matt was going to grill steaks last night, but we were under a red flag wind warning all day so we decided to wait until today.  I made cashew chicken instead.  Having two guys and me in the house means that we didn’t have any leftovers like I normally do.  Oh, well, that’s probably a good thing.  We’re still eating all the party leftovers as well. 

So I guess I better get back to … doing nothing.  I’m going to enjoy the moment while I can.  I’m sure there will be something that I need to do tomorrow.  But maybe not. 

Successful Christmas Party

Well, the Christmas party went without a hitch.  I cleaned and cleaned the week before.  Yesterday morning, I continued cleaning and did a lot of cooking.  We had way too much food of course, but everyone seemed to enjoy everything.  Most people said that I had a lovely house as well.  We probably about 20 people come over altogether.  I made bacon wrapped weenies with brown sugar, queso, chicken bites coated with french fried onions and homemade honey mustard sauce, cucumber sandwiches, lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies, a white chocolate – raspberry cake, two kinds of punch and hot spiced wine.  Josh made oatmeal raisin cookies with cinnamon chips and Matt got a sampler tray of meats and cheese from the New Braufels’ smokehouse. 

Oh, at the party last night I sold two rosaries!  I was showing some friends the ones I had made and two of them bought one from me.  So I made $35 that I didn’t plant to have.  That was kind of cool.  I might try to sell some online again. 

We are going to the Spurs game tonight. Josh is going with us. He’s never been to a professional basketball game. I hope he’ll enjoy it. It’s hard not to get in the spirit with the crowd. It should be fun. 

We have no plans tomorrow other than I need to get out and do a few last minute shopping things.  I’m going to try to get out early in the morning and hopefully avoid the big crowds.  We’ll see how it goes. 

In case I don’t post for a while, I hope all my blog readers have a very Merry Christmas! 

I love my house

There may be a time when something breaks and I’ll rescind this statement, but tonight I was thinking about how much I love my new house.  I’m in awe that I have such a nice place that I bought by myself.  It’s not fancy, but it has a lot of room and the layout works for me.  I’m still not keen about the stairs and the kitchen counters need to be replaced, but overall it is a great place.  I’m almost ready to take some pictures to post so you can see how it turned out.  I’ve gotten pictures hung and stuff put away.  Tomorrow I need to work on my bedroom and get stuff on the walls in there.  I still need some big artwork, but I’ll know it when I see it.  I keep scouting stores here and there and that’s how I’ve found the stuff for my living room.  My guest room is ready for guests and the only thing that is still a mess is the garage.  But isn’t that always the case?  I don’t think it is possible for me to have a clean garage for an extended period of time.  I’ll take pictures of the house on Saturday before the party and try to get them posted. 

Time to clean

The big Christmas party is now less than a week away.  (Assuming the world doesn’t end on Friday.)  I decided that I need to get most of my cleaning and stuff done this weekend.  I’ve hung pictures and put together a bookcase so far.  I started on hanging curtains, but am having issues with them.  I need to go to the hardware store and get a few things I think.  Matt is off playing Scrabble today.  I’m kind of working on the house, but I’m taking frequent breaks.  A nap might be in order as well.  I do have to get to the store at some point. 

Thankfully there’s only a week of school left until Christmas break.  I’m so ready for the break.  I had to be a sub for a teacher on Friday.  That really sucked.  It was a reminder why I got out of teaching in the first place.  I love being a librarian and I couldn’t be a teacher today.  It was exhausting and all I did was show a video and have them do an assignment afterward.  Of course it was a completely wasted day for me. 

It looks like the Christmas party is shaping up to be a good one.  Several of Matt’s co-workers have said that they would be coming and several of mine are as well.  We’ve got some Scrabble friends coming as well so I think it will be a success.  I just hope I can get everything done before then. 

Is it Christmas break yet?

Only 1 1/2 weeks of school to go.  I’m not really all that anxious actually.  Matt and I are hosting a Christmas party on the 22nd so I think time is going to fly by since I have to get the house ready by then.  I spent this past weekend unpacking all my Marvin items.  I had about 5 boxes of stuff.  I found places on the shelves and my loft area looks like a Martian explosion.  I also hung curtains in the guest room and put away all the unpacked boxes in closets.  The house is slowly coming together.  I need to hang some artwork in the living room and the curtains in the kitchen.  I got the office/workout room cleared as well.  Now it’s a matter of general cleaning I need to get done such as running the vacuum, sweeping, mopping, cleaning toilets and such – the things I love – not. 

Work has been busy as always.  My library and Scrabble club has been keeping me really busy, but it has been fun.  The kids that hang out in the library are really neat and I think they are really learning from playing Scrabble and doing the projects I’ve put together for them. 

I got a little irritated with Matt the other night.  I was trying to get him to talk about his future plans and he totally avoided my questions.  I let him know that I gave a reprieve for a few days, but that we would continue the conversation at some point and discuss our relationship like adults.  For a guy that is 52 years old, he can be a little childish – but I still love him. 

I’m looking forward to the 2 weeks off for Christmas though.  No place to go and I’ll get to take it easy – unless I decide to paint a room or something. 

A free Tuesday

I’m not sure what to do this week with no band or orchestra rehearsals.  I really should work on house stuff.  I did some of that yesterday.  I worked on unpacking a bunch of stuff in the office/workout room.  I’m not really going to have an office – I have an office closet where I’m storing filing cabinets, some shelves and such.  My desk got ruined when we moved so I can’t use it anyway.  My old desk that was in Josh’s room is now being used as my crafting desk.  Josh will have to get his own desk at some point. 

Matt and I have kind of been talking about marriage stuff while still skirting the specifics of him actually asking me or an idea of “when.” But we’ve talked about some logistics – like that fact that I’d probably want to get married in my church back in Canyon which works for him because his best man lives in Lubbock and another friend lives in Oklahoma.  Then there was the comment about his mother not approving a white wedding dress since I’ve been married before.  While I probably wouldn’t choose a white dress anyway, I told him I’d still wear whatever I wanted.  I’m not sure that she would even come to the wedding.  She still has made no effort to meet me.  But as far as actually getting married – that issue is still up the air.  Matt offers no information.  I did ask him if he was going to renew his apartment lease when it comes up in the spring, and he said probably not – but I don’t know if that really means anything. 

Matt asked me to make a rosary for his mother for Christmas.  I made it and I think it turned out really pretty.  I chose large beads that have pinkish flowers on them, pink beads with some teal green spacers.  I chose the beads because she has an extensive rose garden and it made me think of flowers.  I hope she likes it and I hope it might open up some lines of communication.

Well, I guess I’ll figure out something to eat for dinner and then do a little work on the house.  Matt and I are planning on having a Christmas party so I have a lot to get done before then.