2004 in Review

This post is inspired by one with an acre and I hope to do as good a job with my post as she did with hers.

2004 proved to be a good year for us in comparison to many, and for that I am very thankful! Overall DH has a job, and we have a good income which allows us to do things that we enjoy in addition to what we need to do. We are all healthy, happy and well fed! A couple of investments we made in 2003 finally started to payoff this year, and we now have some passive income! :yay

DD is doing well with the homeschooling, although I have to make some changes in my life to continue to homeschool in the future, this is part of my New Year's program (no resolutions here)! She loves her volleyball and Tae Kwon Do, now that we've finally found a school that we like!

DS has had a rough start in 2nd grade, and is bored to tears with school. Due to some changes that the school has made, we are seriously considering homeschooling him starting in January. His teacher is now out on maternity leave, and we were promised that his class would have the student teacher that trained in his classroom cover for his teacher while she had her babies. But they decided to split the classes and create a fourth 2nd grade class. They hired the student teacher to take the 4th class, and DS did not get moved into that classroom. His substitute will be another new teacher (she student taught last semester in a 3rd grade class) and although we've met her, and she seems nice and has great plans to teach, I still have my concerns. DS does not deal with change very well, and he wants to be homeschooled NOW. So he and I have spent a good portion of the break working together, and seeing how things would be a little. Changes they are a-comin'!

My stitching...I've completed 5 projects this year (plus an MBA). I should finish a 6th project today, as I have about 20 minutes left to complete another ornament. Then I'm going to attempt to finish Mini Mystery "E" before the new year appears late tomorrow night! Since it sounds like my New Year's Eve party os being cancelled, I'll probably stitch most of the evening! So there is still some hope! Next year's foreshadowing can be found here, and I'll get it posted here next year, and try to update quarterly, even if it is just a cut and paste of the original list with progess noted!

Friends have been made aplenty this year. Since getting involved with the big TWBB GTG in Vegas, I've grown close to several of the ladies involved in the original planning. Each one of these ladies is special to me for numerous reasons. One of them even lives relatively close to me, although we almost had to go to Vegas to actually meet! I'm hoping that 2005 brings a closer friendship between us that extends to our families as well. The next one is a prolific and sometimes controversial poster, who is really a lot of fun. Unfortunately we live too far apart to develop a close in person relationship, although our friendship has grown through e-mails and IMs since Vegas, and I hope to get our families together next year somehow! Last but certainly not least is the lady who called me her sanity during the GTG. We've also grown closer since the trip, and even had a wonderful 7 minute lunch and shop last week! All these people are special to me in their own way, and I look forward to many good times with them in the future!

In real life my friendships are about the same, although I have added some new people to the cast of characters and am in the process of renewing an old friendship that had drifted apart a little due to issues in both our lives. I also have a new SIL whom I hope to develop a friendship with as time permits. Of course her wedding was not a good time fr us to really get to know each other, and that's the only time I've actually met her. 2,000+ miles makes it difficult to GTG regularly, so we make do with other communication alternatives.

In other news DH is attempting to get a new business started and was looking for investors. We had some that were interested, but they seemd to vanish after the elections. I just found out we have some more that are interested, but we are currently having some technical issues with the final draft of the paperwork for them.

DH has also had an intersting year with cars. About a month ago he got rear-ended on the freeway in an accident that did almost no physical damage to the body of the car, but trashed his transfer case. We finally got the insurance company to purchase the part, since it was accident related and he's been in a renatl car or two almost all month. The first renatl car was a Sebring, which within 3 days of his picking it up had a flat tire. Then the radio randomly went out when he hit a bump! Finally it just wouldn't start one afternoon. We managed to get it started with him jiggling the electrical wires under teh hood while I turned the key. At that point, we took it back to the rental place and got a replacement. First they offered us an Impala, like I drove while I was in VA, but it had a flaky looking tire, so we ended up with a Ford F_150, and he's as happy as can be with it, and doesn't want the Jeep back. I don't blame him, but the Jeep has a major benefit going for it...its paid for! So I guess in the next year or so, I'm going to have a second car payment...again, since he really wants a pick-up truck now!

Overall its been a good year with some challenges, but we've survived and our marriage is stronger now than its been in awhile. I'm hoping this trend will continue through 2005 and beyond! I hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a great 2005!