But I do want to say something. I keep hearing about how the decade is ending and the next decade is going to be better/different/etc. Except that the decade isn't ending. Math Lesson: count to 10. What do you start with? 1. Not 0. The decade STARTED with 2001 and ENDS with 2010. So the last year of the decade isn't this one, it's the next one. Which means that 2000 was the LAST year of the previous decade, and 2001 was the FIRST one of this one.
Anyway. Here goes:
January
January started with mice, living in our closet. That problem was solved fast.
Bill worked on the quilt he made for me, that took a lot of time. But when he finished it, I was thrilled.
It was a very cold month and the cold caused me significant asthma issues.
A new president was inaugurated. Not one I'm impressed with at all.
We celebrated our 24th anniversary.
Ice storm - but that's not unusual!
Bill decided the time had come to switch jobs, he had an interview with the local school district and they really wanted him but they couldn't afford him. But it gave him the boost he needed!
February
The decorating bug visited, it spent a lot of time in our bathroom.
I found the quilt I started when Otter was in kindergarten and started back on it.
FutureJediMom's tribe increased!
16 years since our move to OK.
March
I started Froggy's collection of crocheted pot holders. I probably need to get busy and increase that!
Bill started clearing out unused shelf space in the garage and getting rid of some of the junk, I mean clutter!
The tulips started budding.
I crocheted a lot, working on Froggy's collection mostly.
Otter's asthma/allergy doctor agreed: no karate, so even though she hadn't been going in a while this was the month she officially dropped out. She's much improved.
Bill interviewed for a position that opened up at his current employer and got it! It turned out to be the position he was originally hired for and it was a true Godsend. But he didn't start the new position until April, it was very hard to keep quiet about it for most of March.
Snow!
Otter turned 17. Too quick! She should still be about 3 or 4.
April
Bill worked on his hydrogen generator project, he had a lot of fun with it. It did work, but not nearly as much as we'd heard that they would - which was not a surprise.
Bill's job transfer officially happened. It was a Very Good Thing.
Maggie decided that she needed to sleep in our bed instead of Otter's. That was not allowed!
Easter! We had a wonderful time at Grandpa & Sweetie's.
I mailed Froggy's collection to her.
We had the first hint of spring, we started hearing tree frogs. Fun!
Otter's parakeet died. While it was a sad occasion for her, she realized that she really did not enjoy having a bird and started thinking that maybe she should have got hamsters instead of parakeets like she originally wanted. She did the research and presented her case to her father, then two little furrballs moved in and I think I enjoy them as much as she does. "Nadine & Helena."
Sweetie's birthday was this month.
The irises started blooming!
Miss Dorothy fell & broke her hip. This was the beginning of some really rough times around the office, it was pretty bad because we were all so worried about this precious, precious lady. She's fine, thank God! But it was scary for a while.
One fun thing this month, a mockingbird outside the dining room window started imitating my cuckoo clock!
Otter had an interesting experience in school, they started disecting things. She enjoyed it, she's her mother's daughter after all.
May
We started hearing about swine flu. The media did it's usual thing, and it got to the point where I didn't even want to turn on the tv or read the paper!
The morning glories started coming up!
Maggie Moo discovered the hamsters, so the cage got moved to a higher location in Otter's room.
We got bamboo for the back yard. Which was a lot of work and then we didn't need it after all.
Work was wild, mostly due to the situation with Miss Dorothy.
We realized this month that Otter was probably going to have to go to summer school.
Mother's Day was very nice.
Rain. Lots of Rain. Lots and Lots of rain.
The tree frogs seemed to have multiplied exponentially! We enjoyed hearing them.
Put the pool up.
Last day of 10th grade.
June
Miss Dorothy got to go home from the hospital, she had been admitted again in May.
Toadles came to see us! He was the first of our summer visitors and we really enjoyed his visit. We had a train hunt, hit flea markets, and just had a great time. He got to hear the local coyotes, they talked to him. Otter also got a Toadles wake-up: ice cubes!
We saw a rabbit in the back yard, first time in a long time. The dogs spent a lot of time trying to find it, but they never managed to.
Nana came to visit! We had a wonderful time, and Otter really enjoyed it.
We saw the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Very somber, but so well done.
I finally got to see the Chihuly exhibit in Ok City! Spectacular, absolutely spectacular.
Billyboy had a birthday.
Father's Day this month.
Minor air conditioner repair needed at the rent house.
The pool split! It was not a fun thing.
We had several heat warnings, early for the heat to happen. Still not as hot or as long as S. Texas, but pretty warm for NE OK.
The builders behind us put up a privacy fence, so the bamboo came out.
Froggy came to see us! Lots and lots of Braum's trips, many flea markets & thrift stores. Lots of Fenton finds this month. :)
Talequah visit, to the Cherokee Heritage Center.
My vacation started at the end of June, finished up in the first week of July.
Summer school started for Otter. And she finished the first draft of her manuscript! (This is the edit)
July
Bill decided to sell some gold stuff we'd had for years. Not anything big, just a few little things.
Painted the rain barrel. It was white, now it's dark green.
Bill shot off a few fireworks on the 4th. And one bottle rocket blew up as soon as it was out of the bottle, which means that it was in Bill's face. I was not pleased!
Air conditioner at the house started acting up, turned out to be minor.
Summer school continued.
I got a raise! Totally unexpected, very much appreciated.
Billyboy's brother Scott & his family visited. Really cute kids. Otter enjoyed their visit so much, they are just great kids.
FutureJediMom had news - the first thing guessed was that the Tribe was expanding again, but it turned out to be the 2nd thing everyone guessed - they moved back to Texas. Which made Toadly very happy - FutureJediMom is his daughter, by the way.
Harry Potter movie premiered, I took Otter and a friend of hers.
We started putting trellis pieces on the privacy fence, and the morning glories took off!
Otter finished summer school with a B! She worked really hard and we are very proud of her.
Bill brought home a load of firewood in the White Lightning and broke one of the shock absorbers.
Otter went to Texas to spend a week with Nana and got to see pretty much all the other relatives. She had a great time, but it was very quiet around the house! We're glad she could go, it didn't look like it at first because of Summer School.
Dogs still looking for the bunny, it ran right in front of them and they still missed it!
Froggy's birthday!
August
The month started with a call from our tenant, they had bought a house and would be moving at the end of the month. We discussed our options and decided that it was time to sell.
Bill sold the Redneck Joke, also known as the parts car - the blue El Camino.
Otter came home from Texas, tired & happy. She had a great time.
FutureJediMom and the Tribe (or she might have called them the Herd) came to see us on their way back home to Texas. It was a short visit, but we are really glad that we got to see them. I think that Otter would have willingly kept any and all of the kids, by the way. We would have let her!
Grandpa's birthday this month!
Sales Tax Free weekend, we found a few things - mostly t-shirts for Otter to wear to school.
One particularly bad thunderstorm this month. Lots of hail. We started thinking maybe we should get the roof checked. Which we did, and the insurance started a claim for us.
11th grade started. Otter chose buffalo burgers for the special meal the first day of school.
Tropical Storm Bill! Then Hurricane Bill!
We argued with the insurance company on the type of coverage we had for the roof. We are going to change agents very shortly, since the agent we had been using couldn't give me an answer as to why we were told we had one coverage type but then didn't - at least we were not charged for the better coverage, we paid for the type of coverage we had. But it was not the better coverage we thought we had.
The tenants moved out a few days before the first, so we were able to get into the rent house this month and see what we needed to do. We started the cleaning process there. At first, we thought it was minor but then we realized that the carpet was not repairable and that there were a whole bunch of little things that were tenant related. It really added up.
Toadles had a birthday! He was hatched, by the way. Or maybe the aliens left him, we're not sure. :)
September
Busy month! Mostly related to the rent house. But we got it done, over the course of the month. There was a LOT to do. Otter helped us a great deal, and we really appreciated her efforts. She also helped out a lot at home, since so much of our time was spent at the rent house.We met with our realtor and signed the contract. He was very positive about it. We signed the contract on a Wednesday, he showed it for the first time on Friday and on the next Tuesday we had an offer. We got what we wanted for it and we were happy about that.
I had a major skin allergy attack, from something planted in the back yard - we think it was the "tree" on the neighbor's side that I brushed up against while mowing. I just about scratched all my skin off!
We realized that Magginator was having some housebreaking issues. We locked her out of the bedroom at that point. At their regular vet visit, Maggie weighed 30# and Frasier weighed 71#.
We had to buy a new lawn mower, Bill wore the old one out!
We discovered mosquitos in the rain barrel. Unexpected, we didn't think they could get in.
October
Frasier brought me a dead vole, good doggie!
Otter and I went to the rent house to say goodbye, since it was our home for 10 years. There were a lot of memories.
We saw the Toy Story movies in 3D at the theater.
I made my major Fenton find of the year - Cactus! This one made my year, as far as Fenton goes. It was spectacular! Now, I just need to top it. :)
We started redoing the rock garden.
We realized that Magginator had been leaving us surprises all over the house! We bought a steam cleaner and started cleaning everywhere.
We got our flu shots this month, as early as we could since all indications were that the supply was short.
We had to turn the heater on this month, as it got cold early.
We should have closed mid-month on the rent house sale. It looked like it, but the purchaser's title company kept messing up their paperwork. Then it was his mortgage company that kept screwing up.
We celebrated the anniversary of our meeting by cleaning the carpet!
Froggy had an internet issue - Scooter's dog chewed the cords up. So I didn't feel alone in doggie issues!
Otter really enjoyed sewing class at school.
Bill and I went to the rent house for one last check, we realized just how much work we'd done over there and it was a lot. It paid off, but we really worked hard.
The redecorating bug moved into Otter's bathroom!
We had the dryer vent cleaned out and also asked them to sweep the chimney - which turned out to need some work so along with the roof replacement, we now had to get the chimney rebuilt.
We worked on the rock garden some more.
We actually went to an auction! First time in months.
We signed our closing paperwork on the rent house sale.
We steam cleaned lots of places in the house.
Our realtor informed us that our rent house set the new price standard for that neighborhood - it raised it considerably. We're glad that we were able to do that.
Otter counted her shoes - 20 plus pair.
FutureJediMom's birthday this month.
Halloween.
November
We finished the rock garden! It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it.
The Dirty Jobs show Fenton episode aired. Obviously, I really enjoyed this one.
After who knows how many delays, the rent house closing finally happened! We had reached the point where we told the title company that we were not delaying anymore, it either happened by a certain date or we were cancelling the sale. All of a sudden, the tenant's mortgage company got their stuff together and it happened at about the last minute, on the last day we gave them. But it happened!
Bill bought a compressor on Craigslist. It meant that he had to clean out a lot of clutter in the garage. Good Thing.
I bought a bike, to replace the one that I'd had for a while but gave up on because of the fact that it is old and falling apart. Of course, the weather turned then so beyond a test ride I haven't actually got to use it!
Since we finally had time, Bill started getting estimates on the chimney and signed the contract for the roof repair. We really weren't sure that they would happen this year.
We got banana trees. 3 of them died, 3 of them might make it - we'll find out for sure in a few months.
I finally, FINALLY got to see the new Star Trek movie! It was tremendous!
I got new glasses. After a delay caused by the tech who made the new lenses.
We enjoyed Thanksgiving, we went to Grandpa & Sweetie's house and had a wonderful time. Great food and great visit.
Bill got a new chain saw! He used it on tree limbs. No blood this time!
Bill finally got around to replacing the windshield on his Impala.
December
The roofing company had an opening and were able to work us in!
The chimney rebuild happened on the same day, it took a couple of weeks for that because they had rain delays but they were able to get it finished and in perfect time because it started to get really cold shortly after they finished.
Bill bought a few pachinko machines.
Otter had to seperate her hamsters, they quit getting along and now she has two cages.
We got our first freeze. It got cold early this year, but then it got warm again and the trees were confused - they started budding out.
For the first time in all her school years, Otter got sick and school and I had to go get her!
Nana & Carolyn had birthdays this month!
Christmas happened this month. We had a nice one, very quiet and relaxing. I did get one present that I need to mention - FENTON! It's pink, it's a rose bowl style vase and it's perfect. It's on the shelf in the bedroom, which badly needed another piece.
We had an ice storm, it was actually an official blizzard and hit Christmas eve. We were really glad that the chimney work was done!
We had a nice vacation week (we're technically still on it today).
I caught up with Bill! I'm 48 now.
Paul graduated from Texas A & M! Froggy was very happy.
Carolyn & Jim visited, we enjoyed getting to see them.
And now, it's 8:38 a.m.!
2 comments:
You forgot something! I finished my first draft Manuscript in mid-june!
OK, I fixed it!
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