2010 Review & December Books

It's only January 2nd, so I'm not too late!  I just didn't have time on Friday.

Anyway.

Here's the highlights of 2010:

January

We got a freezer.  Which we use quite a bit.

We had quite a bit of cold weather and ice a few times.

On one of those cold days, the battery in my car quit and it was so cold that the El Camino simply wouldn't start, so I had an unexpected day off.

Bill was named Employee of the Month at work.

We celebrated our 25th Wedding anniversary.

We participated in the church-wide Fasting & Self Denial at our church.  It was hard at time, but it was also very fulfilling.  We probably all need to learn a little self denial.

February

Bill was sick this month.  I know he was really sick because he even asked me to take him to the doctor!  That never happens with him.

When he recovered, he went to Oklahoma City.  For a pachinko machine.

It was still really cold weather.

I guess I shopped a lot, because my notes for the month include lots of Fenton finds. :)

The Winter Olympics was the main thing we watched on tv.  We enjoyed it.

Otter started Night School.

My skin was really bad this month, I tried wearing latex gloves to crochet and it worked great.

The tulips we didn't know we had started coming up.  That was a really nice surprise.

I had an unpleasant encounter with a stray cat at work. Bad cat.

Otter had a bad experience with a boy at school.  This is on the list because it's the first time that the teachers actually backed her up!

March

Otter had a spectacular check up with her allergist/asthma doctor.

I found a tamale source!  That's a major one, for us Transplanted Texans.

Otter turned 18 on the 31st.

The day of her party was very cold, we had an ice storm the day before and had to deal with ice on party day.

It was a bad month for my knees.  Cold weather affects them.

I made a pink & white granny square afghan for Sweetie.

April

This was a fairly quiet month.

The resident frogs showed up, which is a good thing.

Bill transplanted the surviving 3 banana plants in the back yard.  While they did grow and were pretty, we probably won't have them again.

Otter finished and passed night school!

May

This is the major Wild Weather Month of the year.

It was also a bad month for Maggie.  She chewed up Otter's cell phone charger, got evicted from Otter's room and eventually both dogs were put out at night (but it was Maggie's fault, Frasier was just caught in the crossfire).  But since we'd started the month by Yarnbombing Maggie, maybe she was paying us back. :)

I crocheted lots of potholders for Froggy.

Mother's Day.  We had tamales!

The hummingbirds showed up for the summer.

We bought a blu-ray player.  We use it quite a bit.

The end of 11th grade for Otter.

San Antonio had some bad weather, including one near-miss twisty storm.

Our weather was really bad.  We had 2 days of severe weather, Spring Storms as they are known.  One of them was fairly close, but the second day of it was terrifying.  It was Very Close and we really thought we were going to get hit.  Thank God we didn't.

June

It was a rainy month.  Also, it was a warm month for this area.

Bill realized that he could make a little money by repairing pachinko machines for other people, so he started that this month.

Otter's big thing for the month is that she and BF went to an anime convention.  She made a set of cat ear headbands and they wore cat-tails.

Billyboy turned 49!

Father's Day.  We had barbecue.

I cleaned out some of my yarn.  That won't happen too often, which is why it's on here.

The big movie of the summer for us was Toy Story 3.

Otter's hamster, Helena, died.

July

This was a really hot month, we had heat alerts most of the month.  The temperatures were warm, but it was the lack of wind that was an issue.

I went to Texas for a week to see Froggy and Nana.  We shopped a lot.  We ate a lot.  Puffy Tacos! I got to see Virginia, we went to the Pig Stand with Toadles & Mrs. Toadles. I found a lot of Fenton and some wonderful yarn.

The census worker came to the door.  "THREE!"

Frasier got another cat, the neighbor's hairless one.

Otter went to Texas for a week, she stayed at Nana's and saw Froggy & Crew.  They shopped and she swam a lot.

Otter tried contact lenses, but they didn't work for her.

August

Still a hot month, more heat alerts.

Otter started 12th grade.

I took advantage of the dry weather and cleaned out the rain barrel.

Tax Free Weekend.  Shopping frenzy.

We decided to refinance the house, we started the process towards the end of the month.

Flu shots were available this month, so we got ours.  And the Red Head Curse struck again!

September

We had all sorts of inspections for the refinance process.

Bill made us a book shelf for our many library books.

The drive in theater in Tulsa burned to the ground.  In a matter of minutes.  The police think that it was copper thieves that caused it.  At this point, it's still uncertain if it will be rebuilt.  It's a very expensive process.  We hope it comes back, but won't be surprised if it doesn't. :(

Our favorite barbeque place closed! :(

San Antonio had 5" of rain in one day, which is a lot for them.  We didn't get any rain.

Our wonderful neighbor called the cops on our barking dogs one night.  Except that the barking was coming from her own back yard!  We decided to go ahead and let our dogs back in at night at this point, we were going to let them back in when the weather turned anyway.  I'm sure that they did some barking, but I'm also sure that our dogs didn't start it because I know them and how they act.

Bluebonnets came up in the whiskey barrel!  They were transplated to clay pots and two of them are still alive.

October

The Texas/ou game.  Major persecution this year.

Otter had a bad sinus infection.

We closed on the refinance of our home!

We went to the State Fair, first time in 4 or 5 years.  It was a lot of fun.

There was an earthquake.  It was a mild wiggle, but it was a big story.

27 years since Bill and I met.

Maggie Moo had a bump on her head that came up fast and stayed.  The vet thought it was a cyst but he was unable to aspirate it and it needed to come off.

Our church started a 9:00 a.m. service, so that's the one we go to.

Billyboy started an actual website, for pachinko machines.

November

Otter is now a registered voter!  She excercised the privelege for the first time.

Maggie's spot on her head was surgically removed.  We forgot to ask the vet to insert a brain while he was at it.
We got the tulips planted.  Unlike 2009 when we were busy with the rent house and didn't get bulbs.

Otter's remaining hamster, Nadine, died.

I finally started crocheting on the afghan I wanted to make.  It's on on-going process.

We went to Texas for Thanksgiving.  We had a great time and the dogs had their own vacation.

We got a whole bunch of firewood delivered.

December

It was a cold month for the most part, but a dry one.

Otter had strep throat. :(

We saw the new Harry Potter movie.

My wedding band broke!  The jeweler was able to repair it, fortunately.

Christmas!

I turned 49.

We had a home vacation and enjoyed it.

Our exploratory rambles took us to Ft. Smith, Arkansas to shop.  We make a lot of these type trips, but they are usually in the same state.

We celebrated New Year's eve with more tamales & chili.

2010 was a pretty good year for us.  It wasn't perfect, nothing ever is.  But it was a good year.

December books:

1.  Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton.  I started this series in November by reading the last book, I thought that I should catch up in order.  It's ok, it's not the best but it is entertaining.

2.  Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton.

3.  Drop Dead Stitch by Maggie Sefton.  OK, I'm now caught up.  But I'm thinking I might need to re-read the last book in the series just to stay straight.

4.  The Rose & The Beast, Fairy Tales Retold by Francesca Lia Block.  Interesting.  Makes you think.  Otter recommended this one.

5.  In the Still of the Night by Ann Rule.  I skimmed this one, I didn't have time to read it in detail.  But I will read it again when I have a chance.  It's a little different than her usual books, but it's very good.

6.  The Lobster Chronicles, Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw.  OK.

7 - 9.  Crochet.

10 - 12.  Star Trek.

13 - 15.  Crochet.

16.  A Catered Wedding by Isis Crawford.  I think I have her name right.  This was the second book in a series, I had requested the first one but read this one first.  Then, my next step was to go cancel my request!  Not very well written and a stupid plot.  I skimmed the next book in the series to be sure, and it confirmed my low opinion of this author's writing skills.  Don't bother.

17.  Batman

18.  Mixed Media Explorations by Beryl Taylor.  Interesting, but nothing I want to do.

19.  Chic Sweats, 22 Ways to Transform & Restyle Your Sweatshirts by Webber & Marshall.  Otter is always looking for crafty sewing related ideas and this was originally on her shelf.  Not anything either of us wanted to do, but it was interesting.

20.  Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot by Starr Smith.  Biographical and really one I'd suggest.

21.  Triumph, Life After the Cult - A Survivor's Lessons by Carolyn Jessop.  She wrote a previous book, Escape, which dealt with her escape from the FLDS cult.  This one, like the first book of hers, should be required reading.

22.  Terrorist Cop, the NYPD Jewish Cop Who Travelled the World to Stop Terrorists by Dzikansy & Slater.  This is a true story and it looked interesting, but it was so badly written that I simply couldn't read it.  Maybe the number of words in the title should have been my first clue!

23.  Witness to Roswell, Unmasking the 60 Year Cover Up by Carey & Schmitt.  I knew that this was going to be a "Roswell UFO is a True Story" book, but it looked interesting.  Let's just say it's not what I would consider a serious book!  Otter and I have been looking for conspiracy-type stuff, because they can be a lot of fun.  This one wasn't, it was not well-written and I'd have to seriously wonder just what the authors/researchers were smoking the day they decided to write this one!

24. Japanese Braiding, the Art of Kumikimo by Jacqui Carey.  This was on Otter's shelf but it looked interesting.  It's an art form that is a lot harder than it looks.

OK, that's the year-end and the book list.  I guess that's it!