1-2-3

Today....was my birthday. It's an easy to remember day - 1-2-3 and all. I took the day off from work today to give myself some "ME" time. I realized today that I am not very good at scheduling that. My days are full of work, my nights are full of - meetings, volunteer work, sign language class and sewing class. Oh, right sign and sewing should be for me, and I do enjoy them sometimes, but it's all becoming too much. I am NEVER home and I don't have much time for spontaneous fun. Monday night - sewing (if I can leave the office), Tuesday night - volunteer at the Hospice Children's Bereavement group, Wednesday night - office meetings, Thursday night - sign class. Often that means that Friday becomes Late Night at the Office and that is NOT fun.

So, anyway - complaining finished. I need to sort out what I can weed out or place a hold on (in my head I am signing all of the things that I know how to sign - hooray! ;)), but I'm not coming up with much - except going home from work earlier.

Anyway, I wanted to sew today and it didn't quite happen. I had to take my mom to the doctor (which I knew but it's always a slower process than I realize) and then she needed to do another errand. I found myself getting frustrated and feeling selfish and I didn't like it. After all, if it's my birthday, it's a special day for my mom too right? Her first child was born today. Resolve to be more patient. With age comes perspective?

We had a work dinner tonight and thankfully I work with great people who made sure I felt special on my day.

That is sinful egg nog creme brulee. I just love the chocolate writing - so cute!
Taken with my camera phone so not great quality.... oh well. :)

I am thankful for my life, my friends and my family. I don't feel much older, but I hope that this year brings new perspectives, excitement and a renewed sense of peace with myself! :) (Oh and maybe a bit more blogging? Seriously, I'm so inconsistent!)
Happy Birthday to me (although it might be past midnight already.....)

Review

I thought perhaps I should look back at what I said I "would" do last year and just review how I did. I'm not going to berate myself for the things I didn't do, but I would like to remind myself of the progress I DID make. :)

This year:

I will continue to work on my finances so that I feel good about the way I am handling them. Check (sort of - I have worked on them).

I will save my money, research, and purchase a bike. Nope - I didn't get to this one, although I have the money for it.

I will learn more knitting techniques and make something for myself. I did learn a few more techniques, but then I lost my knitting mojo and haven't knit since February or March.

I will travel far and wide - including WI, MN, NC, NY, and VA in the first 2 months - hopefully AU and IRE will make it on the "far" part of the list. I travelled to all the states, but neither of the countries. I'm hoping for a trip to help people in the Dominican Republic this year....more on that later....

I will continue to bake, but work to improve my cooking skills. I wish I had cooked more.

I will do some form of exercise 5 times a week. I wish I had done this too.

I will be thankful to have my siblings all in the same country. I was and I am. My sister has returned and it makes so happy to be able to call her whenever I want!

B and I in Ithaca during a snowstorm!

I will appreciate my parents for what they are and be thankful to have them both living. I learned this lesson in a bigger way than I thought.

I will spoil the babies in my life with love and attention and perhaps a few little hand knit items. :) The babies were spoiled and it wasn't even a little bit difficult! ;)

I will spend time making sure my godson "P" knows how special he is to be the one who made me an "Auntie" and how much his mother (my best friend) means to me. When they visited in July, I spent almost every spare minute with them and I am so glad I did. He is becoming such a little boy!

I will make time for the important things in life - friends and family. I made time to take care of Mom, but was still to be at and in a few weddings and showers. These are the times memories are made of!

I will learn to sew - FINALLY - so I can stop being jealous of all the beautiful things on other people's blogs. I DID THIS! 100% I did it! I can't stop being proud of this. It's one of those things I've always wanted to do, but just never did. It's worth a post.....but I can sew now and have made several things in the past couple of months!

Three baby balls with bells in them -
a gift for my little friend whose favorite word is "ball"

I will do what I need to to keep my License in Social Work current, so that I can go back when I'm ready. I have to renew my LCSW in October, so I need to make sure I have all my CEUs by then.

I will make time for myself and my life. I have tried to do this by doing things I enjoy at night. I could do better, but I'm happy with the progress I've made.

I will make an attempt to be more organized. I made the attempt and it's a work in progress (esp now that I have fabric too)!

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with my accomplishments. I should make a list for this year. Not tonight though. I stayed home this morning with a pounding headache - my body telling me I need MORE sleep. If only I didn't want to sew in every free minute!

Oy vey.

Mom & I at a wedding almost exactly 1 month after her accident.
She was still in a wheelchair, but determined to be at this wedding!

Good grief, it's 2008 already? I feel a little bit like I have been asleep for the past 4 months. Mom is improving - thank you for the sweet thoughts! I have to admit that her accident put a severe kink in my life. I didn't do anything without thinking about whether someone could help her, stay with her, etc. Honestly, I thought about resenting it and then realized - I should be grateful! My mother, who took care of me in every sense of the word, who was unselfish and hard-working, and who bore the brunt of any adolescent angst I may or may not have displayed - needed me. How many people get the opportunity to care for their parent in such a way and have them recover afterward? So I feel as though I gave my mother these last 4 months. They were not wasted after all. They were spent giving my mother everything I had. My gift to her.

Happy New Year to all of you! I'm not going to do my New Year's post right this minute, but I promise to be back to blogging (heard that before? ;)) for now. After all, I have all kinds of crafting to show off. I'm learning how to sew and quilt and received this and this for Christmas!