New Year's Eve 2014

Wow!  I'm not sure how it can possibly be the last day of 2014, and the last few hours of that day.  2014 has sped past faster than light.  I'm not really sure where it's gone.  

Such a difference a year has made though.  After struggling with health and house in 2013, 2014 was much better.  I think I'll start out by skimming the major points of the last year.  

I guess the most notable thing about the year was losing Zoe.  Even when you know your pet-kids are old, losing them is not something you can really prepare yourself for and having to put Zoe to sleep hit me very hard.  I'm recovering slowly, but I'm recovering.  I think I'll be able to remember her without so much heartache in the not too distant future.  I'm not going to dwell on her tonight because I've been thinking about her a lot for the last couple of months.  One of my toasts this evening will be in memory of my sweet Zoe girl though.

The other big news for the year is that I won my election to office with my national professional organization.  In 2015 (tomorrow!) I'll be President-elect, and then in 2016 I'll be President.  To say I'm delighted would be a mild understatement.  I'm thrilled to death.  Especially because my opponent was tough.  This will mean a bunch more work the next two years, but I'm actually looking forward to it quite a bit.  It should also mean a decent number of cool trips too.

Most of the rest of the things that have occurred this year are not very exciting.  Health-wise, I finished the TB drugs in June.  I've had 2 mild colds over the course of the year and 5 migraines.  That's a high number of migraines for me in a year.  I usually average 1-2 per year, but one year of having 5 doesn't really mean anything, so I'll just keep an eye on that.  I've back-slid a bit on healthy eating, so my cholesterol has come up to around 200 again, but I'm maintaining my weight around 133 so I'm happy about that.

Once I got the house repairs finished in January, I've had no other house issues, except replacing the AC/heat system in July.  Compared to all the work I had done on the house in 2013, replacing the central heat/air seemed minor this year.  And wasn't unexpected given that it was the original system in a house the age this one is.

One really fun thing I did this year was the trip to Istanbul.  I'm glad I had the chance to take that trip.  And I had a great vacation to Utah and Colorado this year, despite more rain than I like.

So I guess I'd have to say that 2014 was good to me, even with losing Zoe.  I'm grateful to still have Addy, especially since she'll be 19 in February. I imagine I'll spend 2015 being an over-reactive and over-protective Mom with Addy.

Let's see.  Resolutions for 2015.  Pretty much the same as the last several years, I guess. Maintain my Health: maintain current weight, eat healthier and exercise.  And MONEY:  STOP SHOPPING!!!!!   Actually, the health thing is going well, it's the finances I need to crack down on in 2015.  They are way out of control.  It's now time to once again do what I did before I bought each of my current houses - get rid of my debt. I hate to admit though that the payoff is significantly more than it's ever been before.  Thus my resolution to get my act together and get my finances under control.  It's also going to be a tough resolution not to break because I simply love to shop. Oh well.  I've done it before, I can do it again.

So I guess that's the short and sweet of it.  I'll leave you with pictures of my Christmas tree and other various Holiday decorations, and Addy of course. Here's to Zoe and to 2015.

Happy New Year!