Saturday, December 31, 2011
Today is the last day of 2011. Looking back it has been an up and down year. It has also been a year of uncertainty. On Feb 1 my company announced they were divesting of some assets and this included the plant where I work. We still do not know much more than that. Luckily I am at a point of my career where I can retire. I also have experience in a very marketable area. Right now we are planning for me to retire when the plant is sold and then work as a consultant for a few more years.
In April my health condition flared up. The medicine I have to take to arrest this does other things to the body so once I start taking it I have to slowly taper off. It takes months to complete. We had to do this several times so it took almost 6 months to get everything fully under control. It was a long journey. I am so lucky I had Elizabeth to help.
In July my younger son deployed to Afghanistan. He will be gone for a year. Obviously that is stressful.
However the year had many high points. We learned my step daughter is expecting. She was once told she could not have children and soon we will have a second miracle. Really aren't all babies miracles. The year certainly ended good. My relationship with my daughter seems to be improving. It has been very up and down over the years but seems to be better now. Also my son it currently home on leave. Earlier this week he helped me install a new microwave. It was so nice to spend some time together.
Elizabeth and I are fine. We are looking forward to 2012. It will be a year of change but I hope it will be a wonderful year.
Like every one I have some things I hope to improve in 2012. First and foremost I need to loose weight. I did well when I ate smaller portions and avoided the sweets. I do not believe in fad diets but rather slow and steady. As Elizabeth keeps saying it has to become a life style. I also want to get better organized. I actually made a lot of progress this year and just need to continue and expand in 2012. I also will try to take more pictures. The first few years Elizabeth and I were married we took pictures of everything. This included the everyday events not just special occasions. I want to get back there. If I am successful I will have more stuff to blog about. Now all i have to do is put actions to these goals.
Elizabeth and I are not big party people. As in past years when 2012 rings in here, I fully expect we will be sound asleep.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Sunday, December 25, 2011
It is Christmas evening. It has been a long day but a very good one. I got up early but did not ride my bike. Elizabeth got up around 7:30 and we opened our gifts. I got Elizabeth a digital picture frame. I had already loaded some pictures on it I thought she would enjoy.
I got a Nook Tablet. I enjoy reading and this will make it all the more enjoyable. I use to have to keep a list of characters. Now I can either highlight a characters name the first time it appears or just look it up if I need a reminder who is who. I also like that it has a built in dictionary for those words I am not sure about the meaning.
Candi got some gifts too. She loves to tear open gifts. For such a tiny dog she can make a big mess. After that we went to church. This Mass was more crowded than the typical Sunday but not standing room only. Part of that is due to our parish had lost over 600 families due to the cuts at NASA. We live a stones throw from the Johnson Space Center.
Around 4 my son Bryan, his girlfriend and her son stopped to open gifts and have some appetizers.
My daughter and her daughter also visited.
As usual Elizabeth made some delicious food and was a most gracious hostess. It was a very good day.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Today I took my daughter shopping. Her car was stolen and she has not been able to replace it yet. Her and I have not always had the best relationship and I must admit I have been reluctant to open myself fully to her. I have done that in the past and been burned. She has had a history of just dropping out of my life for extended periods and left me no way to contact her. But we had a very nice day and I am starting to think maybe this time she really is going to stay around. Maybe having a daughter of her own has changed her view of things.
I also heard from my son. He is back in the States. We have plans to get together on Christmas. That should be nice.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
It has been a busy couple of days. On Monday I went to the local mall to finish my Christmas shopping. I got there early so the crowds were not bad at all. I did have to order one thing and it is suppose to be delivered Friday. I hope it arrives on time. I also had to relay on other people to finish another gift. One person came through but I am waiting for a second.
Today we woke to rain. In fact we woke to thunder. So no bike riding. After breakfast we had a couple of errands to run. After lunch I had to go for my infusion. It was suppose to have been last Friday the nurse was on a cruise. The last few days I have been on pins and needles hoping every little ache and pain was not the inflammation coming back. But it did not. Phew.
I "talked" with Bryan today. We did not physically talk but rather communicated by messages over Facebook. He is in Kuwait. He is waiting for a plane to bring him the rest of the way home. He expects to be here fir Christmas. Well not here in this house but rather with his family.
Every year Elizabeth say we are going to build a Gingerbread house. Last year we bought the kit but never got it made. Tonight we built one. It came in a kit.
I am not sure if we built it right but we started by putting up the walls. One broke during construction. Of course Candi had to help.
The one thing we learned is to be generous with the frosting.
And the finished product. Actually I think it came out very well for our first one even if one wall kind of leans in. We also will have to wait and see if it is still together in the morning.
All in all, a very good day.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Well I guess today is technically the first day of my annual Christmas vacation. The last three days were typical week end. I do have a busy week ahead. Today I plan to go to the mall for my final Christmas shopping. I will be leaving right after breakfast and I will have breakfast as soon as I finish this post. Then this afternoon I have a meeting with a financial guy. Next year I will be semi-retiring. That is I will be retiring from my current company but I still plan to work some as a consultant.
Tomorrow will be Remicade day. It was suppose to have been last Friday but the nurse was not available. Fortunately everything is still in remission and I have no symptoms. Still I will be glad to get back on schedule. Right now every little ache and pain scares me thinking the inflammation is back.
On Wednesday Elizabeth wants to go shopping at Macy's. She has a coupon that is good on that day only.
Thursday I do not have anything planned as of right now.
Friday I will take my daughter Bridget shopping. I told her as I Christmas gift I would take her and we can have lunch and then shopping where I will pay for a certain amount. I am looking forward to spending the day together. We have had an very up and down relationship over the years but it appears to have settled for now.
Then of course the week end will be Christmas.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Yesterday, December 15 was my last work day for the year. I am not exactly sure what we will do while I am off but I do have several things planned. First and foremost is to finish my Christmas shopping. I had offered to make a day of it with my daughter but so far I have not gotten a response. I will not wait and will make plans as needed. If it turns out I have plans on her days off. oh well sorry.
I did stop at the local mall this afternoon and it was very crowded. I think I will try again next Monday morning first thing. As we procrastinators say, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
I know it has been quite a while since I last updated this blog. A lot has happen in that time. I will not try to capture it all but here are the high points.
My Colitis is still in remission. YEAH! Although things look good we are still being very careful with food. I do not want that to flare up again.
We had a quiet but nice Thanksgiving. There were four of us; Elizabeth, Candi, our friend Sid and myself. We decided not to have turkey but chose prime rib instead. It was delicious.
The house has some Christmas decorations up and there are lights outside. Although I have lived in Texas for the past 22 years I still find the Christmas decorations strange. It just does not seem right to see Christmas lights on a palm tree or a flowering rose bush.
We are into the party season. This past week Elizabeth had the members of her Toastmasters club here for a party. It was very nice. Since they were Toastmasters, each read a short story or poem for the occasion. Tonight we are going to a party for a group I meet with. It has been a while since we have done this. Before I got sick in 2009, we use to go out frequently. In fact when Elizabeth was working as marketer for a local florist we went to a lot of events. Some at places, like multi-million dollar houses, I would never have visited otherwise.
I have started my Christmas shopping but still have more to do. While I will be charging all my Christmas gifts, I have been saving all year so the money is on the bank. This coming week will be my last week to work this year. In fact I will be done early Thursday afternoon. Looking forward to a few weeks off.
One thing I plan to do is ride my bike. Today I had to buy a new pair of bike shoes. My old pair gave up after 9 years. I tried to repair them using duck tape but it just did not work. Now I will have to spend the next few rides adjusting them so they are just right.
So those are the highlights.
