New Year, New Post and a Little Review

So this year has been a bit of a full one, kind of crazy, alot of unexpected things, alot of planned changes and a bit of drama.  I'm recapping today partially for the sake of documenting and moving on to a hopefully less hectic and more organized year, but really, I'm just in the mood to write. :)

January-

We were still in our townhouse in NY, surrounded by boxes and selling off or throwing away anything we hadn't personally paid any large amount of money for and preparing friends and family for our soon departure.  I was a numb mess, trying not to feel anything about the move for fear of being distracted from all of the tasks that had to accomplished before we made the actual move.  I really don't remember a whole lot about the month, mostly due to the whole "numb" thing.

February-

Was probably a tie for worst months in a long time......moving SUCKS!  Sorry, don't use that word very often, but seriously, it's true when it comes to moving and leaving the first 25 years of your life and half of your belongings and all of your friends behind.  The last 2 weeks of working with my students I seriously cried my way to and from most of my lessons, unless I could get ahold of my sister or mom on the phone to distract me during the drive.  My reaction to our last couple of youth groups was pretty similar. My reaction now writing this is pretty similar, so time to change subjects......

March-

We arrived in Texas to sunshine, warmth, a welcome home at my parents, a fantastic church family in our lifegroup and jobs that practically landed in our laps.  It came with my birthday, a ton of chaos from my husband's family (the only big YUCK that led to 5 months of my brother-in-law not speaking the my husband even and my in-laws all basically ostracizing me.) and our first month not paying rent and utilities and being able to start our massive debt payoff. **Tips may come in a future blog if anyone's interested, we're 75% paid-off with everything but my husband's Elim loans in 9 months.

April-

Finally saw Texas starting to feel natural, and like August in NY! It also brought the discovery that our car's A/C had died sometime over the winter months, in 90 degree heat, that meant some major money saving to put the $900 into it to get the air replaced.  It also brought my first MLB game, for free, 12 rows behind home plate, thanks to my aunt's fiance. :) Gotta love good connections!

The coolest sign in Minute Maid Park!

May-

Essentially started with out 4th Wedding Anniversary at the beginning of the month.....4 Years since this-

All I have to say is WOW! Has it been an adventure!

May was also when we found out that my sister was going to be giving us a niece! Lots of fun and excitement!

June-

The annual Walt Disney World trip. Goodness do I love the fact that my parents are seasonal cast members and have to work twice a year and can get us in for free :)

June also brought us our first consistent 3 digit temperatures.  That A/C was getting to be a necessity and we were getting desperate for the money to afford it! Too bad paying off the car, and one bank in NY both 4 months ahead of schedule and paying for our hotel in Disney were more fun :) 2 accounts out of 6 paid off!

July-
Was honestly so HOT I don't remember a whole lot of it.  Seriously, your brain stops working at about 106 degrees! Trust me, an entire month where it hits 3 digits by 10am will make anyone have temporary amnesia! My brother in law did finally propose to his girlfriend of 5 1/2 years, so wedding planning began in NY, and tension began in our house waiting to see if my husband was going to get the option of being a witness to his brother's wedding.

August-
Kind of the same as July, nothing major besides paying off our furniture debt and replacing our A/C! FINALLY!! We could stop sweating through our clothes before leaving the subdivision and were not embarrassed to go out in public because of the sweat marks that were visible in our clothes just running to the grocery store! Seriously, I wish I was joking, but we'd literally leave sweat puddles in our seats just running 2 1/2 miles to Target. Yeah, nasty!

It also was the month I got promoted at work, more hours, more pay, and at least emergencies only insurance. Still not full time, but that's fine with me!

September-
Brought me back to something I LOVE and was missing significantly in my life! See details HERE.

My life started feeling "normal" again! Whatever "normal" is :)

It also brought some crazy emotions when my brother-in-law decided to semi-reconcile with my husband-meaning, he started talking to him again, but never addressed the issue or apologized for anything, just starting acting like nothing had happened.  This was really really tough for me, because I had been majorly treated as the root of all evil, demon person and still haven't really seen any improvement in my in-laws treatment of me, except maybe from my mother-in-law who's only clingy and accidentally mean in her lack of thought before speaking.  She still isn't warm, but she's not nasty, the other haven't given me the time of day in over a year.  So, yeah, that's still an issue and yeah.....

October-
We finally got some relief from the heat! Our average temp was only 86. :)  Yeah, still felt like August in NY to me!  It also brought the start of hockey season, much to my husband's excitement.....

November-
Started a crazy two months of work drama for me, and hectic schedules with church events, extra hours at work, and trying to stockpile money before my husband goes into slow season at his work.  We put another $500 worth of work into our car and paid off half of a credit card, on top of Christmas shopping, not a bad month overall, just hectic.

And, finally December-

We're caught up, we had the arrival of our niece,

Christmas, craziness, and still 70 degree temperatures.

Christmas pictures maybe coming, but definitely light pictures.

Here's to an easier 2011!  Happy New Year Everyone! 

Or, rather anyone reading, comment if you're reading, I'm curious who's still keeping up with my inconsistant blogging.