2009!

2008 is in the books. A quick recap of the year shows that it wasn't a bad year as far as years go.

January
A busy month for Paul as far as travel goes. Paul's grandmother died in mid-January which made for a quick trip to a very cold Kansas.

February
Not much happened in February as the winter doldrums settled in. Paul's travel schedule slowed down and we decided to do another remodeling project on the house.

March
New kitchen countertops and sink were installed; windows removed in the living room. That was enough excitement for the month.

April
I traveled to Las Cruces for the NMLA conference. Traveled to Amarillo to see my step-grandmother one last time. My nephew Preston was in a car accident. I learned to knit thanks to a coworker and her Secret Pal gift.

May
Quick trip to Amarillo to see Preston, whose recovery was much more than we ever expected. My mom visited at the end of the month and we went to Acoma.

June
Another trip to Amarillo to visit. I worked Summer School. Paul and I went to Santa Fe for the wedding of our friends Jeff and Alison. We left on our BIG vacation.

July
Paul and I got home from vacation with a genuine Irish cold. My step-grandmother died. The refrigerator died. Summer School ended. Another trip to Amarillo at the end of the month.

August
School started and it wasn't good. Jeff and Alison moved to Missouri.

September
I got fed up enough during an inservice that I started the application process for Graduate School.

October
Paul and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. We went to the Balloon Fiesta. The Book Fair was held at school. I visited Donna in Ft. Worth.

November
Paul and I went to Seattle. Texas Tech beat Texas. I turned ::gulp:: 34. Our neighbor died. My family came for Thanksgiving.

December
I received my confirmation letter from UNT for Graduate School. We held our annual Christmas party. We went to Texas for Christmas and both ended up sick (more on that later).

So far, it's been a nice start to the year. Paul has been sick since after Christmas with a pretty bad cold but he seems to be on the upswing today. We went for our traditional New Year's Day walk and while it was more of a stroll, he tagged along and maybe that's just what he needed to get better. Other than that, we've been in a college football coma most of the day. I got all my thank you notes written and ready to go tomorrow. Dinner is cooking now and while it's not the usual meal I make for New Year's Day (typically ham, potatoes, cornbread--it's my Southern food day) and they don't really go along with the meal we are having, we will be having black-eyed peas. Even Paul now knows that it's not even a question about eating those. I'm 34 and I can only remember twice not eating them. I'm not sure how those years went but I try not to tempt the fates.

Here's hoping that in 2009, we can improve upon those things we did well and not repeats some of those mistakes we made.