The Old and the New

I'm sorry I haven't been in touch over the holiday season.  It was a tough time for me as well as a busy time and it's hard to find posting time at home.  I'm going to to give a quick recap of the end of last year and the beginning of this year.  Well, I say "quick' but ya'll know me...I blabber.  :-)

• Christmas was great.  My husband spoiled me by getting me the new iPhone, an external hard drive and several scrapbooking items that were on my wish list.  He's the best.  I spoiled him by getting him 2 power tools, tinting his windows in his truck, a Winter Classic t-shirt and some other odds and ends.  The Little Guy was the most spoiled, of course.  He got lots of cool shirts (and yes, he liked them as they were 98% skater related), 4 video games and an electric guitar with lessons.  Oh, and a complete array of art supplies to try and encourage his creative side.  One guess of who got him the art supplies and who got him the video games.  :-)
• Christmas sucked.  AF showed up first thing in the morning.  I knew she would.  She always knows how to ruin everything.
• The Little Guy was supposed to attend basketball camp for a 1/2 day for 4 days while he was off school.  Of course, he wound up with a nasty head cold and was unable to go at all.  It put a damper on most of my plans but I adjusted and was able to get some of my errands done anyway.
• I spent Tuesday and Wednesday after Christmas taking everything down and putting it on the dining room table.  We took the outside decorations down on Saturday because it was the warmest day without rain or snow.  I had to buy some new storage bins to accommodate our decorations and then I packed everything away and took it to the basement.  It was kind of a cleansing feeling.
• New Year's was pretty laid back.  I bought a new outfit and told BJ that he was taking me somewhere, anywhere so that I wasn't just sitting at home.  We finally decided to go to dinner locally and then go to the neighbor's house to hang out.  I really had wanted to go out and go dancing and stay at a hotel but it was just too expensive.  We did call ahead seating and upon arrival were told that we still had an hour wait.  Holy cow!  As it turns out, we only waited 23 minutes to be seated.  Awesome!  We had a really good dinner and I enjoyed a mixed drink.  :-)  We chilled at the restaurant because I didn't want to get to the neighbor's too early and be bored.  We were joined by another set of neighbors and we listened to iPod music and had the TV on but muted so we could watch for the ball to drop.  The guys played pool and darts.  We found some songs on the neighbor's iPod that we could dance to so the night wasn't a total bore for me.  :-)
• We watched the Winter Classic on TV and I about had a coronary.  It had the feeling of a Stanley Cup Game 7 for me.  Of course, the outcome was fantastic!  My team played so good and I was so proud of them for rising to the occasion and showing that they can go to our rival's home turf and still come out with a win.
• It was back to work Monday and things have been strange here to say the least.  My boss announced that she will be retiring this Spring.  I've worked for her for almost 11 years.  I'm going to be lost without her.  She's always been very understanding and allowed me what time I needed for anything from getting my hair done (taking a little longer at lunch) to adjusting my hours to attend the Little Guy's baseball games, to completely cheering me on during my fertility treatments.  She, herself, did many IUI's to conceive her 2nd child.  I don't know what the future holds but I hope I get another boss as understanding as she has been.
• 2011 is a scary year for me and my reproductive future.  It's the year of my End Game.  It scares the hell out of me.  At the same time, though, I'm slowly coming to grips with it.  My 35th birthday is just over 5 months away.  If I have not conceived by then, we are done.  BJ has made a couple of comments lately about his age and not wanting to be a grandfather to his own child.  I worry about my eggs.  The Little Guy will be 10 in June.  All the pieces are coming together for me to put this chapter of my life behind me.  There has been a (surprising) couple of mentions of adoption in our house lately.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I have so many thoughts whirling around my head about it that I need to get them all on paper in their own post.

It seems that 2011 has brought many of the same emotions that I had in 2010.  So I guess it's not really out with the old and in with the new around here.  It's just more of the same.  I also need to write a post about my mother.  I haven't been able to bring myself to tell the story but I need to.  She called me out of the blue yesterday and I just don't know what to make of it all.

I loved reading about everyone's Christmas and now that I have my iPhone, I've been able to read more on my own time.  I'm still trying to figure out the easiest way to comment from my phone.  I've done it a few times but it can be a little cumbersome on some blogs.  I hope everyone has a great year this year, whether it's getting pregnant, giving birth, adopting or just living life with your new baby(ies).  I hope for nothing but happiness for you all and hearts full of joy.  That is what a new year and new beginning is all about, right?