Well, the holidays are over. The tree and decorations are down. The big meals have been made, eaten and cleaned up. It's time to get back to everyday living. I've caught up on most of the details of life that get pushed aside this time of year and I feel the need to touch base here before fully moving into the new year of activities. I've had many ideas come into my head that I wanted to write about but little time to do it. But for now, let's just stick with the recap.
Retirement: This was my first year of not working. I was a bit hesitant to retire at a younger age, but anxious to try it. As the year progressed I grew to love the freedom more and more. I've purposely NOT signed up for anything this past year - no gym membership, no volunteering, no regular commitments. I'm sure I won't continue that trend for the rest of my life, but it has been so freeing to have my time to myself each day. I know that my retirement won't look the same for the rest of my years, but for now I'm happy with how it looks.
Diet: I ended the year just a few pounds shy of my goal. Over the holidays I maintained the lost weight, but didn't continue to lose. I've stayed active and changed my eating habits for the better. I want to lose ten more pounds in 2012. This will bring my BMI into the acceptable range and should help keep my family history of Type II Diabetes in check (I hope).
Quilting: I've embraced quilting wholeheartedly. One of my gifts this Christmas was a pair of quilting books that will continue to teach me some of the basics. My first project of the new year will be a small wall hanging summarizing my projects of the last year. I hope to make that a yearly thing and a way to catalog what I've done. I also have a top that needs to be quilted and a few small projects in mind. Then I will start down my quilt list. The books have given me a few more ideas to add to the list too!
Travel: When I thought about retirement I expected to travel more especially with my husband on some of his business trips and to spend some time helping my oldest sister. Neither of these happened as I expected. I did get some awesome travel in, though, but I didn't accompany my husband as much as I thought. That may change a bit this next year. We'll see.
Parenting: The boys (men) are all in a good place in their lives. It's funny that I still consider this parenting even though they are adults and one is married. The thing is, sometimes as they grow older you see the outcome of decisions you made years ago in their upbringing. Some, I'm glad for; some I wish I could do over. I wish I was able to spend more time with them; I wish we were closer (relationship wise). Maybe additional years will bring that to pass.
Blogging: I've enjoyed my first attempt at blogging. It gives me a good outlet for writing down my thoughts and keeping track of some aspects of life. I don't know how long I'll continue or if I'll try to change my strategies any. I may work on changing the look of the blog some, just for the educational experience of it all. I enjoy watching the stats, slow as they may be. I'm curious how people come to find my blog since it has been pretty under the radar. I have yet to get my first official on the blog "comment". So, if anyone out there has anything al all to say, I'm all ears.
So, like it or not, the book is closed on the holidays and 2011. It's time to move forward and see what this next year has to bring.
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