Year in Review - 2007

Last year at this time I was just returning from one of the best vacations ever. Hubbo and I had been relaxing in Key West. It was also a time of great apprehension since his surgery for Thyroid cancer was just a few days away. (He's all clear now) At the time, it seemed like that was the worst that 2007 could throw at us. The fall turned out to be much worse. I learned what pain really is as I dealt with my daughter’s illness and my father’s death.

In 2008 I look forward to nothing but good things. I have a number of celebrations on my calendar with family and friends Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, a new baby in the family, a wedding. All very good things! Most of our travels will be related to those events. We’ll also celebrate a huge milestone as DQ graduates from Elementary school. All the while we’ll be planning and preparing for a huge family celebration of our own in January ’09. Whew!

This year was not the most productive year for me knitwise. In 2006 I had 43 finished objects including 15 pairs of socks, 4 hats, a sweater and a shawl. This year the number is a much more modest 20 finished objects including 3 shawls, a wrap, 2 pairs of socks, and 4 pairs of felted slippers. Clearly I was not at the top of my game but time spent with my new wheel could have something to do with the lack of productivity. Lets hope that 2008 brings a return to finished objects. I have some big stuff planned including 3 or 4 sweaters and one yearlong project.

I’ve seen different versions of the year in review meme on various blogs and here’s mine. I grabbed the first sentence or 2 from the first post of each month and added a little editorial note or explanation in places. I also went through the pictures posted during the month and chose one that I liked most or felt represented the month best. I hope that you enjoy it.

January
I got home from Florida yesterday. It was mostly a great trip and there are parts of it that I can't wait to share but today is all about celebrating.

February
Nuff said! – This was posted with a picture of the first singles I spun on my new wheel.

March
It's Purim which is like the Jewish equivalent of Halloween - kind of. One of the things that we do to celebrate is give mishloach manot which are baskets of treats. – This was posted with a picture of treats that my family received for the holiday.

April
I didn't plan on taking a blog holiday - it just sort of happened. As you may have guessed, I've been really busy with the Passover holiday for the past few days.

May
Every year I plant a few bulbs or move a few things in my landscape from here to there in an ongoing effort to get it all just right. I move the peonies to one spot, I move the rosemary to another and I plant a few mystery bulbs along the way. – Looking at this post reminded me that The events of this fall made me forget to plant my bulbs. Oooops!

June
The irises in my garden may have faded but there is still stuff blooming there.

July
What a weekend! Two weeks from now I'll be delivering my girls to Summer Camp but right now, I'm savoring every minute with them so this weekend was all about family time. – Posted after we attended the Folklife Festival

August
Look what I got tonight! When the girls get home they'll probably think these are exercise mats for Karate. – This post referred to my acquisition of interlocking gym mats to use for blocking. I still haven’t had a chance to use these but I hope to soon.

September
By September 4th my little family was feeling pretty good. Settled even. My grandparents had recently visited and during their stay we had made amazing progress in our unpacking. So much so that the previous weekend we had hauled the last boxes out to the trash. – This was one of a series of posts looking back to 1997, a year that our whole life changed.
October
After a brief hospital stay, my daughter is much better and has returned to school. – I posted this the morning after my daughter was released from the hospital which turned out to be the day that my father died. The hardest day ever.

November
I love looking at the sky. Blue skies are beautiful and there is something really soothing and dreamy about a bunch of puffy clouds. Even the drama of a stormy sky can be an amazing thing to behold.

December
Today is the birthday of one of my favorite people - DQ! She's turning 12 and, as I made the cupcakes for her to take to school it suddenly hit me... this is the last time I'll be making cupcakes for her. Next year she'll be in middle school and, as such, way to old to bring cupcakes to school on her birthday.