A Year in 27 Questions

A blogger that I enjoy is Holly over at Nothing But Bonfires. She did her New Year post based on borrowed questions from another blogger's post. I am following in those footsteps and borrowing again because I knew these would help me recap 2011. The same questions but with my answers. Do you want to see her answers?  Take a look here. She's delightful.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Ate Copper River Salmon. Not super interesting but before this, I didn’t know there was a Copper River and that it was in Alaska. And I found out from this meal that I really like wild salmon.
Farm-raised salmon, which is typically what can be purchased at your grocery store or served at your favorite restaurant, is fatty to me. This is a gross description but it’s almost a mushy feeling and it turns my stomach.
This salmon was not like this at all. It was lean and had a great texture and consistency.

And I floated the Comal River. It seemed to be the only river flowing this year in Texas and everyone and their mother joined us that day but it was fun and I didn’t get sunburned – even better.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year??
Not a fan of resolutions so I don’t make any.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth??
Vicinity close? No. But Nikki had Anderson on my sister’s birthday in February and I got to meet her January 1 (as in a few days ago 2012 style) while she was visiting Texas.

Two former co-workers gave birth in December - both had boys and neither was on Sy's or Roy's birthday.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Close – well that depends on how you define this. Since there is no definition of close, I will go with no on this one too.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the one I call home. My passport expired years ago and I talk about renewing it but I haven’t. Now that Sy is getting to the age where travelling will be somewhat easier because all the baby stuff doesn’t have to join us, we may get to country jumping.  But staying in the US, we went to PA to visit family. We are a wild and crazy bunch, eh?

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
The classics – time and money. We need a ton of home improvement still and my child is growing up much faster than is fathomable to me.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory?
Other than birthdays and anniversaries – October 27, November 28 and December 5.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year??
A co-worker from a previous position recommended for a position with the company she is at now and I got it! We will have benefits going into 2012 and beyond. Yeah!

9. What was your biggest failure?
That I had some sort of control over... My Christmas cookie attempt was a failure. My cookies flopped – texture was wrong, they spread out while cooking, the marshmallows didn’t melt. You name it, it happened.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
 A weird infection type thing behind my right ear and an enlarged gland behind my left. Don’t know why. The infection popped – disgusting – and drained for months – even more disgusting. And the enlarged gland on the left is no longer as enlarged as it once was. It wasn’t gross it was just odd looking and I’m glad my hair covered it up and that it now just a slight bump. Hoping it will go away...

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Plane tickets to PA to see the family. An iPhone.

12. Where did most of your money go?
I would love to say the answer to this was monthly payments on my new Mercedes but it’s not. The real answer is it went to support habits = eating, staying warm/cool, and home improvement. Child care and medical expenses were up there too. My honey pays the mortgage and water so I can’t count those out of the money I contribute to the family.

13. What did you get really excited about?
Getting a new job that I am enjoying. That was very exciting. Watching Sy play baseball and make progress throughout the season was awesome. And having a DVR to record Rescue Heroes, Curious George, Saturday Night Live, and the Mentalist is super exciting.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
I don’t think it came out in 2011 but I will think of this past summer when I hear it – Adele – We Could Have Had It All.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter?Richer or poorer? 
I am not sure where I was at the beginning on 2011 on any of these so I will answer with… I believe I am more content with who I am, what I am and how I am with myself and other people.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of??
Spent more days doing things with my boys that didn’t involve chores or work.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of??
Yelling.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
We were at home. Santa came. Sy opened his gifts, Roy made breakfast while I cleaned up from the unwrapping event. Roy’s family came down and we spent the afternoon eating, visiting, upwrapping some more, and playing with new toys. It was great! I had too much to eat and too much to drink and we needed to do it again the next day that’s how great it was.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
The Mentalist.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I’m more of a magazine/easy book reader. Grandma gave me quite a few books to read and I am working my way through them, still. Currently, I’m addicted to Slate.com. BORING!

21. What was your favorite music from this year??
Adele – We could have had it all; Kenny Chesney – Somewhere with you

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
I went to the movies this year – TWICE – I think that calls for a standing ovation. I took Sy to see Rango and Roy and I went to see Midnight in Paris. Rango was okay and Midnight in Paris was really good.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
On my actual birthday, I worked. On the day we celebrated my birthday, we went to Big Lou’s pizza with the family. Sy threw a fit and wouldn’t go in the restaurant so Roy and I had to take turns sitting in the parking lot with him. When we left the restaurant and got to Target, he proclaimed from the back seat that he was hungry. Ugh. I hope 2012 is better.  And I was 41.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Successfully adding another child to our family.
On the lighter side – more money so we could have made larger steps toward having this never-ending home improvement done.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Boring. I hardly have time to shop, I have a mediocre figure and my budget is extremely limited due to most of my discretionary income going towards home improvement of some sort. So when I go and all they have in “my size” is glitter, animal prints and Winnie The Pooh – I want to scream.

26. What kept you sane?
Reminding myself that I am really doing okay.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?
I’m not sure I have walked away with a lesson I haven’t learned before. The one that comes to me and best describes 2011 is – You don’t always get what you want and that’s okay.