It's that time again...

What a year.

It had it's ups, and it's downs.  What with a plethora of funerals, and some serious health issues, it seems it's been mostly downs.  And in all honesty, if you want to know what insanity is like, renovate your house. 

But then, I look at where the house was a year ago, and realize just how much we (well, mostly Dad) have accomplished in the last 12 months.   

The entire upstairs was torn out, reconfigured, insulated and drywalled. 

The two dying trees were removed in the backyard, resulting in a safer yard, a lot of firewood, and more sun for...

My very first vegetable garden.

We started on the downstairs, tearing out and insulating the living room and dining room, and the ceilings everywhere else. 

I got a new roof, figured out I don't like tiling, and started in on moving some windows and the back door.

And of course, most importantly, we added a Katy to the household!

But how did those 2010 Resolutions go?


1. Work more with Kip, especially on agility.


Total fail.  Poor Kip.  He is such a good dog, and is patiently waiting until I have "more time".  I did manage to take a beginners obedience class with Katy, but Kip got the shaft this year in terms of training :(

2.  Find a new job.


Epic fail.  Didn't even manage to get ONE application out.  In 12 months.  Must. Do. Better.

3. Food.

Not bad, but not great.  I did manage to grow a lot of food this year, in spite of the total failure of the oh-so-promising squash crop (that I haven't mentioned yet, because it still grieves me!).  I fell down on the using of that food, however.  I severely mis-judged how much time I'd have this year to deal with the harvest of the garden.  I did manage to use at least 90% of the tomato crop, making my own salsa, canned tomatoes and sauce, so it wasn't a total loss.  I need to plan a lot better for next year, and make time to harvest and preserve the food I grow, instead of taking it directly from the garden to the compost pile.  And I did nothing about finding more sustainable sources of food I cannot produce, short of buying all of one dozen eggs from a cousin who has chickens.


Pretty much a failure all around, and of course, I can come up with reasons for all of the above (no time, a crappy kitchen, no time, no time, no time...) but!

All in all, it wasn't a bad year.  I just accomplished different things than I planned on :)

Now, on to 2011...