Happy 2009! Last year's results & this year's goals

Happy New Year! As I said last year, I do like New Year's a lot. And I still do, especially this year, when 2008 had a lot of crummy stuff in it (financial crisis, corrupt governor of Illinois, blah, blah, blah). However, there were some very high points in 2008. Hannah is potty trained and Barack Obama won the election - these are equally important in my book. I turned 30 and had a very fun party. One of my best friends got pregnant after years of trying, and is expecting a little girl just about any minute. Another of my friends had her first baby. My kid is awesome. My husband is awesome. I got all A's. I got a promotion. So even though times are tough, I am trying to stay "up" as much as possible, because there are lots of good things to over-balance the bad.

Still, I thought it would be fun to revisit my goals from last New Year's, and see how I did. Since I didn't really look at them - ever - after I wrote them, I found the exercise of recording my "progress" to be quite humorous. (Below is an abbreviated version of the goals. For the full missive, go here.)

What I Said I Would Do in 2008, & Whether or Not I Really Did It:

• Give more to charity. RESULTS: I don't actually handle this; Brock does. I think we did okay. :)
  
• As an addendum to the above, I would like to find a good place to donate Hannah's used toys. RESULTS: Still no luck. Not even the homeless shelter near work takes used toys. Bah.
  
• Get more organized. RESULTS: Ummm, I DID clean my desk on New Year's Eve...does that count?
  
• Try to cook from scratch a little more often. RESULTS: I'm happy I put the "a little more often" qualifier on this one. I probably did.
  
• Encourage more of my faraway friends to start blogs. RESULTS: No luck with this. Everyone's on Facebook and I'm not. My own fault, I know.
  
• Try not to be so snarky. RESULTS: I've learned that I gotta be me. And I'm snarky. This was a misguided goal. *chuckle*
  
• Try to finish praying before I actually fall asleep at night. RESULTS: Yeah, not doing so well on this one.
  
• Remember to use my new reusable grocery bag. RESULTS: Not only am I now remembering to use them, I've got like 8 in my car...
  
• Remember to use our new cloth napkins. RESULTS: We do remember to use them, when they are actually clean. Getting them washed in a timely fashion is much harder.
  
• Remember to water my plants (when it's actually summer, that is). RESULTS: It rained a lot this summer. Hooray!
  
• Potty train Hannah. RESULTS: Done and done.
  
• Take another family vacation. RESULTS: Stupid economy. Nope.
  
• Try not to freak out too much about turning 30. RESULTS: Mmmm, sorta.
  
• Actually join LinkedIn. RESULTS: I did it. I've never completed my profile and I don't maintain it at all, but I did join.
  
• Figure out a really great birthday or Christmas present to get for Brock. RESULTS: We bought ourselves a TV this year. That's the best I can do.
  
• Continue not eating cabbage. Or carrots. Or haggis. RESULTS: Total success.
  
• Eat more dark chocolate. It's good for me! RESULTS: Totally.
  
• Enjoy the knowledge that this will, without question, be the last year we have to endure George W. Bush in office. RESULTS: Wahoo!
  
• Vote well in the presidential election. RESULTS: You know it!
  
• Hope others vote well in the presidential election. RESULTS: Well done, people of America.
  
• Listen, and laugh, and love...a lot. :) RESULTS: Yep, did this. Good for me! :)
  

And, Here's What I Want to Do This Year:

• Get through Hannah's first day of preschool without crying in front of her. (It's Monday.) I am so proud and excited for her...but I'm struggling with the fact that she's so big and grown up now!
• Help Hannah learn to read and write.
• Get through 5 more classes for school, so that 2010 will be rockin' with just one left!
• Join Facebook. I'm starting to feel it's inevitable. Like I can't fight the movement.
  
• Get through a very long business trip in March without anyone in my family, including me, having a nervous breakdown.
  
• Be more thankful for the following: fuzzy socks, my daughter's smile, my husband's laugh, chocolate, cheese, friends and family, cars that give you directions, my job, my husband's job, Mario Kart for the Wii, Rock Band 2 for Xbox 360, plus our health and happiness and all that jazz.
• Get a tattoo. (Sorry, parents. I really think I'm going to do it...someday...I promise it will be very small and you'll never have to even see it or know it's there.)
• Sell our house and buy a new one. This is my stretch goal.
• Get new bedroom furniture, because we gave ours away in August and now we don't have any. And our bedroom looks like a dorm room. *chuckle*
• Have a garage sale.
• Figure out how to have or attend more parties. I learned this year that I like having parties.
  
• Really take a family vacation. Somewhere.

Next year, I'll let you know how I did.