Year in Review: 2013 is over?

I don’t normally do questionnaire type posts, but Nicole of Three 31 made it so easy, I couldn’t resist. Also, I kind of need some help to remember anything that happened this year, since it seems to have raced past like… something cliche that goes really fast. C-Man changed jobs, Boy Detective changed schools, my team at work changed a lot, and I’m sure something else changed too. I can barely remember January! But let’s see how I do on the questions.

What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?

Got diagnosed with asthma. To be sufficiently interesting, it’s not even normal asthma, but “cough variant asthma.”

To everyone who suffered through almost a year’s worth of conference calls with me before this was figured out and medicated, I am so sorry.

Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Why in the world would I make resolutions? The second best way to ensure that I don’t get anything done is to make resolutions. The first best way is to make resolutions and post them on the internet.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

B. and A. had baby E in February. Luckily we live in a not-so-cold state since his quilt is still sitting in pieces on my sewing table.

Please stop making bets on whether it wll be done by his first birthday. That’s just unkind.

Did anyone close to you die?

Nope. I am bracing myself to lose one of the wonderful elderly neighbors across the street, though, and having to tell my six year old about it. They have been such a delight in our lives, even though they have a beautiful yard and ours is a hot mess. That’s class, right there.

What countries did you visit?

Real or imaginary?

What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?

More patience with my kid.

I was going to say “a winning lottery ticket so that I can never work again and instead spend twenty hours a week on Pinterest” but compared to something actually important, that kind of makes me sound like a jerk, and also I would end up with repetitive stress injuries from all the pinning.

What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?

I’m actually not sure about the exact date, see comment above re: memory, not my strongest suit. But I will always remember the triumphant feeling I had the day we cleaned the garage this fall…

followed by the realization two weeks later that in the process, I am 99% sure I put my wedding ring in the washer in a pants pocket and it’s lost forever.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Setting some long overdue boundaries on a part of my life that I was letting run over me.

What was your biggest failure?

That thing that I put on my blog that came across really mean. Social media pride comes before a fall.

Did you suffer illness or injury?

I continued my lifelong tradition of having multiple things wrong with me that no one can adequately explain or treat, none of which will kill me, but all of which are painful and/or annoying. What can I say? I have a health niche, and I dominate it.

What was the best thing you bought?

A slightly increased chance that Wendy Davis will be the next Governor of Texas.

Whose behavior merited celebration?

My sister’s behavior always merits celebration.

Homeschooling three awesome kids who are all now better than I am at math!

Keeping her whole family engaged in healthy athletic pursuits!

Entertaining legions of friends on Facebook with her musings on the names of English verb tenses!

Maintaining a stash of House Hunters on her DVR so I can binge-watch while I’m visiting her house so that her kids can entertain my kid for days on end!

Where did most of your money go?

Wells Fargo’s mortgage business.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The second G.I. Joe movie, and I was SO WRONG!

What song will always remind you of 2013?

If it’s for epic dance parties in the back seat of the car with my six year old while C-Man was driving, and if by “epic dance parties” you mean as much boogie as you can accomplish while wearing seat belts, then I’d go with Shim Sham by Imperial Teen. (“Mom, I tricked you! I wasn’t really singing that time!” Because apparently I can’t tell the difference between singing and lip syncing?)

If it’s for taking up space in my head, it’s a tie between the live version of Let Me Clear My Throat by DJ Kool and Royals by Lorde. Which are realllly different songs.

If it’s for sheer sweetness especially when it’s playing when we pull at up my kid’s school and all the parents are walking their cute little kids in, I’d pick My Girls by Animal Collective. “I don’t mean / to seem like I care about material things / like social stats / I just want / four walls and adobe slats / for my girls…”

Compared to this time last year, are you:

Happier or sadder? Happier. Something about not spending evenings and weekends in bed sick really improves my mental health.

Thinner or fatter? I am so uninterested in this topic.

Richer or poorer? Less cash but more home equity, not sure where that puts me.

What do you wish you’d done more of?

Sewing. It just doesn’t seem like it should be that hard to make entire quilts while working full-time, spending lots of quality time with my kid and husband, keeping the house clean, and blogging.

Oh and a daily gym visit should fit in there too, right?

While I’m re-learning my French and doing regular volunteer work in my community.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

Complaining. Unless it’s funny complaining.

How will you be spending Christmas?

I’d need a Magic 8-Ball on that one.

Did you fall in love in 2013?

If mommybloggers created this survey, my guess is the answers would be split between “I fell in love with my husband all over again.” and things related to celebrities.

How many one-night stands?

Okay now I know mommybloggers did not create this survey.

Who were your best friends?

C-Man, and I’m lucky he lives in my house becauseI see him pretty often.

My sister, though we never expected that would happen during some eras of our lives.

B. in Oregon, as always, and I’m so glad we’ve started making phone dates again.

Grace, though I expect it will be a few years before we’re back in regular contact because she is busy being an awesome mom to an awesome young kiddo. And I’m FINE with that, because you know what? That’s really important. :)

What did you do that was meaningful to others?

Helped women run their small businesses online and make money by expressing themselves creatively.

Started engaging more with Goodwill here in Austin so I can help them be more successful in the important work they do, getting folks connected with education and jobs.

What were your favorite TV programs?

We don’t have cable or Hulu or anything, but we do watch shows on DVD. And somehow, despite all my preconceptions, I found myself watching this entire series:

Great Teacher Onizuka (affiliate link) is… not very bright, immature, violent, rash, and kind of pervy. He’s also the only adult in his students’ lives who can see right through to their real feelings, behind all their bluster and acting out, and connect with them.

I’m really sad that I’m out of episodes.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I kind of hate myself now for signing up for this questionnaire, because it’s really long.

What was the best book you read in 2013?

How To Be Black by Baratunde Thurston. Thurston is (1) funny and (2) one of my favorite commentators on race issues in the U.S.

What was your greatest musical discovery?

I discovered that if you’re bored with most of your rock music, you’re probably just not listening to it loud enough.

What did you want and get?

Tall black boots. I had to order 5 pairs from Zappos and send back 4, but FINALLY one pair worked.

Do you want to see them? Of course you do.

What did you want but did NOT get?

A skirt for our holiday tree. Please don’t say “Etsy” as I looked through every single tree skirt listed on Etsy last year. Didn’t like any of them.

What was your favorite film of this year?

I…. um…. don’t know?

That’s sad for a former movie blogger, isn’t it?

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 39, and I shopped for clothes at Goodwill for as long as I wanted to. It was awesome.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Shopping at Goodwill more!

What kept you sane?

Painkilling medication. Setting a 9:15 bedtime for myself. Comics. Blogging. Cupcakes.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Eh?

What political issue stirred you the most?

And here’s the question where I lose a lot of the people reading this, though my guess is that we’d have more in common on this topic than the polarized “us vs. them” debate on the issue would have you believe.

I was very sad that Texas Republicans decided, with zero evidence of any safety issues, to pass laws restricting women’s ability to access abortions in safe, legal facilities… thus making it LESS safe for women who are seeking abortions.

If they’d put all that time and money into helping women avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place, combined with helping crisis pregnancy centers offer substantial assistance so that no woman seeks an abortion just because of lack of finances, imagine what they could have accomplished towards their goal of reducing abortions.

We could have all worked together on that instead of wasting time and energy fighting.

Who did you miss?

I’d imagine both of those gals know who they are. What hurts is that I doubt either of them miss me at all.

Who was the best new person you met this year?

Working from home combined with being an introvert and having a limited social life doesn’t produce many new acquaintances.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

I’m happier when I get up really early. Even though I don’t want to.

Quote that sums up your year:

I cannot think of how a single quote would sum it up. That’s possibly a good thing!