Tuesday, December 31, 2013

To 2013, I Bid You Adu

And believe me, the year will not be sorely missed.  In fact here at the house, we can't wait for the year to be over and for 2014 to start.  Hopefully, wishing wholeheartedly that the coming year fairs better for us all.  Not just for us here, but to all of you out there in blog-land that had a sucky 2013.

I wish for all of you a year of peace and love, abundant joy.  A year filled with good health and healing, an abundance of prosperity in ever manner.  May it be a year of all that you wish and dream for, yet so much more.

We are spending the evening at home where it is warm and cozy and filled with love.  Where ever you are and what ever you do tonight stay safe and have fun. 

In this 37th and final post for the year, GOOD BYE 2013!!  And HELLO and WELCOME 2014....please be a good one!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Reflecting

It's come around to that time of year where it's almost over.  Just a few days from now we will bid farewell to 2013 and ring in the new year of 2014.  As the year draws to a close, I find myself once again reflecting back over the past year.

This year in a lot of ways wasn't the best year, in fact it was pretty darn awful.  If it wasn't for the "Happiness Jar" we have sitting on the counter, we might forget that it wasn't all bad after all. 

The year started with the loss of a close family friend's 6 month old grand daughter who never woke from her nap.  The following month, sister #3's fiancee lost his older brother.  The month after that my uncle lost his battle with prostate cancer.  And the losses mounted from there.  I've lost count just how many people Sister #3 and her fiancee have lost this year.  At one point it seemed every other week someone else they knew died.  Here at the house, we have lost three cats and one dog.

Then June rolled around and my Beloved's Dad felt something was off with his blood sugar.  He went to have it checked and it was indeed too high.  Him being a long haul driver, this took him off the road.  He has now been home for six months.  This has made finances VERY tight!!!!  It is now under control and he has long since filed all the proper paperwork, but he is still waiting for official approval to go back to work.  The government shutdown a couple of months ago did not help the process.   The financial strain is taking it's toll emotionally.  Especially over the holidays.  We have the nicest, kindest neighbor couple.  If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have had our Christmas dinner.  They provided us with a small beef roast and a small turkey.  Not to mention the other beef they have blessed us with over the last month.

Over all this has been a hard year with small blessings sprinkled in.  We are all truly looking forward to a new year and hopefully a better year.

As I am thinking about the past year, I think about the word I chose which was 'dare'.  I don't feel like I dared as much as I would have liked.  I let things like fear and doubt get in my way yet again.  I did dare to dream some, I did dare to create some art (2 pieces of which I actually hung out over my computer desk where everyone can see them), I did dare to write (and I won my first NaNo even if I did rebel it.).  I just wish I had dared more.  So I sit now and think about the year ahead.  Jotting down words that I might choose for 2014.  Writing down things I would like to accomplish next year.

Here's to hoping we can end this year on a good note at least.