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1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
-earned a college degree
-had a book published
-actually went to bars and drank, while in Key West
-went to a "clothing optional" bar (my Aunt Michelle works there, we surprised her. FULLY DRESSED)
-got falling down drunk...twice (once at home, once at - gulp - Grant's company Christmas party)
-had kids in school, with all the supply shopping and teacher meetings and early bedtimes and homework doing and lunch packing that implies
-got patches of white hairs that are permanent, i.e., not just strays I pluck upon spotting
-did a version of NaNoWriMo - NaPoWriMo, a poem a day (with one other Very Cool person)
-made mulled wine
-went to Overeaters Anonymous
-various personal breakthroughs
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes, and yes. I've been rocking the hell out of some resolutions for the last couple of years.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister had a lovely little lady 10 months ago, and my old, good friend Kathy just had her first (a daughter) on Saturday :D That baby shower was really sweet, fyi.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No. I've experienced very little death in my entire life so far, I'm grateful to say.
5. What countries did you visit?
...the Conch Republic?
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
Energy!
7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory?
I don't really notice dates.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Progress with Isaac, hands down. It took a bedroom switch, a new pet, a lot of counseling, an inpatient hospital stay, a total educational overhaul, several specialist visits, daily supplementation, AND MORE - but this kid is happier, he's reading, he poops in a normal way, he has a crush on someone and is making friends, he gets along with his siblings in a functional manner, and he notices and tries to deal when he's slipping. It's incredible. He still has anxiety problems (and ticks), he is still clumsy and accident prone, and he still has to try harder than other kids at school - but damn. DAMN :D
9. What was your biggest failure?
Aaron. I spent months pursuing a medical explanation that turned out to be nonexistent, for his unhappiness and the physical ways it manifests. He got kicked out of every virtual school course I enrolled, and re-enrolled him in. He fought me as badly as he always has about chores, and schoolwork I assign. He ceased to do things that use to reassure me he was fine anyway, like explore nature, study science and current events and exercise of his own free will. Geez. There were a couple of months there when he was dancing 12 hours a week and doing a bit better, albeit only a bit, but then he fractured his fibula on Thanksgiving and has been a freakin' miserable wreck in a cast ever since. Too many late nights with him crying in my lap and loathing himself. I'm actually considering having a(nother) medication conversation with him. This cast comes off tomorrow morning and then he can go back to Dance Empire in a week or two, and we'll see from there... he also got some good "creative outlet" and educational Christmas presents that might help him be constructive. I just can't kick the feeling that I'm not DOING things right with him. I'm not going back to school til fall 2013 and am planning on spending some serious effort on this.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got a hellacious flu about 6 weeks ago.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Probably the Civic. It's a pain in the ass with a laundry list of problems, but having a second car has alleviated an enormous amount of stress from our lives.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Grant's. My God. The man will travel 4 hours to and from a long work day, and he walks in the door passing out hugs and tossing people in the air and doesn't stop til he drops in bed. For an entire month he spent Monday-Thursday in Maryland, and the weekends were still wholly devoted to cooking kickass food, doing one on one kid activities, sexing me up, dates, family-trips to the park/Santa's/whatever.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People who stole my bikeS off our porch, and people who broke our van window out to take our GPS, and people who shot up school kids and movie theaters and volunteer firefighters.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Children...their birthday and Christmas presents, school clothes and supplies and curricula and musical instruments and activity fees and necessary gas and their allowances and lost teeth and Easter baskets and all the never ending food they eat, and their medical costs, and...you get the picture.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
"Shake It Out," by Florence
17. Compared to this time last year, you are:
Thinner or fatter: Mmm...I think I weigh slightly more
Richer or poorer: Richer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading to everyone. Writing on weekends.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Feeling sluggish and slow
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
It's been our very first Christmas kept just within our family at our house, without any travelling or relatives, and it has been pretty damn awesome in it's hermit like way.
21. What was your favorite month of 2012?
Probably October. October is generally my favorite month of every year.
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I fell in love with Annie. I look at her starry eyed with pride every day.
I have a complicated, honest, sweet, hard, perfect, exhausting, hot, comforting, and warm love with Grant, that has done a lot of ebbing and flowing as we take it one day at a time, this year. We're in a really lovely upswing that I feel good about.
23. How many one-night stands?
I've never had A one night stand, in my life.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
True Blood, but Arrested Development since the TB season ended.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't think so.
26. What was the best book you read?
Hmm....I really liked, Prozac Diary, by Lauren Slater. Also Freak Show and Party Monster by James St James, and The Forever Marriage by Ann Bauer, and Drugs Are Nice by Lisa Carver.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't know if this counts as a discovery, it was more like a revelation - but Roger Waters brought Eddie Vedder on stage to sing Comfortably Numb at that 12/12/12 concert in NYC, and O_O It's available on YouTube. I think it would have been life changing if I'd been there; as it was I got goosebumps.
28. What did you want and get?
A lot. A whole lot. Like, the shower and bath drains always cleaned out for me and other people taking out the garbage and staying out til 5am with my friend Jess two nights in the same week.
29. What did you want and not get?
A housekeeper. A clean house. I never seemed to get to posting here, either, though it is always nagging at the back of my mind.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I haven't watched many movies this year...I liked Frankenweenie, which I saw with Jake for his birthday, and The Avengers, which I saw with G. I'm kinda pumped for Les Mis. I really liked rewatching The Royal Tennenbaums with Annie and Party Monster, with Grant.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I bought Florence and the Machine tickets, and Grant, Ananda and I went, and it was awesome. I turned 31.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More time spent with local friends.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Flowy black layers.
34. What kept you sane?
Boundaries with my mother. Counseling in Nov-Dec.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've had a crush on Macaulay Culkin. And I've been obsessively combing through everything Dan Savage has ever written, but that's a little different.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The election, no question, I was getting tense about that.
37. Who did you miss?
Grant, while he traveled. Kristin, after she moved away. My father, on Thanksgiving :/ (he was really sick and couldn't come this year)
38. Who were the best new people you met?
Teachers and classmates.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
I personally learned that, for me, it can be valuable to think of it as "I have six kids," one of them being me, as in I have to parent and prioritize myself in the same way I do each of my actual children. There is no "resources are used up, too bad!" where they are concerned, and I can view myself in the same way and it makes everything run differently in a way that isn't hurting anybody.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/florencethemachine/shakeitout.html
-earned a college degree
-had a book published
-actually went to bars and drank, while in Key West
-went to a "clothing optional" bar (my Aunt Michelle works there, we surprised her. FULLY DRESSED)
-got falling down drunk...twice (once at home, once at - gulp - Grant's company Christmas party)
-had kids in school, with all the supply shopping and teacher meetings and early bedtimes and homework doing and lunch packing that implies
-got patches of white hairs that are permanent, i.e., not just strays I pluck upon spotting
-did a version of NaNoWriMo - NaPoWriMo, a poem a day (with one other Very Cool person)
-made mulled wine
-went to Overeaters Anonymous
-various personal breakthroughs
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes, and yes. I've been rocking the hell out of some resolutions for the last couple of years.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister had a lovely little lady 10 months ago, and my old, good friend Kathy just had her first (a daughter) on Saturday :D That baby shower was really sweet, fyi.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No. I've experienced very little death in my entire life so far, I'm grateful to say.
5. What countries did you visit?
...the Conch Republic?
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
Energy!
7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory?
I don't really notice dates.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Progress with Isaac, hands down. It took a bedroom switch, a new pet, a lot of counseling, an inpatient hospital stay, a total educational overhaul, several specialist visits, daily supplementation, AND MORE - but this kid is happier, he's reading, he poops in a normal way, he has a crush on someone and is making friends, he gets along with his siblings in a functional manner, and he notices and tries to deal when he's slipping. It's incredible. He still has anxiety problems (and ticks), he is still clumsy and accident prone, and he still has to try harder than other kids at school - but damn. DAMN :D
9. What was your biggest failure?
Aaron. I spent months pursuing a medical explanation that turned out to be nonexistent, for his unhappiness and the physical ways it manifests. He got kicked out of every virtual school course I enrolled, and re-enrolled him in. He fought me as badly as he always has about chores, and schoolwork I assign. He ceased to do things that use to reassure me he was fine anyway, like explore nature, study science and current events and exercise of his own free will. Geez. There were a couple of months there when he was dancing 12 hours a week and doing a bit better, albeit only a bit, but then he fractured his fibula on Thanksgiving and has been a freakin' miserable wreck in a cast ever since. Too many late nights with him crying in my lap and loathing himself. I'm actually considering having a(nother) medication conversation with him. This cast comes off tomorrow morning and then he can go back to Dance Empire in a week or two, and we'll see from there... he also got some good "creative outlet" and educational Christmas presents that might help him be constructive. I just can't kick the feeling that I'm not DOING things right with him. I'm not going back to school til fall 2013 and am planning on spending some serious effort on this.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got a hellacious flu about 6 weeks ago.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Probably the Civic. It's a pain in the ass with a laundry list of problems, but having a second car has alleviated an enormous amount of stress from our lives.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Grant's. My God. The man will travel 4 hours to and from a long work day, and he walks in the door passing out hugs and tossing people in the air and doesn't stop til he drops in bed. For an entire month he spent Monday-Thursday in Maryland, and the weekends were still wholly devoted to cooking kickass food, doing one on one kid activities, sexing me up, dates, family-trips to the park/Santa's/whatever.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People who stole my bikeS off our porch, and people who broke our van window out to take our GPS, and people who shot up school kids and movie theaters and volunteer firefighters.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Children...their birthday and Christmas presents, school clothes and supplies and curricula and musical instruments and activity fees and necessary gas and their allowances and lost teeth and Easter baskets and all the never ending food they eat, and their medical costs, and...you get the picture.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
"Shake It Out," by Florence
17. Compared to this time last year, you are:
Thinner or fatter: Mmm...I think I weigh slightly more
Richer or poorer: Richer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading to everyone. Writing on weekends.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Feeling sluggish and slow
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
It's been our very first Christmas kept just within our family at our house, without any travelling or relatives, and it has been pretty damn awesome in it's hermit like way.
21. What was your favorite month of 2012?
Probably October. October is generally my favorite month of every year.
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I fell in love with Annie. I look at her starry eyed with pride every day.
I have a complicated, honest, sweet, hard, perfect, exhausting, hot, comforting, and warm love with Grant, that has done a lot of ebbing and flowing as we take it one day at a time, this year. We're in a really lovely upswing that I feel good about.
23. How many one-night stands?
I've never had A one night stand, in my life.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
True Blood, but Arrested Development since the TB season ended.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't think so.
26. What was the best book you read?
Hmm....I really liked, Prozac Diary, by Lauren Slater. Also Freak Show and Party Monster by James St James, and The Forever Marriage by Ann Bauer, and Drugs Are Nice by Lisa Carver.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't know if this counts as a discovery, it was more like a revelation - but Roger Waters brought Eddie Vedder on stage to sing Comfortably Numb at that 12/12/12 concert in NYC, and O_O It's available on YouTube. I think it would have been life changing if I'd been there; as it was I got goosebumps.
28. What did you want and get?
A lot. A whole lot. Like, the shower and bath drains always cleaned out for me and other people taking out the garbage and staying out til 5am with my friend Jess two nights in the same week.
29. What did you want and not get?
A housekeeper. A clean house. I never seemed to get to posting here, either, though it is always nagging at the back of my mind.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I haven't watched many movies this year...I liked Frankenweenie, which I saw with Jake for his birthday, and The Avengers, which I saw with G. I'm kinda pumped for Les Mis. I really liked rewatching The Royal Tennenbaums with Annie and Party Monster, with Grant.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I bought Florence and the Machine tickets, and Grant, Ananda and I went, and it was awesome. I turned 31.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More time spent with local friends.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Flowy black layers.
34. What kept you sane?
Boundaries with my mother. Counseling in Nov-Dec.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've had a crush on Macaulay Culkin. And I've been obsessively combing through everything Dan Savage has ever written, but that's a little different.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The election, no question, I was getting tense about that.
37. Who did you miss?
Grant, while he traveled. Kristin, after she moved away. My father, on Thanksgiving :/ (he was really sick and couldn't come this year)
38. Who were the best new people you met?
Teachers and classmates.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
I personally learned that, for me, it can be valuable to think of it as "I have six kids," one of them being me, as in I have to parent and prioritize myself in the same way I do each of my actual children. There is no "resources are used up, too bad!" where they are concerned, and I can view myself in the same way and it makes everything run differently in a way that isn't hurting anybody.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/florencethemachine/shakeitout.html
