Life Begins ...



Remember the Twenty Before Forty from last year? Time to check back on what I accomplished, and I swear to Scissors I haven't looked at it since then ...

1. Have a conversation in Spanish which doesn't revolve around commerce.
Sort of. Thanks to work, I've mastered I'm sorry, this is not the psychologist's office; please hold a minute and I'll transfer you!

2. Lose my thtupid lithping Cathtilian accent.
No way, Jothay. I still sing along with Sublime on the radio with the fargin' lithp.

3. Get adult hair.
It may not look like it in the photo, but I actually got my hair cut once this year -- for free, even, in exchange for letting in the hairstylist in our building who'd locked herself out after hours again. And I even use Products on it most of the time, too!

4. Learn what all the plants are in my yard.
Nope. I learned the difference between the two types of palm trees, though.

5. Figure out what I want to do, jobwise, for the rest of my life, and start doing it.
I'd like to work for my Pimp Daddy boss forever and ever, actually. I really know my job now, to the point where I can run it all myself (or as I say to my co-workers, look! the cat is walking the dog!). I'd like more responsibility, but the company itself is a sweeeet place to work, I'm treated with respect, and the dough is just ridiculous.

6. Unpack absolutely every box this time, even if I end up re-packing it, labeling it in detail and sticking it in the garage.
I did this in all the kids' rooms, but not the garage. Ah well, it's a start. And I finally found my Bathroom Bolshevik poster! Woohoo!

7. Make at least one good local female friend who isn't related to me somehow.
Yessss! I have three good girlfriends now, two of whom I work with, and scads of acquaintances. I'd forgotten, being isolated in that one-person office at the church and then teaching, which is a solitary endeavor, how much fun it is to work with people you like.

8. Meet my sister's kids.
Done and done! And I even resisted the urge to teach my nephew dirty words.

9. Finish my sister's kids' quilts.
Well, I bought more material; does that count?

10. Get into some kind of daily exercise routine which feels effortless, or at least like an unskippable part of my day even if I don't like actually doing it
Sort of. I'm going to a martial arts class three times a week, which I love-love-LOVE, and recommend highly to anybody who's an uncoordinated spaz like myself. It's left-brained enough for me AND I get to spar. I have a brand-new love for kicking ass and taking names. Chuck Norris drives an ice cream truck covered with human skulls, you know. I'm a green belt! Woohoo! Which is halfway to black belt!

11. Maintain the house in such a state that, if someone wandered in unannounced, I wouldn't be completely mortified.
Yeah, more or less. Right now the floor is a mess, and I can't vouch for the hall bathroom, but I'm getting more of a handle on it. For better or worse, having this job has forced me to be relentlessly organized at home.

12. Watch at least, oh I dunno, eighty or so movies from my copious Netflix queue
Maybe. I saw quite a few this summer.

13. Get through the entire year without ANY sewer-related messes or disruptions to deal with
The sewer (knock on wood) has been fine, but the sprinklers break almost weekly, as did several kitchen sink faucets until the plumber figured out the pressure regulator was fudged up. Luckily none of this can even remotely be construed as my fault. I've had to deal with sewer issues at work, though. Meh.

14. Go camping with the kids.
Not yet. We've been hiking a lot and drove to the very border of Arizona once, though.

15. Go to Las Vegas
Done and done! My sister and I are going in October.

16. Get my California driver's license
Nope. Alex is only barely beginning to get interested in driving, which was my main motivator for switching licenses (he has to be supervised by a California-licensed driver).

17. Have everybody (all thirteen of the IL's, at least) here for a major food-related holiday celebration.
Nope. Haven't been able to pry my SIL out of her house all summer, even with the offer of free show tickets, et cetera. I did have a couple of dinner parties at home, though.

18. Have at least two or three really good parties
See above dinner parties; I also had Maddy's birthday, which was the usual Grand Guignol.

19. Avoid volunteering for anything very strenuous at church.
Done. Cough. Actually, I haven't been going lately. I feel sort of bad about this, but I'm at least taking Sis to youth group. And I feel like, right now, I simply cannot deal with another commitment, especially in the early morning. I just can't do it. Maybe later, as I continue to get my life under control, I can figure out how to do it, but for now I'm at a loss.

20. Get down within spittin' distance of two bills.
Define spittin' distance. I'm making strides, though.