a new year

I'm not really big into New Year's Resolutions, and in general I try not to look back too much in life, but at this time of year it's hard not to. 2006 was a big one for me, so here are some of the high points:

• Spending hours and days at the beach with my family. There was one day in particular, where we set up our tent on the beach and stayed there all day and into the night. We had a big campfire on the sand and dug ourselves comfy recliner-shaped holes in the sand to lounge in. We gathered shells and sand dollars, and waded in tide pools.

• Driving out of Great Falls, with my family and all our possessions in tow, listening to u2 and having one of those rare moments when you are so aware of a new chapter of your life beginning. Putting G.F. and all the bad memories there behind me and seeing it in my rearview mirror for the last time as we drove over the hill....

• Learning to live in a "Big City" for the first time and finding out that it's not that scary, not that hard, and driving in traffic isn't that big of a deal.

And some little things that made me happy this year:

• u2's new song Window in the Skies. I am still so loving this song. If they had to release only one new song this year, I'm glad it was such a great one! (for the record, I prefer to pretend The Saints Are Coming doesn't exist and certainly doesn't count as a u2 song. Green Day messed that song up so bad, and I can't stand to hear Billy Joe just when I'm grooving on some Bono vocals :shudder: )

• Podcasts! At the top of my list right now: Ricky Gervais, The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack, This American Life

• Which, of course, leads me to: my iPod. I got a 30g video iPod, u2 special edition, and I love it. I use it every day, and I love it. I take it everywhere with me, use it not just for music and podcasts but audio books, games, tv shows, movies, pictures, home movies, and enjoying the knowledge that I have my own little piece of u2 with me at all times. It makes me happy. :)

• Best TV show, hands down: Lost. I have also enjoyed The Wire, Dexter and 24 but Lost beats them all.

• Books: I had this idea, a little over a year ago, to keep track of all the books I read in 2006. I've always been a big reader, but never kept track before. I'm proud to say that, despite all the moving and challenges I've had this year, I managed to keep track of and record all the books I read. Drumroll, please, Mr. Mullen:
  
  
  
  

I read 73 books, with 1 more that I'm in the middle of. I think in a normal year I'd have read even more, I have to say that picking up knitting again has really taken a chunk out of my reading time. I'm going to continue to keep track of the books I read, I really enjoyed doing it and in looking back over the list there are several that I totally forgot I had read.

And, inevitably, some of the low points:

• of course, my father-in-law's death last month. My husbands father, my children's only grandfather. It's hard to believe he's really gone for good.

• that whole crazy couple of weeks when I was (involuntarily!) off my meds. So, so sick, getting more and more sick and depressed every day. Living in a travel trailer, one with no toilet, a leaky roof, a soggy floor...all that was bad enough, but being off my meds, dead broke AND living in those conditions? I'm just glad, and still surprised, I made it through that one.

All in all '06 was more good than bad, and a vast improvement over '05. I'm looking forward to that trend continuing in the new year! I'm also looking forward to not moving this year, to continuing to search for the right job for me, to spending a lot of time with my family. I plan to keep on participating in the u2 fan community, keeping track of the boys and passing the time until the next album comes out. I plan to knit and use up a lot of the yarn that I spent the last 6 months or so buying. That yarn stash grows fast, a lot faster than I can knit it up!

I'm looking forward to another year of blogging, and of keeping up with all of your blogs. Thank you for reading and for commenting. Happy New Year!