Happy New Year!

I’m sitting here at work, waiting to hear how the weather is going to turn out (could be ice! could be snow! could be nothing but gross, yucky, cold rain!), and thinking about the coming year. My house is somewhat back to normal, all 13 of the new barbie dolls have found a home (mostly in Cadence’s bed. Yes, she sleeps with every one of them at night. I need to get a picture soon.), and the routine at work is slowly returning.

January 1 brought not only a new year, but a new boss, new expectations, and new challenges. Having a new boss means that we’re trying to figure him out, and him us; him learning what we’re capable of, and us learning what he expects, and both of us trying to balance this new information and new roles with the feel and congregation at the church. I’m curious (and slightly scared and worried) to go through this change, and I’m eager to see where we end up at the end of it.

Cadence is still having issues at school, and it scares me for “big school.” If she takes a swing at a teacher, or gets in fights with classmates, or mutters stuff under her breath there, they will expell her. I know that with the amount of kids they’ll have at the school next year, they won’t have time to deal with her being a snot. Her class next year will probably have somewhere around 20 kids in it. Her class this year has 9 - only 18 kids total in Kindergarten. August is going to bring a HUGE change, and a major adjustment for all of us. The only spark of hope I have is that she’s doing excellent in school. She’s learning to write sentences, starting to read, and doing really well with math. If we could just get the tantrums under control, we’d be set.

I’ve recently jumped on board the “I wanna be debt free!!!” bandwagon. Right now we don’t have an enormous amount of debt, even including the house. If we buckled down, I bet we could do it (all but the house) in 2 years or less. It would definitely take some work and sacrifice, but I do believe we could do it. Problem is, Mike isn’t quite there yet. For example, my Christmas bonus went straight into savings. I wanted a purple Kitchenaid mixer SO bad, but I knew that the right thing to do was to save it. Mike sold some stuff and got about the same amount of money. His went to buy some stuff for his Jeep and a TMaxx. We’ll be getting a refund in February, and I’m wanting to either save it all, or use it to get new counters/cabinets or new floors. Mike wants a vacation. I would love to have the majority of our bills paid off by next year, but it’s going to take both of us to make that happen, and that might be a long time coming.

I’m still wanting another child, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. It would be great to end the year with a new baby at the house, but 1) I still don’t think Mike really would like another, 2) I’m kind of enjoying having an independent little one and 3) I’m really scared to try again. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. I don’t know right now, and don’t even really know which I would rather have.

I also plan on finding a church. II would love for it to be one that all of us go to together, but I’m tired of waiting on him to make a decision. I’m determined to find a place where we can be comfortable and happy and get involved, and I’ve decided to do that with or without his input. But hopefully it’s with. I really really want it to be with.

Well, I have work to finish, so I guess this is enough rambling for now. I hope everyone reading has a safe, happy and prosperous new year! And because I’m a copycat, I’m stealing my cousin’s idea of things she’s thankful for. My list for today:

1) A warm house to go home to

2) remote start in my car so that it’s not freezing when I get in

3) A job that I enjoy, even if it is unpredictable at times

4) My daughter. Good or bad, mean or sweet, I love her to pieces

5) 5 year old’s artwork. The one I got yesterday is of me as a princess. I love it!