Review and Resolutions

It's so difficult getting back into the routine of things!  My Christmas break was simply fabulous!  I ate some cookies, gained some weight, and basically chilled.  The kids only had a week and two days off, so they're back to school now.  I'm back to laundry, back to making dinner, and trying to work off all those extra Christmas calories. 

We didn't go overboard on the kids this year, however, Hubby went overboard on ME!  As long as he pays cash, I can't complain.  (Here's a little shout-out to Dave Ramsey!)  For a couple years now, he's been saving up to buy me a new wedding ring.  He was only 20 when he purchased my first ring and he earns a wee bit more now.  He's always been slightly embarrassed about the size of my diamond, even though I was totally happy with it.  I told him I would enjoy a new wedding set for our 20th anniversary.  He thought it would take him that long to save up, but he was a good little saver!  He came up with the cash early, thanks to all the overtime hours at work for Christmas peak season!  Anyhow, here's a cell phone shot of my favorite Christmas gift:

(It's much prettier in person!)

With his bonus money, Hubby bought the kids Just Dance for the Playstation.  That was a surprise to us all!  Today, I did the fitness side of the video game.  I wouldn't really call it an exercise program, but it got me moving and my heart rate up.  It's just 10 minutes, and it's a lot of fun, so I'm going to try to do it regularly.  Since winter has set in, I haven't been running.  I'm getting quite chubby.  I think our next investment is a treadmill.  I would love to run a half marathon in 2013, but I'm not committing to it yet.  (5.5 miles was so difficult last year...can you imagine 13.1????)  Maybe my inspirational catch phrase should be "13.1 in '13!"

One great thing about 2012 was that I read through the entire Bible!  I am so thrilled that I actually completed my goal (2 weeks early)!  I'm going to read through again this year.  (Yeah, I'm already 2 chapters behind.)

Big Sis had pink eye over Christmas break, but thankfully, no one else got it!  The stomach bug has hit this area hard, but we've somehow avoided it so far.  I'm sure we'll all get it now just because I said that.

I'm finally working on a Shutterfly album for our Disney trip.  Unfortunately, I waited too long to access our Photo Pass pictures and they're gone.  Now I feel bad for making my family stand in line to get all those pictures taken!  I honestly thought they'd be there for longer than 30 days!  I'd also like to make an album for 2012, but I'll be lucky to get the Disney album created!

The photo booth and photography side jobs are still going well.  I did a lot of portraits for Christmas and still have a senior photo shoot scheduled.  We took the photo booth to a gorgeous wedding the Saturday before Christmas and got to charge full price for our top package!  That was sure nice to add to our bank account!  We don't have much coming up on the books, but I welcome the break.  We're doing a bridal show next month, so hopefully we'll make some contacts there. 

We had some major drama around here on New Year's Eve.  There's an apartment building on the corner of my small street that is occupied by seniors and disabled people.  Someone jumped from the 13th floor balcony facing our street.  There were so many emergency vehicles on our tiny street that they had to shut it down.  My mother-in-law lives in the building and said the 20-something guy jumped without a shirt on in front of his aide.  Sad. 

I'm so thankful for what I have and that we have very few issues in life compared to the rest of the world.  We've been blessed. 

I hope everyone had a very nice series of holidays...I haven't been on much to wish you happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's.  With that whole season coming to a close, I just might have more time for extra things like blogging (and cleaning the basement - yuk).