Evie Louise Wells
B: January 19, 1913
D: December 28, 2007

I really don’t know why the end of a year makes me feel as if I should make a list of what I want to accomplish in the upcoming year. For the most part I never follow through on my “list” anyway. Perhaps I feel the need to make one because everybody talks about turning over a new leaf. It’s almost as if the beginning of a new year is the only time to do this! Sigh … so in keeping with tradition, I have a few things I want to see accomplished in the year 2009.

(1) I plan to read through the Bible once again this year … Genesis to Revelation. I will read 4 chapters each day which will mean that by November 1 of 2009 I will have finished. From that point on, until the end of the year, I will read a chapter out of the book of Proverbs each day. Since there are 31 chapters in the book and 31 days in each month (at least most of the time) it will work out just right.

(2) I plan to take better care of my physical health in 2009. I am WAY beyond doing it for the sake of vanity. I need to do it so I will have a good quality of life. I’m not going to enslave myself to an exercise program or dieting, per se. I just intend to eat healthier and get more exercise when the opportunity affords itself … like taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator. And who knows? Maybe I will end up losing a few pounds and exercising regularly.

(3) Along that line of thinking, I plan to take better care of my emotional health this upcoming year. For the past 12 months I have been on an anti depressant (Cymbalta). I took AD’s for years and then went off for awhile. I did well until about this time last year and that’s when I went back to the doctor and said “I need some help.” As with all AD’s, I started out at the introductory dose. But I never bumped up to the regular dose because I convinced myself that I was doing fine with the introductory amount. This turned out to be a big, fat lie. I have been skirting along on the edge of the depression pit for months now. All the red flags that pop up to indicate to me that I am close to falling in the pit are apparent. I can no longer ignore the signs so after the holidays are over I will make an appointment to see my doctor again.

(4) And finally, my last goal I hope to accomplish … which is related to my previous goal of emotional well-being, is to grieve. On December 28, 2007, my mother went to be with the Lord. Had she lived another 2 weeks she would have been 95 years old! So for 2009 I plan to continue my grieving process. This holiday season has been difficult for me and my sister. The first Thanksgiving and Christmas without our mother. How much longer my grieving process will take … well, I don’t know the answer to that. So I will continue to lean on God for that. At least I know I will not walk through that valley by myself. I may not be HAPPY but I can have JOY because I know I will see my mother again one of these days.

Yay! I can hardly wait for Christmas to be here. And our weather has been on the cold side lately, too, so that puts me in the mood even more. I have most of my Christmas shopping done … still don’t know what Mike and I plan to get for Chase and Erica (or each other, for that matter) but that’s the kind of shopping that is best done when we have them with us. I remember the days when they were young and we shopped without them. As far as they were concerned it didn’t matter how much $$$ we spent on them … just how many presents were under the tree!

Actually … yes, it is snowing … a light dusting, but still snowing. By the way … those of you reading this post who live in snow prone parts of the country, don’t make fun of my pictures, okay? If you lived where I live, you’d be surprised to see it snowing, too! It was 75 degrees yesterday and will probably be that warm again by the weekend. That’s the way the weather is when you live along the Texas coast. You never really put away your summer clothes. You just add a few more layers to them when it turns cool.

UPDATE: We actually ended up with about 4″ of snow. Here is the snowman that we made. He was 5′ 10″ tall …

To prove how much snow we got …

Cute link. Copy and paste it into your url and enjoy.

http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/video.aspx

Wow! I can’t believe we actually have COLD weather here along the coast! Highs today are only supposed to be around 55 degrees. It’s finally beginning to feel like the holiday season.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Chase will be moving home by Christmas. I’m excited about it although he may not be since he’s been on his own for the past 8 years. But anyway, Mike and I are feverishly working to clean out the room Mike uses for his office so it can become Chase’s temp bedroom while he’s here. We rearranged furniture in the living room and moved the “office” to one corner. Now we have to clean up all the left over things in the old office that always seem to accumulate … such as dust bunnies and miscellaneous office items that appeared on Mike’s desk over the past 6 or 7 years. Then I think we plan to repaint. This afternoon we are going shopping for a single bed to put in the room. It’s too small to hold the queen size bed Chase currently has although he will still have room for his dresser and computer stuff.

Since Christmas falls on Thursday this year, my boss is giving us Wednesday off as well. Friday is always my day off so that means a really long weekend. So I plan to also take Monday and Tuesday of that week off as well so we can move Chase from Longview to La Porte.

NOTE TO GLENDA: Chase will not be joining us on the 21st for family Christmas.

Here’s why … Chase needs to stay in Longview and finalize things for the move. Me, Mike and Beth will drive up to your house in Mike’s car. Erica will follow in hers. After the festivities, Mike and I will drive to Longview that night. Erica and Beth will drive back to La Porte. By driving on to Longview Sunday night we can be there bright and early Monday morning to pick up the U-Haul and begin packing. We hope to have it all loaded and done by late afternoon and head back to La Porte. Then we will have all day Tuesday to unpack and get him situated. It will be crazy and hectic but we have the Christmas holidays to give us time to recuperate!

Anyway, that’s the game plan at this point.