A 2004 Meme. Thanks.
1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Taking over our church site and totally redeveloping it- http://www.fbcrochester.net
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
We have both kept our vows to eat better and Suz has lost 33 pounds on Weight Watchers
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope
4. Did anyone close to you die? Suz's Uncle Bill and our neighbor's husband
5. What countries did you visit? Didn't leave the country
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
My 10.5% pay cut that takes effect Jan 1
7. What dates from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oct 18th-our 1st Wedding Anniversary
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Financially I've become much more educated-I've saved quite a bit of $ over the next year and am crusading to do more.
9. What is your biggest failing for 2004? Sliding the van along a guard-rail on our Anniversary
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Very painful knee--due to age/arthritis and an ugly cold that stayed with me for 3 weeks.
11. What was the best thing you bought? MY PUPPY!!!!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Suzette-for putting up with me :)
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?
The government...nuff said.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Isabella stuff-toys, medical bills...
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Our vacation/anniversary
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? neither..my weight has stabilized.
c) richer or poorer? poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Relaxing...
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing over things I have no control over
20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
My annual party with the Fran Clan
21. Did you fall in love in 2004?
No - because I am always and forever in love with my wife
22. How many one-night stands? Umm...yah right
23. What was your favorite TV program? TV is a waste
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nah
25. What was the best book you read? Umm.....NEXT QUESTION
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Josh Groban
27. What did you want and get? A puppy
28. What did you want and not get? More space
29. What was your favorite film of this year? Polar Express
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I slept and went out with my wife-35
31.What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
More $
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
I HAVE A FASHION CONCEPT??
33. What kept you sane? Da wife and EQ
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Angelina Jolie *drool*
35. What political issue stirred you the most? Elections...I'm liberal.
Oh - and this FCC crap?
36. Who did you miss?
I miss Marc
37. Who was the best new person you met?
My new puppy Isabella.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.
Be more patient and rest more before long trips
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. No can do
Merry Christmas from Mr. & Mrs. Blurf to all....
We just got back from Suz's family in Perry...need a backhoe to unload the haul :)
Good sleep to all...and to all a good night
P.S. Fran-I bought the Creme De Menthe
Some Assembly Required
'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
I searched for the tools to hand to my spouse.
Instructions were studied and we were inspired,
In hopes we could manage "Some Assembly Required."
The children were quiet (not asleep) in their beds,
While Dad and I faced the evening with dread:
A kitchen, two bikes, Barbie's town house to boot!
And, thanks to Grandpa, a train with a toot!
We opened the boxes, my heart skipped a beat....
Let no pieces be missing or parts incomplete!
Too late for last-minute returns or replacement;
If we can't get it right, it goes down in the basement!
When what to my worrying eyes should appear,
But 50 sheets of directions, concise, but not clear,
With each part numbered and every slot named,
So if there were failure, only we could be blamed.
click
More rapid than eagles the parts then fell out,
All over the carpet they were scattered about.
"Now bolt it! Now twist it! Attach it right there!
Slide on the seats, and staple the stair!
Hammer the shelves, and nail to the stand."
"Honey," said hubby, "you just glued my hand."
And then in a twinkling, I knew for a fact
That all the toy dealers had indeed made a pact
To keep parents busy all Christmas Eve night
With "assembly required" till morning's first light.
We spoke not a word, but kept bent at our work,
Till our eyes, they went bleary; our fingers all hurt.
The coffee went cold and the night it wore thin
Before we attached the last rod and last pin.
Then laying the tools away in the chest,
We fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.
But I said to my husband just before I passed out,
"This will be the best Christmas, without any doubt.
Tomorrow we'll cheer, let the holiday ring,
And not have to run to the store for a thing!
"We did it! We did it! The toys are all set
For the perfect, most perfectest Christmas, I bet!"
Then off to dreamland, at last sweet repose
I gratefully went, although I suppose
There's something to say for those self-deluded
I'd forgotten that BATTERIES are never included!
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a Broadway whore...I love good shows!
Well last night we saw one of the best shows I've seen in ages...The Producers by Mel Brooks. OMFG-this was hilarious!
The most interesting thing was that the leading role of Leo Bloom was played by Alan Ruck who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He was outstanding.....but it kinda made me realize-I'm really 35 years old!!!!
With a 10.5% paycut coming 1/1/05 I decided it was time to go on a saving spree. Here's what I've managed:
1) Cable bill-cut by $15 a month and frozen for a year.
2) Cell phones (2)-Cut each by 8.5% permanent as long as I maintain my current employment
3) Fitness Club-cut by $20 a month for a year
4) Next on the list....Electric Bill.
UPDATE: Van was paid off so that saves another $150/month.
Not bad :)
Ok, earlier this year our City School district said they had such a budget shortfall that they couldn't afford to pay school nurses.
Now there's an elementary school district spending $7,000 to take their entire school to see "The Polar Express". Wouldn't it be more economically feasible to wait until it comes out on DVD, get all the kids into an auditorium and show it there???
Talk about fiscal mismanagement!
It's wierd...today, with no drugs or medication of any kind, my knee doesn't hurt at all. I've been discharged from Physical Therapy, and at least for now, will probably not need surgery.
Have to see how it goes through the Winter.
I've been fighting the losing end of an uphill/downhill battle with a cold for almost 2 weeks now...it's finally settled into my chest which is more tolerable for me...
To sleep at night I found THE solution....Nyquil + a generous slathering of Vicks on the chest.
Well....I have a partially dislocated knee with residual bone damage.
Possible surgery in January/Feb...
Another appt with a knee joint specialist Dec 20th.
Courtesy of Fishbucket:
Bush is my shepherd, I shall be in want.
He maketh me lie down on park benches.
He leadeth me beside the still factories,
He restores my doubts about the Republican Party.
He leadeth me into the paths of unemployment for his cronies' sake.
Yea, though no weapons of mass destruction have been found, he maketh me continue to fear evil.
His tax cuts for the rich and his deficit spending discomfort me.
He anointeth me with never-ending debt.
Verily my days of savings and assets are kaput.
Surely poverty and hard living shall follow me all the days of his
administration,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.
-author unknown