2011

(Read 2010 here and 2009 here. This list of questions originates with the fantastic Linda at All & Sundry.)

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

I resigned from my job with no intention of getting another job right away. (Yes, yes, yes, being a mother and runner-of-the-house is a job but I think we all know I'm talking about a pays-cash-money job.)

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I am not a specific resolution-y type person but I do have some things for 2011 that I am desperate to do and achieve and accomplish. There are websites I want to launch and businesses I want to create. Closets to organize, relationships to give more attention to, projects to complete, and moments to create.

Like every year, all of my ideas about self improvement reside firmly in the category of Time Management. It's an upward slope, getting better all the time, but far from perfect.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Uh, ME! Charlotte is pretty awesome, seven months in. 

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Jake. I really miss him. 

5. What countries did you visit?

Does looking at countries on Google Maps count? No? Well, then, no new countries for me this year. Again. But you know what? I am not really feeling like I missed out what with the Euro garbage and terrorism and pilots that can't recognize when their trans-Atlantic plane is stalling, even when the stall warning sounds more than 75 times. Nope! My living room is awesome! No need to leave! We've got Netflix, we're good for the next hundred years.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn't have in 2011?

A new project that I find creatively fulfilling. The closet under the stairs organized. New linens in my bedroom. Curtains in the kitchen. A new light fixture in the dining room. More nights of uninterrupted sleep. 

7. What dates from 2011 will be etched upon your memory, and why?

These kinds of questions are always really easy to answer when you've had a baby recently. I will always remember with an odd amount of clarity that night before Charlotte was born when I was convinced I was not in labor.

8. What was your biggest achievement of this year?

Well, the giving birth part was kind of a big deal but that's pretty much the answer to all these questions, isn't it? (BABY! I HAD A BABY! IN CASE YOU WERE NOT AWARE!)

I also had a refluxy baby (which makes the entire BABY! situation far more dramatic) and I had to to pay cash for her medications because they were not covered AT ALL by my insurance which did not add to the stress of the situation in any way.

(It totally added to the stress of the situation.)

($5 per solutab! FIVE DOLLARS! A DAY! CASH! FOR SEVERAL MONTHS. OMG WHAT A SCAM.)

(Wait, that's the same scam Starbucks is running.)

9. What was your biggest failure?

I wonder if a lot of parents do this, but I failed to recognize how hectic and irregular life is with a newborn. (And it was even my second newborn.) I mean, I KNOW that it's wild, but looking back now can I see that I should not have beat myself up about not returning a string of emails or wearing my pajamas all day or any of a thousand other things because HELLO I HAD JUST HAD A BABY. (With reflux!)

So, I failed to give myself credit for a lot of difficult and taxing and time-consuming things I was doing and instead focused on the things I wasn't doing. The little, unimportant, silly things. Which is stupid and so, so, so very me.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I lived a pretty clean 2011. No new scars, which I think is a first for me. (I scar and bruise like a banana.)

Oh wait, no, this isn't true. I burned my arm with the steam from a Beaba Babycook and while it did not scar (miraculous!), it hurt like hell.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My iPad2 and I are very much in love.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My mother. Oh my gosh you guys, my mom is AMAZING. She stayed with us for three or five weeks before and after Charlotte was born and she was a total LIFESAVER. She cleaned and cooked and managed Claire and she was just incredible. Things would have been very, very ugly if she hadn't been here.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

The entire Penn State abuse story. All of it. Disgusting.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Taxes. Medical bills. 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

It might be too obvious to say that I was really, really, really excited to give birth, but dudes I really, really, really wanted to not be pregnant any more. My babies come after 40 weeks and I can say with some authority that all of the days after 40 weeks are pretty awful in their uncomfortable-ness. Sleeping on my stomach continues to thrill me and I'm not sure I'll ever stop appreciating that simple luxury.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

I don't know. I am not very cool since I don't listen to music a whole lot. Old MacDonald?

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

Happier: Two cute kids and shedding the 9-5 stresses have been amazing for my mood.

Thinner: Not being pregnant and having a whole other human inside of me really helps on this metric.

Richer: The years continue to be kind and generous to our family.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

I wish I had spent more time nurturing my creative and professional side after Charlotte was born. There's still time for this, I know, but it feels like it will be more diffuclt to jump back in when I'm ready.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Disciplining the three-year-old. Being unable to fall back asleep in the middle of the night after the baby went back to bed. Dishes. Sweeping remnants of meals from the floor. 

20. How did you spend Christmas?

At home, with my family. It was lovely, lovely, lovely.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

I fell in love with Charlotte. I fell in love with my little family of four.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Nightly News with Brian Williams is still #1 one my list for obvious, very handsome reasons.

I watched a lot of Sesame Street. I haaated The Office with Andy in charge, hello BORING. I got really into Storage Wars at one point and watched ten episodes in one night. (The things people leave in storage are FASCINATING.)

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Gosh, "hate" is such a strong word and I read these memes every year where people are like, "I don't hate anyone! That's a terrible question!" Well, there are things I hate. I'm not so high and mighty that I won't tell you that yes, yes I do hate certain things and people and processes and I let these ideas occupy my brain and sometimes I really sit and stew about them.

Most of my stewing time in 2011 centered on the idea that I hate the people responsible for the colossal fuck-up of health care in America. I know it's not the worst in the world and I'm thankful for what we have, but it's a systematic and layered problem with the blame spread upon many shoulders and generations and industries and I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. 

HATE.

24. What was the best book you read?

I didn't read all that much this year. I only read a book if someone I trusted told me I should read it. Here, let me just list the books I read:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Steve Jobs biography (my favorite, by a long mile)

Game of Thrones

New Sookie Stackhouse book: Dead Reckoning (YES, I READ THESE BOOKS, SHUT UP.)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I really wanted to like Mumford and Sons, truly I did, but I DON'T. I don't even like them a little bit. So, perhaps this is not a musical discovery in the spirit of the question but I think this is definitely noteworthy that I have discovered that I do not care for Mumford and Sons, against an enormous tide of popularity and repeated suggestions from Pandora.

26. What did you want and get?

A healthy baby. An iPad2. A good hair cut. The opportunity to stay at home with my kids. Health insurance.

27. What did you want and not get?

A swimming pool. (Hey, I dream big.)

28. What was your favorite film of 2011?

I liked Super 8. That one was cute in a Goonies kind of way. Suspenseful, but not TOO creepy which is good because even scary movie previews give me nightmares. I also liked 172 Hours (the arm cutting off movie) a lot, even though there is the whole part about how HE CUT HIS ARM OFF (but it wasn't scary, just suspenseful). Last night we saw the new Mission Impossible and it was really good.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 32 in 2011 and honest-to-God I can't remember what we did. Oh, wait, now I remember. We went to New Orleans and I ate everything in the city. Oh man, that was a great trip. Beignets every morning. MMMMM.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I will use the same answer as last year: A giant pile of tax-free cash. Isn't that everyone's answer to this question? I know money doesn't buy happiness but dude, it sure does fix a lot of immediate problems.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2011?

Part I

"I'm pregnant but I won't be for much longer and I don't feel like buying any maternity clothes so I will just pretend like this non-maternity skirt fits and this shirt covers my belly. Okay fine, I will go buy whatever Old Navy is selling in the under $20 range and hope it looks like work clothes. GAH."

Part II

"Can I nurse in this? Is it basically disposable, so that when Charlotte barfs on it and ruins it, I am not too upset? Does it go with shorts, because this is the hottest summer on record? Yes? Okay, I'll buy it. Actually, I'll buy TWO. Because, you know, BARF."

Part III

"Hey! This is something I haven't been able to fit into in a long time. I'm going to try it on. HOLY CRAP IT FITS! Also? It is very dated, why am I hanging onto these pants from 2002? I am donating these. But then...I won't have any pants that fit. Dammit."

32. What kept you sane?

The internet. You. I don't know how people parented before the internet. Really, I have no idea. Pioneers must have had a short lifespan because there wasn't any internet and their children drove them insane and then they died. That is what "threshing accident" really means. (Cap Garland must have had terrible children.)

Also, the YMCA. Discovering the YMCA was a total lifesaver for me. I am really fortunate that there is one very close to the house. It's only $60 a month for a membership for the entire family, there is free childcare and the facility is nice. The people are nice. Group exercise classes are included and it has truly made the difference for me in working out and not working out. I once did this whole day where I dragged my kids to every gym in a five-mile radius and the Y is the only one that didn't creep me out or make me feel like a less-than-worthy person because I wasn't already a stick-thin kickboxing power bitch.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

Health insurance and health care, which is kind of annoying as it did not really make any significantly positive movement policy-wise in 2011.

34. Who did you miss?

Jake. Jake, Jake, Jake.

35. Who was the best new person you met?

Charlotte! (She probably doesn't count though, since she was a baby. I have a feeling the spirit of this question is more intended towards a new adult human that I met.)

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Just when I think I've hit my limit and I'm done, really done, I'm not. I can keep going. I can do more. I can handle whatever hard thing is ahead of me.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. 

 

Comments

[Holly]

A'Dell, you are hilarious. This whole thing made me laugh. Also: Mumford & Sons? HATE HATE HATE. Like, can not even understand the love HATE. So cheers to that! ;) Glad you had such a great year!

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

I love this little year-end quiz, and I love your answers! The Starbucks comment made me giggle.

Sounds like a WONDERFUL year! I hope 2012 brings you great joy (and a pile of tax free cash, obvs)!

[Mel]

Merry 2012! Love these posts every time you do them... makes me want to do it, too. Maybe, I shall!

I take it, then, Charlotte is OFF the prevacid? Because that is marvelous!!!!!!!!!!!! We are still spending $250/month on it right now, because generic prevacid is "on backorder" (been getting this same line at the pharm for 3 months now) and our insurance BLOWS!

[Sara @ Belle Plaine]

BWAHAHAHAHA! Starbucks, meds, scam...you have me in stitches over here.

Happy 2012 to you!

[Jen]

Sometimes I scan these surveys but I read every answer of yours! Made me laugh!

How do you like your Beaba Babycook thing? Trying to decide whether I need something like it...