1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? I went on a cruise.  I flew across the country with two children.  I knit dozens up on dozens of adorable garments.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Yeah… about that… I set some very reasonable goals and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t do a very good job at keeping up with them.  Okay… so we did get a little landscaping done and the kitchen light fixed.  But the windows are still busted and the fence is even more kaput than it was last year.  As far as getting into shape?  NOPE.  I could possibly be in WORSE shape.  But, I do at least have a plan for that. And, given the holidays, I think I’ve done a very good job at not going overboard with the bad eating.  So go me.  Maybe I did better than I thought!  Because I have let go of the past.  Or at least, made significant progress in that direction.  I don’t know if our lives are simpler, but I like the things we’ve done, for the most part.  It’s a good thing I didn’t make a resolution about being happier.  Cuz I would have totally bombed that one.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Hmm.  Do my message board buddies count?  I say yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die? – My best friend’s mother died and that sucked BIG TIME.  A lot of people died this year that just generally cheesed me off because of the unfairness of it all.

5. What countries did you visit? BAHAMAS! 

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Happiness.  Contentment.  Well-being.  I don’t think this is a lot that I’m asking for here.  Oh and maybe some more yarn.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 5-14.  Best. Week. Ever.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? My knitting biz.  While I don’t think I necessarily qualify as a raging success or anything, I’ve done some great things with it.  Everything I’ve accomplished so far is just incredible to me.  I never thought I’d be this good at knitting.

9. What was your biggest failure? Hmm.  There were many, sadly.  Myself, would be the biggest answer.  I failed myself in huge, awful and horrific ways.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I had the flu a week or so ago.  That pretty much sucked.  But for the most part, we’ve been a healthy crew.  Nothing to sneeze at, considering H1N1 and all that.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Macbook.  I’d say iPhone but that was a 2008 purchase.  Still, it’s so good it could easily span several years.  But yeah.  The  Macbook is awesome.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Not me.  There have been many who have inspired me, and even made me wish I could be one third like them.  Heather Spohr comes to mind.  Among many, many others.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Yeah, this one is me.  I’ve been awful, awful, awful this year.  AWFUL.  Words can’t describe.  Total backslide.

14. Where did most of your money go? Yarn.  Diapers.  Disney.  You know, the important stuff.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? DISNEY.  OMG, that was the best vacation ever in the history of vacations.  I wanna go again.  Like, tomorrow.  That would be so awesome.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? - there are a few, actually.  Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA”, “What Time is It” from the HSM2 soundtrack (will ALWAYS make me think of Disney World), Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow”.

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

Sheesh, you’d think I’d be happier.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? – exercise, take care of myself

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? – yelling

20. How did you spend Christmas? - Here.  At home.  With the fam.  Whoop.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? - Yes, with my children.  Watching them become PEOPLE is so incredible and humbling.

22. What was your favorite TV program? - Lost.  True Blood.  V.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? - Thank goodness no.

24. What was the best book you read? – Woe… I did not read many books this year.  I feel shame.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? - Radio Disney fare.  Here is where I hang my head in shame.  But honest to god, I am a total Disney music FAN.

26. What did you want and get? Interchangeable needle set, Disney World sweatshirt.

27. What did you want and not get? Yarn dyes.  Yarn.  Knitting books. To get to move away from here.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? - There were a few good ones, I think.  I really enjoyed “District 9″ and “Inglourious Basterds”.  “New Moon” was also a lot better than I was expecting.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? - I turned 34.  It was a nice day but nothing out of the ordinary.  It’s hard to get too excited once the years start piling on!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? - More time to get stuff done. Medication.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? - pajama chic

32. What kept you sane? - my message board buddies, knitting.  Yes, the thing that threatened my sanity also saved it.  Go figure.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? – This is actually rather hard to think up.  I mean, I like a bunch of celebrities, but I’m just not sure that I liked any one enough to say I “fancied” them, you know?

34. What political issue stirred you the most? - Health Care.  I continue to be stunned and horrified that there are people who don’t value human life enough to really want to make a change.

35. Who did you miss? - my best friends from high school.  I could have used them this year.

36. Who was the best new person you met? - I met a few gals from my message board and that was totally and completely awesome.  I want to meet more.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. - I don’t think I learned anything terribly valuable.  I mostly just spun my wheels this year.  Got nowhere fast.  Maybe I learned to KNOCK THAT OFF.

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

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I shamelessly stole this from Randi because a) it’s 3:20 and I haven’t posted yet and b) I don’t have anything I particularly want to post about except mindless blatherings and I’d really rather save that for Friday and c) it’s a clever meme and I’ve never been known to resist clever memes. 

Da Rules
1.Go to www.photobucket.com (don’t sign in).
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box.
3. Copy the html and paste for the answer.

1. What is your relationship status?

2. What is your favorite color?

3. Who is your celebrity crush?

4. What will you be doing tomorrow?

!!!!

5. What is your favorite Disney princess?

6. What would you splurge on if you won the lottery?

7. What was the last thing you bought?

8. Where is your dream vacation?

9. What cell phone do you have?

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?

11. What do you love most in life?

12. What is your favorite food?

13. What is your least favorite food?

14. What is your favorite dessert?

15. What is your biggest fear?

The end of the year is the perfect time to indulge in reflection and memes, don’t you think? I did this particular year-end meme last year too and I has been just as interesting to read last year’s answers as it has been to look back on this year.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

I had a baby girl! I also learned how to knit. And I took up cloth diapering. Wow, this was a banner year, wasn’t it?

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

SNORT. I’ll be going over this more in a day or two but the long story short is: No. And yes.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Uh… me? I think that’s someone close to me. Plus lots of fabulous bloggy peoples gave birth too.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?

Riiiiiight.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Money. That’d help. And sanity. That’d help, too.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March 20, the day Evie was born. November 4, the day Obama was elected.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I had my third and final child.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Again, I was social failure. And a professional failure too, for the most part. I guess I should just be happy that I wasn’t a total failure as a parent, eh?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope. Thank goodness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

iPhone. Even though I didn’t really buy it so much as WON it, but it is totally the most awesome thing in my life, materialistically speaking.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Anyone who is near and dear to me. Friends and family that have been there for me and helped me and picked me up and dusted me off. You all know who you are. Thank you.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

This would pretty much be the same people as last year. Suffice it to say, if you say you’re a friend, you should act like it.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Cloth diapers. Heh. And I’m supposing we’re saying money in a relative sort of way. Otherwise I’d have to say something totally boring like “the mortgage” or something. Yawn.

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

My daughter. Meeting her and getting to know her has been so incredibly awesome. Also was very, very excited about the “Twilight” movie and my iPhone. Heh.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. Awesome songs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? SADDER. Sad to say.
b) thinner or fatter? THE SAME, which ain’t so good considering I was 5-6 months pregnant last year.
c) richer or poorer? THE SAME, though with less Christmas money to spend. Dangit.

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

Exercise. Definitely. I don’t know exactly what I need to do get more exercise since time is definitely short.

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

Again, I wish I had done less sitting around. SIGH.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We stayed home and Kile’s parents came from Elko to spend it with us. That was really very nice, actually. It was nice to have someone here besides just us. And wow, Christmas with three kids is a lot different than Christmas with just two or one.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yep, with wee little Evie.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

“Lost” for sure. That show rocks my socks.

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

Nope. I try not to. Though I’m fairly annoyed at Dell for this shoddy laptop.

24. What was the best book you read?

Can I count the whole set of “Twilight” books in this one? Not literary genius, to be sure. But still totally awesome.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Hmm. Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” themed playlists really helped me find some interesting new music. And I rediscovered a love for Coldplay.

26. What did you want and get?

A baby girl. A trip to BlogHer ‘08. A new iPhone. Those are some pretty swell things!

27. What did you want and not get?

A new laptop. (Macbook!) A new camera. (come on, it doesn’t even have to be a DSLR!)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

“Twilight”. That was awesome. “Ironman” was good too.

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

Sigh. I turned 33. I got my blood drawn. Kile made me dinner. I got jammies.

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

A new laptop? A new camera? (Do we sense a theme here?) A healthier outlook would have helped too.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Comfort is Key. Heh. A lot of people bag the whole pajama thing but come on. They’re COMFORTABLE. Sure, jeans look nice when out and about but around home I want to be comfortable.

32. What kept you sane?

Is this a trick question? Heh. My blog helped. Having this outlet helps more than you can know.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

EDWARD!! Come on, 2008 was totally The Year of Edward. And Neil Patrick Harris. Oh, and Owen Wilson. But that’s a gimme.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Can I get a “duh” here? The election, people!

35. Who did you miss?

Don’t know if I really missed anyone. I missed not seeing Zoot at BlogHer ‘08 though.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I didn’t meet a whole lot of people this year but I did meet Rhi and Loralee at BlogHer. That was pretty much awesome.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Hmm. Not sure if I learned anything. I did get further lessons in “There is No Such Thing as Adult Friendships” though.

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

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay

If you want to join in the fun and do this quiz on your blog too, check out the details from All & Sundry for including your post in her “master list”. Sound fun? Just keep in mind that it takes a while to do it because this has taken me no shorter than three hours to get through. Of course, my laptop is continuing it’s sharp decline and that hasn’t helped matters. Let’s have a new laptop in 2009, mmkay?

I don’t know how much stock I put in such things and some of the results don’t QUITE hit home… but for the most part I think a lot of this is true.  Except where it says I like people.  I’m pretty sure that’s not right.  Have you SEEN me at Walmart?  That place is a prescription for homicidal rage, it is.  (If you want to take this quiz too, check the link at the bottom.  Yeah, you gotta read ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT.  No cheating!)

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz…

You Are a Doris!

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

I saw Cagey do this meme the other day and knew I had to snag it for myself.  I also knew I was going to feel like a warmed-over pile of poop today, recovering from our trip to Elko and such.  So having a comfy meme to slip on and cozy up to is just what the doctor ordered.  You might not learn anything new about me.  But then again, maybe you will.  If you wanna do it, just snag it for your own self and let me know in the comments so I can come peep at your answers.

A is for age: I’ll be turning 33 in exactly a month.  I think I’m at the point now where it’s all just OLD.  I’m OLD, ya’ll.  OLD.  Sometimes I wonder where my 20’s went.  And then I look at my nine year old (!!) and go, “Oh yeah.”

B is for burger of choice: In ‘n Out Burger.  Hands down.  Easy choice.  There are a lot of burgers I like, though.  I’m an equal opportunity burger-lover.  It’s just that In ‘n Out’s is the absolute best bang for the buck.

C is for the car I drive: A 2003 tan metallic Dodge Grand Caravan.  It’s paid off, you know.  That makes us both insanely happy.  Maybe in a year we’ll get a new vehicle but right now, we’re happy with the van.  And it still blows my mind that I actually NEED a van now.  We have actually had to tell people we don’t have room for them in our van because of all the kids.  BLOWS MY MIND.

D is for your dog’s name: Beetoe.  Short for “Mistletoe”.  Harry couldn’t pronounce Mistletoe when he was little so Beetoe it is.  Then there’s Holly.  Formerly known as Poptart.  And commonly known as Pup.  Yeah.  All our pets have nicknames.  Someday I’ll have to tell you all more about the cat we named Cheyenne but called Stinky.

E is for essential item you use every day: Yeah, that’s gotta be my iPhone.  I have an all new appreciation for it after this last weekend.  There are just so many ways in which that little gadget makes my life better.  Seriously!  I know, a lot of people poo-poo the cost of the data plan… whatever.  IT’S WORTH IT.  Let me repeat that: IT IS WORTH IT.  I would marry the damned thing if I could.

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: I’ll have to go with “Fringe” for now, even though not a week goes by that it doesn’t freak me the heck out.  I cringe every episode at least once.  Other than that, I would have to say “How I Met Your Mother”.

G is for favorite game: Gah.  I would have said “Halo” once upon a time but I haven’t been playing a lot of video games.  I have been playing an embarassing amount of “Make Me A Celebrity” on Facebook, though I’m starting to lose interest.

H is for home state: California.  I know, I know.  Heh.  It’s a nice place, don’t get me wrong.  But too warm and mild and crowded and expensive for my tastes.  Nevada isn’t much better (waaaaay too warm) (and brown) (and Republican), but it’s a step in the right direction.

I is for instruments you play: Yeah…. no.

J is for favorite juice: Oh dear, I have to pick a FAVORITE?  So hard!  I love grapefruit juice.  Love it!  I also have a serious fondness for Simply Apple (even though I generally don’t enjoy apple juice).  But to be honest, I love pretty much all juice.  I’m a juice fiend.

K is for whose bum you’d like to kick: Hmm, where’s my list?

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: I take it you don’t mean fast food (McDonald’s, FYI).  Let me think…  I guess it’d have to be Chili’s.  I know, not terribly exciting.

M is for your favorite Muppet: I used to love watching The Muppet Show.  I think Kermit had to be my favorite because he was a) the star and b) humble.  And he was also on Sesame Street, which I watched.  So he was the first “super star” I really knew.  I can remember listening to “Rainbow Connection” over and over and over.

N is for number of piercings: Two.  I tried on many occasions to get my ears double pierced but they kept healing back up again and getting infected and bleh.  I finally just gave up.  I think I still have the double holes though because I just remembered that I was able to get earrings in them last year.  Huh.  I’ll have to go check.

O is for overnight hospital stays: Let’s see.  FOURTEEN.  GAH.  Yeah, I’ve had four c-sections.  Some of them I stayed four nights, some I stayed three.  FOURTEEN.  OMG.

P is for people you were with today: Hmm.  Today has barely started yet.  So just Kile, Harry, Liam and Evie.  And the dogs.  But they don’t count.

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Read blogs, write, read.  I might watch a movie.  A lot of times, I just sit in the quiet and read a magazine or read blogs on my iPhone.  Sometimes the quiet is very relaxing.  And if I feel so inclined, I might take a nap.

R is for biggest regret: It’s hard to have regrets when you’re content with your life as it is.  Because all the mistakes helped bring you to where you are today.  I do regret the way I treated the guy I went to the prom with.  And I do regret getting myself into credit card debt in my first couple years of college.

S is for status: Just ate breakfast, Kile’s getting ready to leave and so is Harry… The day is getting started and I’m getting my wits about me.  I have a quite a bit of laundry to do today.

T is for time you woke up today: I’m not sure since I no longer possess a working watch and I don’t have a clock on my side of the bed and I didn’t have my iPhone upstairs with me.  But I think it was 7:30.

U is for what you consider unique about yourself:  I’ve sat here for a loooong time trying to think of what is unique about me and I have come up blank.  Maybe what is unique about me is that there is nothing unique about me.  Wow, that’ll freak you out if you think about it too hard.

V is for vegetable you love: Broccoli is probably my favorite.  I love it made just about any way you can think of.  I also like asparagus in limited quantities.  Corn is nice too though I sometimes don’t care to eat it off the cob.  (Too messy!)

W is for worst habit: I’ll give you a hint: it’s in the title of this blog.  I think I’m too lazy a lot of the time.  so that one thing stems out to a lot of other things, like housecleaning and such.

X is for x-rays you’ve had: Besides dental x-rays, I’ve had x-rays of my broken ankle.  And let me just say that getting a broken ankle x-rayed when they don’t really believe you’ve broken it is akin to torture.  Of course, afterward when they had proof I’d broken it they were a lot nicer to me so there was that.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: Again, today just barely started.  So all I’ve had is a bowl of bran flakes with some sugar sprinkled on top.  Wee!  *sigh*

Z is for zodiac: Sagittarius.  Woot woot!

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In other news, I’ve reviewed some super nifty, sorta spendy and completely awesome Christmas cards over on my review blog.  Go have a look, will ya?