Happy New Year!!!

It's 2006. I am amazed at all that has happened in the past year. We saw the fruition of things that were long awaited -- like learning Keith was in remission in June, me finally starting grad school, Hannah getting into Rochelle School of the Arts after 3 1/2 years on the waiting list. We also had things that caught us by surprise -- like unsolicited job opportunities landing on our doorstep when Keith became discouraged, moving to NC, the snake bite, attracting more cats even though we thought we left that behind in Lakeland... and then of course there is the unlikely blog of me! making note as things happen in our family.

There are many things that I have in mind to accomplish in 2007. I won't call them resolutions, but they are goals. Goal #2 starts when I interview at UNCC on Thursday. Goal #1 is seeing that Keith gets to his oncologist appointment tomorrow and continues to see the importance of following up as he's supposed to.

Hannah and I had a great visit in Florida, but we did a LOT of running around. There is only one friend that I didn't get to visit with as intended. I will see her first next time. I just ran out of hours in the day to get everything in. As it was, I saw my friend Karen at almost 10 pm and they were deserting us at the restaurant we went to to sit and chat. I have some photos to share, but that may be for a quieter day than today.

The people who bought our home in FL are wonderful and invited us in. I think it was a little bit too much for Hannah. I wanted to see the floors refinished though. They did a nice job. There was just too much for Hannah though, all of the walls were painted different colors, the lighting fixtures had been changed out, and there were strangers in her old living room and playing in her old tree house. It was hard for me too. I only had to think about all of the love that went into all we did to bring that house back to life and it gets me. It really makes me want to find a "new" old house to love.

Our old neighbors' new baby is just as sweet as can be. I am so glad we were able to see her!

When we arrived home from FL around 10:40 on Friday night, we found that Keith was sick with a cold. He was running a low grade fever on New Year's Eve and I had to tell him that he NEEDS to go to the doctor when he is sick and not wait or else he will end up in the ER. Men. In the true tradition of marriage, Keith has shared his germs with me and I now have this nasty throat thing going on.

Heather is here right now and we have had a nice time visiting. I have to admit, I'm pretty worn out and need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Still, we were up past midnight on New Year's Eve. We played Scattergories with Keith and even Hannah was able to do quite a bit. Last night, Heather and I sat out in the hot tub for over a hour, in and out off and on so we wouldn't cook. The day was just absolutely gorgeous, it was around 70. Not as sunny as it was in FL, but very very do-able. We got to meet Heather's aunt and family that moved to a neighborhood about 11 miles from us in August. They lived in Cocoa. When Heather would come to FL to visit, she'd spend a few days with them and a few days with us. Here in Charlotte now, she spent the first night with them, then when Hannah and I were back she came to see us.

I have so much to talk about and I'm afraid I'm rambling. It was nice to see my brother, sister and her husband. It has been a long time since we all have had Christmas together, even if it was a day late. I wish we had more than 3 days to spend. It would have been great to just sit and hang out with loved ones instead of feeling like I was running a marathon, but I don't regret the way we ended up doing it. It was that, or nothing, and I'm glad we made the trip. We got to spend both holidays with Keith, so that was worth it.

AND (the grand finale) while we were gone, Keith put up the shelving in my scrapbook room. I'm in love (with my husband and with my shelf). I will have to take pictures later because I'm sooo excited. It's exactly what I had in my head and it's awesome to see something come out as planned. After Heather leaves later this afternoon, I will probably take some time to start displaying my happy things up there!

Well, let me see if the calvary is awake. It's almost 11 and I think I'm the only one up.