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‘Round Midnight 4

It’s becoming tradition. Every year since 2007, on New Year’s Day (or thereabouts) I’ve written a little post talking about all of the things that happened in the past year. (See previous years in review: 2006, 2007, 2008.)

Looking back on them is always an interesting experience. It’s kind of amazing to see how far I’ve come in the past four years, and fun to imagine what will change in the next year (hopefully good things!).

Anyway, without further babbling from me, here’s 2009 in review!

January – the month of friendships – Began to expand my social circle when Derek started working swing shift; found out about a few friends’ pregnancies; got U-Verse – actual television for the first time in like two years!; met up with my parents in Vegas
February – the month of reflection – Celebrated one year with Derek; got really into blogging pretty regularly; began thinking about the past and starting to grow from it.
March – the month of growing pains – Found out I was going to be an aunt; watched my younger sister start planning her wedding; started getting sick more often.
April – the month of missing you – Lost my great-grandmother; turned 23; continued to keep getting sick.
May – the month of admitting the problem – Realized my sicknesses were being caused mostly by psychological issues; began seeing a psychiatrist; pretty much hit rock bottom as far as being depressed and hating life. Not a good month.
June – the month of facing the problem – Started Lexapro for anxiety and depression; began biweekly therapy sessions with the psychiatrist.
July – the month of improving & looking ahead – Started feeling better for the first time in ages; began looking forward to the family vacation; Derek turned 29.
August – the month of family – Went to Florida with Derek and my family; met my little cousin, Alexis, for the first time; began to realize how much I love my grandmother and hope to be like her when I’m older; began to face some of the issues related to feeling out of place among my siblings.
September – the month of learning to live again – Started talk therapy with the psychiatrist; explored how I was living my life and what was important to me and Derek in our living situation; found out my ex was moving to China and tried to work out how I felt about it; met up with my parents and grandparents in Vegas.
October – the month of kiddies – especially RORY! – My niece, Lorelai, was born the day before my brother (her daddy) turned 28; decided to start volunteering at Kidspace; visited my friends in New York
November – the month of thankfulness – Withdrew from the online world a little to focus myself on life; spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with Derek and his family
December – the month of “home is where the heart is” – Stayed a week with my brother in Indiana; met Rory, finally, and fell in love – she’s the best niece ever!; visited my parents and grandparents; then came home to my Derek again… and my home.

Overall, this year was a lot less eventful than last year – that is for sure – but it was still a really important year. I dealt with a lot of things this year, a lot of very difficult things, even. But I’m already feeling so much stronger than this time last year, and I know I can only get stronger from here.

I’m looking forward to starting 2010. Farewell, 2009.

Sleeping In

As much as I’ve always hated being sick, I’ve found that since I started taking Lexapro I hate it even more.

Since I started taking it, I’ve been in a much better mood overall, of course. I don’t fall into my depressive, mopey states nearly as often and when I do it’s much easier to snap out of them.

That is, unless I’m sick.

It’s always been that when I’m sick I tend to get really grumpy and generally irritable, and in the past getting sick has even sparked some of my depressions. It’s just not fun; I’m uncomfortable, homebound, exhausted and just generally blah.

And, apparently, even Lexapro can’t help that much when I’m sick.

I missed two days of work last week and today is day two that I’ve missed this week. I check in every hour or so and my boss is very understanding, but it stresses me out not being there and having control or at least knowledge of what’s going on with my team.

I’m trying to stay positive and not let myself succumb, I’m telling myself that it’s just that I’m sick and stuck in the house getting stir crazy.

Does anyone else get like this when they’re sick? :\

On a lighter note: Thank goodness I have Derek. He made pasta for me for lunch and he keeps letting me sleep in even though it means missing lunch with him before he leaves for work. He even makes tea for me when he gets home from work, even though it’s after midnight and he’s tired. I have no idea what I’d do without him…

Anyway… Off to cook some rice, drink some tea and veg out in front of a Degrassi marathon (guilty pleasure woo).

House Rules

So one of my guilty little pleasures when it comes to TV is Wife Swap. Honestly, most of the reason I get sucked into it is because of all the drama when the families’ ideas colldie, but lately I’ve also found that it makes me reflect a little on my life and household as well.

Granted, Derek and I don’t have kids, so the way we raise or treat our children is yet to be determined (although we’ve talked about some general ideas – cosleeping, baby wearing/transport, breastfeeding, how to handle Santa Claus, etc.), but we do have some general household tenets that could cause some problems for an outsider, should one ever come in…

No High Fructose Corn Syrup. I don’t allow it in my apartment. The only exception is maybe a 20oz of coke that we’ll buy for a friend or family member or someone when they come to visit. But that’s few and far between. We do have soda, but it’s always cane sugar soda (we love Virgil’s).

The Trifecta of Food: Organic, All-Natural, Local. All of the food we buy falls into one, two or all of these categories, with priority in that order. For example, if we go to Whole Foods and see apples, we’re most likely to choose the organic ones that were grown in California. If we see crackers, we’ll choose the organic ones or, if none are available, the all-natural ones. Most of the time, that means big name brands are out of the question. A lot of times this means we pay a bit of a premium for our food, but it’s something that’s very important to us.

Shared Chores. Derek and I don’t really divvy up the chores or anything; we don’t have set roles for either of us. We both do laundry, we both do dishes, we both clean. As far as scheduling it, we don’t even really have a schedule for it… When we see something needs attention, we take care of it. The only exceptions are that we fold our own clothes and he irons (because very few of my things need to be ironed).

Low Impact Living. We try very hard to have very little impact on the environment, even when we’re buying things like toiletries. Our paper towels and toilet paper are recycled. I ride a bike, walk or take a bus to work. TMI warning — I even use a reusable, silicone menstrual cup rather than pads or tampons. (Do you think, if I put that as one of my important rules, that the wife I’d swap with would have to do it? That would be kind of funny…)

Would any of these rules be hard for you to abide by? What kind of rules does your household have that might be hard for others to live with?