Looking Back: 2011*

New Year’s Eve.

I distinctly remember feeling flabbergasted that 2010 was ending last year, and I feel the same way about 2011 tonight. This past year has been an absolute blur.

At the beginning of the month my book club hosted its annual Cookie Exchange. Last year we read The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman and we fell in love with the concept. Instead of just exchanging cookies, you are supposed to choose a recipe that reflects the year you’ve had in some way. As I began to look back on 2011, I realized that this year has been full of unexpected, but happy changes. Here are just a few:

*Finding my niche at work and working steady weeks at my favourite schools
*Celebrating our 6th wedding anniversay
*Writing in my blog every day until the end of May
*Meeting my handsome nephew Hugh
*Buying our first home
*Seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, CCR & Colm Wilkinson
*Completing another Additional Qualification course (Communication: Autism)
*Completing a full year with my Book Club
*Buying our truck
*Visiting with the Hubster’s Mom & Dad
*Getting my first “LTO” (extended supply work for 5.5 weeks) at my dream school

…and of course, the appearance of the wee-bean in my belly. :)

If you had told me in January that in the next 12 months we’d purchase our home, a second vehicle, get my dream job and find out that I was pregnant, I would have probably laughed in your face.

There’s no way all that could possibly happen in a year.

…but then it did.

It has been a glorious, busy, full year. It absolutely flew by and I have a sneaking suspicion that 2012 will do the same. Much of the last 7 months have been spent working on our house–here’s a quick look at some of the projects the Hubster has been working on:

Our House*
1) We completely ripped out our back yard, added soil and reseeded it. It involved ripping out two small trees and raking in an enormous mountain of soil.
2) We turned our jungle of a front lawn into the nicest lawn on the street.
3) The Hubster built a new, beautiful deck.
4) He also added loft storage in our garage, sealed the floor and insulated an exterior wall.
5) He added a storm door to the front, which included building a new door frame to hold it.
6) New faucet in my powder room.
7) Our quirky house had no overhead lighting in any of the upstairs bedrooms, so he wired and installed three lovely new ceiling fans.
8) We had five new windows and new patio doors installed.
9) We ran cables through the walls and attic so that we can now have internet and cable/antennae TV in every room in the house.
10) He wired in a new (proper) bathroom light fixture.
11) We replaced the fan and stove range hood when we discovered a family of birds living in the pipe.
12) We weren’t happy with the location of the hose hookup outside, so he plumbed in two new locations for it.
13) He also put in plumbing for our lovely new dishwasher, and is in the process of finishing the cabinet for it.
14) He installed a fabulous new garage door (with the help of some fabulous neighbours).
15) And then there’s our basement. In the last two months we’ve been framing, insulating, plumbing and electrical-ing and our basement is now beginning to take shape as a livable space. In the next few weeks we hope to see the insulation finished and have our electrical inspection, then it’s time to drywall and add the floor.

…all this while still working full-time, and you know, growing a wee-bean.

To say that our house has kept us (read: him) busy is an understatement, but we’ve had some amazing help from family and friends. I try to help where I can, but in my large and in charge state I make a much better supervisor than work assistant. :)

The baby threw our house timetable into light speed, and I hope that once our basement is finished we’ll be able to slow things down a little.

Just rereading everything that happened this year makes my jaw drop a little–it just goes to show that you can never really know what the future holds for you. Even as I thought my year was a full as can be in December, I got a phone call that changed everything and gave me the teaching experience that I so desperately wanted before I go on maternity leave.

It’s been a wonderful year. Each day I wake up and am so grateful for all the blessings I have in my life. I am married to my best friend, and our relationship continues to grow and get stronger with each passing year. I am so excited to embark on the adventure of parenthood with my Hubster as I know he is going to be an amazing father.

I have the best family. Seriously. We are far from perfect, but I think that’s what I love most about us. Each of my siblings is so different, and yet we all just love being together. My parents are so supportive and continue to get “cooler” as I get older. (haha!) Also, I have the cutest niece and nephew in the world. Period.

We know the greatest people. This year has shown me exactly how blessed we are to know the people we do. There have been so many acts of kindness thrown our way this year that I wouldn’t even know where to begin to list them or express my gratitude. Between friends of the Hubster who have put in countless hours helping him with projects around the house, to my oh-so-lovely book club girls, to our amazing down-the-street neighbours who we’ve come to think of as family, we really do have an incredible circle of friends.

So, for me, if 2012 contains even a smidgen of the awesomeness that was 2011, it’s going to be an incredible year.

Bring it on.