I'm not terribly sure how to sum up 2010. Its been a year of growth in many ways.

I started off 2010 with plans of buying a small TINY house, in Oklahoma, that was on a well that couldn't keep up with the demands of a family, even a small family like mine...Doing massive repairs to the house, building a privacy fence, adding onto the house, etc...to moving to a large house, in Tennessee, that's on county water, relatively private, and outside of a few necessary cosmetic things not really in need of great repair.

The stark difference between living here and out in Oklahoma is so night and day it's not even comparable.

I'm finding myself very happy with my life. I am surrounded by friends and their families that make life feel like it's worth living again. I'm still battling some aspects of my depression, but the things that had me angry, bitter, and in a dark hole at the beginning of last year no longer bother me. Don't think that these things aren't still present....they are, they just no longer bother me like they used to.

I still have an array of drama queens in my life who think it is becoming for them to act like petty children, but now instead of being highly irritated by them and their bitterness towards myself and my family I find them amusing....their emails and random anonymous comments to my blog actually bring a smile to my face. I figure if my public posts bring some poor soul grief because my life is actually better than theirs then I'm obviously doing something right.

I started school back in March, shortly after moving here to Tennessee. Its a bit stressful at times, but every bit worth it. Mikaila will be starting pre-school next week, so in light of having nine 'free' hours a week I've decided to bump my school schedule up from part time to full time. After getting through Anatomy & Physiology during Thanksgiving & Christmas and passing it with an A, I'm fairly confident I can breeze through a full time schedule for the next few months at least.

I also started up a small homemade items shop in November...items vary from ornaments to jewelry to knitted scarves, socks, and hats...

Aspects of my health have improved. I can once again feel my left hand, my back no longer hurts like it did, and with Mikaila FINALLY sleeping through most nights sanity is starting to creep back into my horizon. Until I find out some information 'next' year...then some insanity might creep back in, just in time for the Fall....stay tuned over the next few weeks....

Mikeal has been doing great - still adjusting to remembering to take a medication on a daily basis - but school has been great. It is actually proving to be a challenge to his this year, which is reassuring to me because it means he's actually learning something and not sitting around bored all the time!

Brian did switch employers this year, but he's still in the same line of work and still supposedly in line for a management position. I know he's considered putting in an application to work at the Nissan plant on the other side of Nashville. I suppose we'll see what comes of that. He's currently in the middle of rebuilding our new truck, so far the work has come along beautifully. you can see the progress for yourself in previous posts...

I have so much I want to say about 2010! In short it started off a bit rough, but time, patience, hastily thought out decisions, and rollercoaster adventures things have ended up spectacularly. Its amazing just how many things can change in just a year. I read back through my posts from the last year and it's just weird to think how far things have come since...

So, as I bid ado to 2010 I am looking forward to 2011! This may actually prove to be a year in which I make real resolutions and goals for the coming year, instead of just vague intentions that sound good at the time.

OH...and I absolutely canNOT wait to get started on planning my garden and expanding it this year!!!! Not really in a hurry for spring to get here as I still have a lot of prep work to get done before then, but I'm so happy to get a full planting season in this year and can't wait to see what comes back up from last year! Can you believe it - I even had some lettuce pop back up late this fall...even though the snow and ice did cut its life short, it was exciting nonetheless!

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Its been a while.

This past week or so has been one that I hope I can get over soon. Just plain exhausting!

Mikeal came home from school sick. Thought it to be the flu since it's pretty thick in the area, I called the nurse, got her recommendations on it, followed all to a T. After not running a fever for a whole day I thought he was on the mend until he went to sleep, then his fever came back with a passion as well as severe respiratory distress...turned out he had tonsillitis. One shot to the butt and he was well enough to go back to school that Monday, after getting sick the Thursday before.

Mikaila had an evaluation done by the Early Intervention lady on Tuesday. Mikaila scored amazingly well in every area - except her speech. I take her back in tomorrow morning for a more in depth evaluation, plus will be trying to get her on the waiting list for Head Start in this area. I think it'll do her a great deal of good!

Brian got himself in at the free clinic in Grove on Thursday. He's set up to go have blood work done in the morning to test his thyroid levels, I'm quite confident that it'll come up that he does indeed have a thyroid problem. He'll also be getting his knee x-rayed & from that the doctors will try to determine if surgery is going to be needed to repair the damage done to his knee some 15 years ago, courtesy of his brother with a sledge hammer. The doctor did give him a medication for him to take in the meantime for his depression, but I took care of those because its the same exact script that was given to him right before he had a severe mental break and ended up in the hospital for 10 days while he was bounced on and off other medications - medication that proved to be of no benefit to him, but a $1500 script bill each month, plus about $300 a month in blood tests and doctor visits to make sure the meds weren't destroying his liver and such. I'm praying that the $4 thyroid med will replace all of that.

I bought some knitting looms and yard on Thursday. I've already made a scarf for Mikaila and Mikeal made a hat, originally for himself, but it's a bit small for him. It looks good on Mikaila though. I'll be done with Mikeal's scarf later this evening, I hope.

Mikaila has been doing wonderfully with her potty learning, however about the time she was done with diapers she figured out how to escape the pack-n-play and has yet to take a nap. A blessing in that she generally goes to bed about the same time as Mikeal...a curse in that many times she goes to sleep, then gets up a few hours later and its a PAIN IN THE NECK to get her back to sleep before daylight...making for a VERY tired momma!

I'll be posting pictures in a day or two of the kids' scarves that I've made, as well as other pictures that I've taken. I might even grace y'all with pictures of Brian's new toy - a 1982 Nissan 280Z. It has the T-tops, blah blah blah...pretty snazzy, just needs a good sanding down, then primered, some paint, new upholstery, and everything under the hood re-done. Basically its a piece of junk that will start, that after some work will apparently be worth something. Can't really complain though, it was free!

Also noteworthy-ish : My ex-mother-in-law contacted me about Mikeal - first time in over 4 years, at least...that's a whole post in itself that I'll get around to later. Another child support hearing is set for Wednesday. My ex-husband is a douché. But these details are going to be saved for another day or during a sleepless/stressful night.

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