Resolutions, Part 1

I haven't made my resolutions yet, but for me this process has two parts. Part 1 involves looking back at last year's resolutions and seeing how well I did. I also try to think of anything else I achieved during the year. Then I draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper and on the left I write down the past year's accomplishments. So that's what I did tonight, after we got back from an afternoon at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

I was struck, as I was last January, by how little I really achieved. I think teaching and taking care of twin boys is pretty much all I'm capable of these days. But some things got done.

1. I kept my job. It's not looking good for 2017, although everything's still up in the air, but I held onto it throughout 2016 and I think did pretty well with it. I wish I could have helped Rocket Boy find a new job, but we take what we can get.

2. We got Clifford's house fixed up and rented! This is really Rocket Boy's achievement, not mine, but let's call it a joint family achievement. There are still some hiccups, but we get a check from it every month.

3. We paid off our mortgage. Again, this is Rocket Boy's work, not mine, but it's also a family thing. I was panicking, going into the summer, about how we would pay our bills with zero income, and Rocket Boy sat down and sold a bunch of stocks and paid off the mortgage. We were only paying $500/month, with a couple years to go, but with our income so low, even that much was hard to come up with every month.

4. One resolution was to get my hearing checked, and I did that...and it's normal. Very weird. The doctor said the difficulties I'm having are a processing problem, and they can't fix that.

5. I got new glasses! And so did Kid A! Of course, I'm not sure I really like mine -- they looked nice in the store, and then when I went back a week later to pick them up, I thought, "what have I done?" But I'm mostly used to them now, and I do see better through them.


6. I continued with the weight loss clinic and the weight loss drug, Contrave. Results are not dramatic, but I weigh less than I did a year ago. Only 4.5 pounds less (it was more a few weeks ago, before Christmas). But I'm happy with this. In total, I weigh 15.5 pounds less than I did when I started going to the clinic, about a year and a half ago. I know I have a terribly hard time losing weight, especially now that I'm older. So weighing less today than I did at this time last year is a significant accomplishment.

7. My reading goals were to get through a very modest 26 books, including 4 presidential biographies. Total for the year was a more impressive 47 books, but only one presidential biography (Martin Van Buren). I also read dozens of children's books to the kids (I don't count those on my list, only books I read for myself). Some of my favorites this year were River of Doubt by Candice Millard, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, and the four children's books about the Penderwick family by Jeanne Birdsall.

8. I saw 46 movies, mostly on DVD at home. Saturday night movies at home are "date night" for us, so it's important that we keep that up. I also took the kids to see five movies in the theatre (Zootopia, Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets, Nine Lives, and Sing).

9. Although I did almost no creative writing, I did keep writing this blog. I was thinking I might end it at the end of 2016, but maybe not, maybe I'll keep going for a while longer.

10. Friends are a problem for me these days. On the plus side, I stayed in close contact with my old college roommate, Karen, who was coping with breast cancer (and is doing much better now, thank goodness), and I also developed a friendly relationship with some of my colleagues at work. Not the same as making a friend, but for me very good.

11. I wasn't sure how I'd get through the summer with the twins home all day, and there were definitely difficult times. However, I made a schedule of themes and activities, stuck to it as much as we needed to, and we survived. Our big project was rebuilding all their Lego sets, and we also made a little fairy/rock garden. We went to museums and parks and took day trips to the mountains. We got through it.

12. Rocket Boy and I also got the twins back on the token system for the last few months of the year, and that really helped their behavior. We've let it lapse over the holidays, but we're in full agreement that it will be back in force on Wednesday when they go back to school.

So that's it -- my (our) 2016 accomplishments, at least the ones I could think of. To help assemble the list I read back over my blog posts for last year -- and that made me really depressed, remembering how awful it was when Rocket Boy lost his job, and the money problems we had all year. And here it is a year later and Rocket Boy still doesn't have a job, plus his unemployment ran out last summer, and now my job is in jeopardy too. And Donald Trump is our new president. My niece remarked today (over email) that one great thing about 2017 is that we never have to live through the 2016 presidential election again. I think that's a stretch, to call that a great thing, but we're kind of grabbing at straws here. I guess that's a straw.

What I try to focus on is the fact that (a) we're all pretty healthy, even the cat, (b) we own our home free and clear, (c) the house next door is rented, and (d) we're all still together as a family. Now I need to sit down and think about resolutions for the coming year. What needs doing? What's achievable? What would make us happy? I'll be back when I have some answers.