I got a preliminary ok on doing said job from MI, so I might be able to move closer to family.

Calli, that's great news! I know that's something you've wanted to do for a long time.

meara, your dad had his eye removed?? That sounds extremely unpleasant! It must be really hard to adjust to monocular vision after a lifetime of using both your eyes. Can he still drive?

Kate, he can, but doesn't much. He had had eye surgery a while back, and it got infected, so he's been blind in that eye most of the year (he's also diabetic, obese, has high blood pressure and heart issues...), but it wasn't healing right so they ended up taking it out. Which is gross and creepy, but better than being dead? I do worry about how much longer he can be alive, much less independent and such.

Definitely better than being dead! I hope for no more health complications for him this year.

The highlight of 2013 for me was a long road trip through Washington, Idaho, and Montana for my 50th birthday. We went to Yellowstone (bison in the road! geysers!) and we knocked a thing off my bucket list: "camping out" in the back of a pickup truck, in lounge chairs and sleeping bags, staring at the beautiful Big Sky full of stars (Milky Way! shooting star!). It was perfect.

I and my family and friends remain mostly healthy and mostly happy. My mortgage has been nearly paid off, thanks to an unexpected decision by a relative. My job is easing up; I'm once again responsible for only one journal and 40-hour weeks should be possible again. Another cat, finally named Murray, added himself to my household. I've cut my hair short and let it go silver and stopped dieting, and I feel better about myself than I have in ages.

Other than that, 2013 has been pleasantly uneventful. I'm hoping that 2014 brings peace and good things to me and to all of us.

I am battling brain weasels, so it's a bit of a battle to objectively look back at the year. It was a better year than last, I think I can say that.

The best thing I did for myself this year was go to Ireland. I was sinking into a funk and it pulled me out. It also made more more confident about travelling overseas and alone, and now it's something I think about a lot. It was somewhere I've wanted to go since I was a teenager and now that I've been, I don't know why I waited so long. I have another trip to Ireland planned for the fall, but maybe I should go somewhere else too. You may remember that getting there was a bit of an ordeal, and almost more than the trip itself, I remember how helpful and kind people, some random strangers, were. That's stayed with me.

Work continues to be difficult. It just feels like all the positive things we try to do are squashed by higher ups in the food chain. It makes work feel pointless and I feel powerless. On the plus side, after working almost two years with three vacant positions in a team of five, we hired some new people, who are all good eggs. But ultimately, I think I need to move on. Not getting the job in the Hague has made me feel gutted. Not so much missing out on the job itself, but the opportunities afforded by it. But maybe it's helping me realize what I want and need out of a new job.

The prospect of moving overseas has made me face the fact that my parents are getting older, their health is failing. They are also stubborn, clinging to their independence, and in my mother's case, in denial about her declining health. I have a lot of guilt about the lack of involvement I have in their care. Now that I've unpacked that, I'm not sure what to do with it since I live 500 kms away, but it's there.

Personally, I feel at the same time, more comfortable with myself and more insecure than ever. I am being more open, which is hard for me, but I still battle crazy shyness at times. And I find myself bothered by being alone more than I ever have.

I was thinking earlier that, in an ideal world, 2014 would be the year of making the first move, in all ways, personally, professionally, socially. I hope I can stick to that.

I wish you all the best of everything in the new year.

My family is all well - my parents' health is better than it has been in recent years, my brother seems happy, my nephew is a giant (seriously, size 16 shoes). I got to see extended family over the summer (including 6 children I hadn't met before) and it looks like I'll see a few more at a reunion planned for the coming summer. So that's all good.

Work is... complicated. A year ago (when I'd only had the job 5 months) my boss was diagnosed with an oral cancer. In Feb/March he was out for surgery and treatment and I covered both jobs which meant up to 90 hour weeks at times. When he came back it was a tricky dance of trying to figure out how much slack he needed me to take without annoying him and navigating communication difficulties. Things gradually got better until this fall when a PET scan was not good. He's been in and out of the hospital since mid-November (this time it was lymph nodes and thyroid) and I doubt he'll be back to work anytime soon. It feels bitchy to complain since I'm not the one battling cancer, but I really have no way of knowing how long I'll be in this limbo of doing both jobs while only being paid for the lesser job. On the whole, it's not much fun. Plus I like my boss and it sucks to see him suffer.

Right now I'm hoping I won't have to bow out of the shows I'm supposed to design this spring. It's entirely possible that in the coming months I'll have to decide if I want my boss's job and I am so not ready to answer that question.

I am, of course, thankful for all of you and I wish you all a very happy new year!

Squeaking in under the wire.

2013 has been a...year.

Good: Noah learned to read and loves it passionately.

Bad: Grace hasn't become a super reader yet and school is painfully hard for her. Though she gets things eventually and then she has got them.

Good: I still have a job. I still like my job.

Bad: I still have too many students and I'm exhausted most of the time.

Good: I am mentoring a student teacher this year...

Bad:...I am mentoring a student teacher this year.

Good: I passed my National Board re-certification process.

Bad: It occurs to me that I will have to do it two more times before I retired (!!!)

Good: Everyone is healthy.

Bad: Grace lost her supplemental health insurance.

Good: Grace's trache is capped and she can handle it. And she's talking like mad.

Bad: There is no bad here. Oh. eating is hard for her and she's tiny and she might not HGH shots.

Good: We took an awesome road trip and stayed with friends in Seattle.

Bad: We didn't see my family and my dad's health is failing.

Good: swimming every day!

Bad: still fat.

All in all, it's been a good year. About as high stress as you'd expect.

In this coming year, I'd like to eat an apple a day [link] I'd like to write more and I'd like to integrate yoga into my routine. And Noah and I will plan on running a 5k.

I don't really want to recap my year. I feel I didn't really do much in 2013. I'm looking forward to a fresh start in the morning.

2013 has been a rough year, though I can't really call it a bad year. It started off with bed bugs and is ending quietly.

Work has pushed me and challenged me and I love that. I'm hoping for some recognition of that hard work in 2014. I actually went out on a date even though it didn't go anywhere. Hoping to double that in 2014. The end if summer road trip was one if my best vacations ever. I have spent some good time with my dad this year and I treasure our time together now. It isn't without its ups and downs but our relationship is better than it has been.

CJ had a rocky year. School has been a major challenge for him which has been extremely stressful for both of this. Hopefully the plan we have in place for 2014 will prove successful. He became a seargent in his search and rescue team while I became cochair of the related parent group. He is still on grade suspension until second semester grades come in. He also got his drivers license and has been very responsible about that.

K-Bug moved out and is making her way in the world. We have bumped heads more this year than ever before.

The cats are great company and Noodle continues to be the great sock hunter.

I have a lot to look forward to in 2014. Just a 90 minutes more to the new year.

Happy New Year from the Central time zone!

2013 was a good year for me. I finally figured out what I wanted to do professionally (write! about beer.) and then more importantly, figured out how to make it happen. I traveled to Boston, Maine, New Hampshire, San Francisco, NYC, and Denver for work and got to explore the beer culture in my own home state on a full time basis.

As stated previously, I did not go to any funerals in 2013, which is just so awesome I can't even.

I'm still in the city and neighborhood I love, married to the awesomest person, with the two best kitties.

My parents moved from CT to Columbus, OH to be closer to my sister and her family. It's definitely made both my sister and I feel a little better about their day to day well being, but my parents really aren't well, mentally or physically.

Although plagued with doubt and insecurity at all times, I honestly do feel like I'm doing what I should be doing, an it's immensely satisfying. I've tried so hard to find my place in the world - different jobs, different fields, getting a masters degree, changing location - and I think I'm finally on the right path.

And I turned 40 in 2013, which was celebrated in wonderful fashion surrounded by old friends and new, Buffistas, beer geeks, high school friends, neighbors, and whoever else wanted to celebrate. It was a wonderful night and it reflected the place in my life that I'm so grateful to be in.

I hope my writing career continues to grow in 2014, and that Tom finds his own path that he is satisfied with. I will also be riding in a krewe the Wednesday before Mardi Gras, and I'm so excited for that experience.

Oh, I also hope I can keep up eating oatmeal for breakfast a few times a week.