The cards were a brilliant idea! I haven't done cards in about forever but now need to do it in the future as well.

Howdy buffistas. I have missed y'all greatly. 2019 had been a most stressful year and I'm glad to bid it adieu.

The family and I are physically ok. Our mental health reserves are slowly recovering. I haven't shared a lot about this year's adventures with the grandkid, but it had been a mental health roller coaster since Thanksgiving 2018 and a big part of why I haven't been here much. Thre ruler coster isn't over but she is now living with her mom. K-Bug and hubby are doing as best af possible given all the drama.

CJ now lives in Illinois where his girlfriend is going to college. I think his love for her is the only thing keeping him there.

Work has been good. I got to go to India for a couple weeks for work but I'm off that project now. I want to return as a tourist though. I did tell my boss I'd be cool with another international project.

Merry Christmas everyone. 2019 has been a year. There has been good and bad. I think we love the house that we purchased even more now than when we moved in. I still can't believe we have this place.

My business has had a rocky year. There was a slow start to the year, which made things really touch and go, then due to the kindness of a number of friends I was able to make it to my big projects and we did a great job and had a really stable run for most of the year, but now the year is ending in the rough again. Two projects that were supposed to have started in December have now pushed into the beginning of 2020, and another project that was supposed to have wrapped by now will finish in the new year. All of this means that a bunch of payments that were supposed be here, aren't here yet and I'm once again doing the financial tap dance. It is exhausting and brings out all of my feelings of failure.

Right now Kristin's dad is out visiting us which is a rare treat and it's so nice to have him with us. The house is all set for Christmas, and this is a very rare year where we are in town for Christmas and all through the holidays. We have. a few folks coming over for Christmas and are really looking forward to it.

I'm getting to know my birth mother which so far has been just wonderful, and also still is a lot to wrap my head around. We have plans to meet in 2020, I'm planning to visit her and also other family (I have two half sisters) in Montana, and she is planning to come to visit us in Los Angeles. 2020 will most likely be the year that I try to contact my birth father.

There is a lot more, but I'm honestly out of spoons right now. If I can do it I'll post more before the thread closes.

As always I'm so thankful to have all of you, and this board in my life.

More cards! Received from Kristin and Drew, Zenkitty, Laura, and Sue! My stair rail of cards is looking really good. I signed up for a card exchange with all my twitter figure skating friends and the sheer variety of cards is bonkers. Next year I'm going to wrap a string of lights around them to show them off better.

I love how many cards I got this year! Including a bunch today! My mantle is overflowing, so thanks to so many of you!

I will have to get in on cards next year. If I start thinking about it now surely I'll be able to manage it...

If my 2018 was The Year Everything Changed, then my 2019 was The Year of Finding the New Normal. But it's only a temporary normal.

The divorce isn't officially final, but I think my lawyer will be ready to file shortly after the New Year. We signed the property settlement at the end of September, which means that I'm single for all practical purposes. I've adjusted to living on my own and the idea that I have to do things for myself. I've started getting out there again, and I'm dating a bit.

My balance problems were finally diagnosed, and treatments have started. I've had to get used to the idea that I have a chronic illness called CIDP (if you're familiar with Guillain-Barre, think a chronic version of that). The regular infusions were fairly easy to adjust to -- every fourth week, my mornings are taken up with IV infusions, and the worst of it is having the catheter in my arm all week. I'm used to the ankle braces now that I've found shoes that open wide enough to insert foot and brace at the same time. The physical therapy is helping -- today the therapist gave me the Berg balance test, and I scored a 25, or 55 percent limited (which is a lot better than the 8 I scored a few months ago).

I had to say goodbye to both my male cats this year. I'd kind of expected Coco to go ever since he was diagnosed with cancer in September 2017. But he made it until July of this year, which is a long time for a cat with cancer (even with aggressive treatment). I've talked about Coco so much in other threads, so I'll just repeat that I was Coco's human as much as he was my cat. I've heard the theory that Coco held on against the cancer until he was sure that I'd be okay without him.

Losing Joey in February was the surprise. He was a kidney donor for Arthur. His remaining kidney started to fail just as I came down with bronchitis, so by the time I was well enough to see that he was sick, it was too late.

On the bright side, Bally (Cat Ballou) came out of her shell. She has always attached herself to a male cat, and I figure that she was willing to attach herself to a male human once the male cats were gone.

Looking ahead, I've decided to retire in 2020. The plan is to retire at the end of the year, but I've given myself permission to retire sooner if I decide that I've had enough. Which means more changes coming up in my life.

Hi all! It's been a weird year (or couple of years) and I am waiting on some documents to be signed after the new year before making an official announcement of sorts. And apologies, but I've not yet sent any cards because I'm using my New Years cards to make the big announcement. I didn't foresee this or I'd not have signed up the cards exchange, but I am hoping people won't mind receiving mine a little later. 😊

I've totally enjoyed getting cards from people so thanks for doing the card exchange. If you have to send them later, no worries, javachik.

I really wish I'd had my shit together sufficiently this year to participate in the card exchange.