Happy New Year

Well… it's a new year. Out with the old and in with the new, right? It's a good time to reflect on the past year, and then make plans for the new one ahead.

A few things of note about 2008.

First and foremost on my list of new things for the year is this blog. Ben McEvoy got me started when I called him out of the blue one day and we talked for a while. He told me about his blog, and after visiting it (and a few others) I decided that I couldn't sleep one more single night without having one for myself. It started like gangbusters, I wrote nearly every single day. Then life started catching up with me and I discovered that other things around me were being neglected, so I backed off a bit. I don't think I could write every day like I did at first, but the old boy certainly has a few good ones left in him still, so I have resolved to write something here at least once a week. Let that be called resolution #1.

My father and I went on two hunts in 2008, one last February, and one this last month. Both times we went to South Texas, Benevides to be exact, where we hunted quail. Both times weren't exactly what one could call successful if the gauge were solely based on the number of birds we brought home, but we got to spend some really quality time together, and that's the really important thing for me. His health is faltering somewhat and I don't know if we'll have too many more hunts together. I must never pass up a good chance to spend some quality time with Dad (or Mom for that matter) will be resolution #2.

We also went fishing in early March on the Sabine River. My brother-in-law Sam went with us and we only came home with two fish, but it was also some good quality time. You can read about it here if you wish. Go fishing more is always worth a mention in a well thought out list of resolutions, so this is #3.

I started a new business in 2008. It's really the same business, except I'm carrying on without Dad and Sam. Dad wanted to go on and retire, and Sam decided that he wasn't really cut out for the building business. So I'm going on without them. I formed my own company called L & S Custom Homes, LLC and my company has partnered with two other individuals to build a house just outside Springfield. I find myself facing the same old problems with partners that I had to endure with my previous partners, and so I'm not sure if we will continue this partnership after this house. I am not an easy person to be partners with as I expect much from myself and from others. I want to build the way I want to build anyway, so resolution # 4 is to break out and go forward on my own.

I feel that my health has improved this past year, though I still have some weight to lose. My energy level is up again and I can put in the long days that are needed to accomplish the things I want to do. I am still taking meds for my diabetes, but if I can lose about 40 pounds (and I certainly have it to lose), I might be able to stop taking those pills. Weight loss… there's a unique resolution, eh? # 5.

I read an article in the Ensign about caffeine possibly contributing to restless leg syndrome, a condition that aggravates me to the point where I take medicine for that too. I have been away from home and forgotten my RLS meds a few times and those were totally sleepless nights. Sometimes the meds don't even work, especially if I don't time the taking of them with my bedtime just right. Anyway, caffeine is thought to add to the problem so I have resolved to stop drinking my Diet Mt. Dews. This one is going to be tough, tougher even than when I quit smoking. I can easily go through 2 or 3 six packs of the 24 ounce bottles in a single week. I actually started this one a couple of weeks ago right after I read that article. The first few days were really rough because of the caffeine withdrawal headaches. So lots of water and lemonade and juice is resolution # 6.

Resolution # 7 has to do with church. I have been teaching the Elder's Quorum for a little over two years now, 3 Sundays a month, and I've gotten a little lazy about it. I find myself losing interest in the lessons and dreading class. I shouldn't be feeling this way, because I know that when I am eventually released, I will miss it. So I'm going to start missing it now and start applying myself and preparing that way I did when I was first called and start enjoying that time again... for me and for the brethren.

Our annual July 4th BBQ was bigger this year. My daughter Jessica and her husband Brandon flew in for the event, but Rebecca and Justin couldn't make it. Still, it was a wonderful day and we hope that it will grow bigger and bigger every year, to include more family and friends from all over. All of my children in attendance for the 2009 BBQ will be resolution # 8.

Someone (a friend of Sheri's) suggested that I print all of my blog stories and entries and put them in a binder to give to my parents for Christmas. I resisted the idea thinking that no one would really be interested and it seemed a little self-promoting and presumptuous to think anyone would really want such a gift. I just felt a little uneasy about it. Sheri talked me into it though, and it turned out to be a great hit with Mom and Dad. Well, Dad at least. He's still reading it and won't let Mom have it until he's done. I think those kinds of gifts are cool, even though I balked at this particular idea in the beginning. I hope that I will be able to give them (and everyone else, for that matter) something meaningful that I created myself and put myself into. Not really a resolution I guess, but still something I want to do.

Sheri's father had a pretty massive stroke back in the Spring of 2008. Sheri went to see him right away, but I had to wait until late Summer. We both went during the Olympics and stayed at their lakeside condo and got to spend some quality time with her side of the family. It was a most enjoyable week. My nieces Taylor and Megan and my nephew Jake are a joy to be around and we had lots of fun with them, and with their parents (Sheri's brother B.J. and his wife Jackie). We also had dinner at Sheri's mom's house, visited her Dad in the recovery center, did our share of sightseeing, and still had time for lots of rest and relaxation.

While we were there, we ate a couple of times at a sandwich shop called "Mancino's". One wall in the hallway leading back to the restrooms was all chalk board and there was a bucket of chalk on the floor at the entry to that hallway. I took a piece of chalk and wrote about my first date with Sheri after she picked me up from the airport for our first face to face visit. It was at another Mancino's closer to where Sheri was living at the time, but it was our first date. I want to go back and see if my note is still on that chalk board. I doubt it, but wouldn't that be a hoot?

Anyway, I promised Sheri's Dad that I would make sure she got back there several times a year to visit him. Not a "New Year's Resolution", but a resolution just the same. Besides, I can't wait to go back there myself.

We finished the nightmare of a remodel job in 2008. Well, almost. There are a few odds and ends that remain, and I'm sure there always will be with that project. But it's done for the most part and we survived it. That's the good news. The financial outcome wasn't nearly a rosy. We took a big hit on that one, and none of us could really afford a big hit. So... do I really need to tell you what the next resolution is? I didn't think so.

There are other resolutions of course, books to be read, people to treat better, and so on, but those are of a more personal nature and I'll keep them to myself, at least for the time being. I'm normally not a "New Year's Resolutions" kind of guy, but a few tweaks and adjustments are needed every now and again. I'll start with these and see where the last day of 2009 finds me.

In the meantime, I'll be in touch. At least once a week, right?

Until next time...