I don’t have just one thing that I will remember most from this past year. I imagine that in the future the one thing I remember most about this year is meeting Mr. O. Oh, the things we did! Oh, the places we went! Oh, the people we met! What I will remember most is that I met someone as strange as myself. See, I’m not so strange after all. I hope that the upcoming year brings as much fun or more with O. Let’s make a few more memories.

There are other things that happened this year that I might remember, but it’s doubtful. I might remember that this is the year that the startup got funded, but since I haven’t seen a check for me…probably not. It will be more important once I see some money.

I may remember that I quit my job because it was just too painful to keep going. I do remember crying or nearly crying every morning before I left or while driving for weeks on end, wishing I didn’t have to be there. Yes, it was THAT difficult to be there all day. I could never quite put my finger on the reason, but I had a huge sense of relief when I quit. It was the right thing to do.

I will remember blogging again. I began writing here this summer. I will remember all of the commenters and loyal readers. You are few but great bloggers. Thank you for all your comments and stopping by. I’ve even gained some friends by blogging, and some day I will have to meet you in person.

Many little things happened through the year that changed my views and outlook. One hardly remembers the series of small things that effect the rest of your life. We only remember the big things.

I will probably remember catching my son with some of my lingerie catalogs. I knew that he’d grow up and be interested in girls. I just wasn’t expecting it this past summer.

It was quite a year. Busy. Boredom. Change. Pain. Joy. Amazement. I’m looking forward to what next year will bring.

This is a picture of my neighborhood this morning. It’s a chilly morning, but sunny. I feel for those of you who are buried under snow or digging out.

This blog was starting to turn into a mommy blog, which isn’t my intention. Nothing really new to report either. My teenager has turned into a video game zombie. The kitties are out of hiding but only becuase they think I’m the only person in the house.

The most exciting thing that happened yesterday was I got locked out of my house. I made my son stop the video games to help clean up the backyard. He didn’t realize that the new door handle is very spring loaded and the spring popped after he closed the door. That was fun. We had to climb over the backyard fence–over six foot tall wood. At least the yard got picked up. Much less dog doo and lemons.

I spent most of the day doing my own thing or watching my son play video games. Once he remembered that he could get online to play that is all he did. I watched him unload an entire clip into some guy. I guess the guy was on his side, but kept shooting him and reviving him. From what I’ve seen, these online players are idiots. I watched one run down a team mate on a motorcycle. The game? Call of Duty 3. My son didn’t even want to go to the movies. Oh well. It’s his vacation, and he doesn’t get to play them often otherwise.

The weather is supposed to be better here today. I hope so because the wind was horrible. Our poor little shallow-rooted trees can’t handle winds above 50 miles per hour. At least this year, I didn’t lose any trees in the backyard. My lights out front managed to stay mostly on the trees.

The cats are still in hiding. The two youngest don’t like strangers. Apparently, there’s a very strange person in the house.

I may be one of a small group who hadn’t yet seen “An Inconvenient Truth.” I know many people here where I live saw it before me. If you haven’t seen it, you should. The data that Al Gore shows is quite striking. Not just convincing, but shocking at the recent drastic change from past years.

I had no ideea that Gore had been discussing the environment for so many years. I never saw the hearings. I don’t even remember hearing about them. I suppose I was too young to care. I had more important things to do. More pressing concerns like school and keeping a low profile at home.

What I don’t understand is why there are people who are willfully ignoring the environment. Do we want an inhabitable earth? We don’t have anywhere else to go.

Call us the new windy city–at least today. I don’t know what the wind gusts are, but we were pelted with pine needles when we were out. Anything not quite attached can be blown for blocks. It’s rather unusual. I guess yesterday was similar, which explains why my lights on the tree out front were nearly off the tree.

It’s even difficult to drive. So I’m staying home for the rest of the day. Too many people are out who don’t know how to drive in the wind. And…I’m tired. A week’s worth of four to six hours a night has finally caught up with me.

With all this wind, I’ll bet there are sail boats on the bay. It’s hardly worth sailing unless there’s a small craft advisory. Too bad I get seasick. I love sailing, but I hate being sick.

I thought I’d never get home. The weather here has been a bit strange. The plane ride was incredibly bumpy. I thought I might get sick before we landed. I never feel that way. Although on the way to Denver, it was terribly bumpy too. I was glad that I hardly ate breakfast that morning.

But we’re back and unpacked with one broken item. I feel terrible about it because it was a gift. I didn’t realize that it was fragile. I had wrapped clothes around it, but it broke on the side with all the clothes. Weird.

I had no idea that the cure to video game addiction was nerf guns. Three boys and nerf guns equals a loud, running craziness to see who can shoot the furthest. It sometimes includes shooting each other and screaming. Two of the boys are my sister’s kids. Things are a bit nutty here, and I’m too tired to deal with it. I’m going on very little sleep and caffeine. I may be getting sick as well. My son isn’t feeling that well either. Well, not well enough to eat breakfast, but well enough to run around the house shooting things.

So it looks like we will be traveling, but I’m waiting for my son to get here. The plane was delayed an hour. We won’t have much time before we have to get to bed, since the flight is very early. Fun. I had planned things os there wouldn’t be rush. Rushing around is all I’ve done this evening. Packing. Phone calls. Pet arrangements. As I’m writing this, pet arrangements haven’t been made. I’m waiting for my neighbors to get home. More fun. I hope anyone else traveling this week has an easier time.

Today all I can think about is travel plans. My son won’t be here this evening. He will be here Saturday evening. We’re supposed to fly to the Midwest through Denver on Sunday. I’m still waiting to see if that happens. Even though flights look like they are flying, I know better now. My son’s flight got cancelled 24 hours before takeoff. This is the first time in years that travel plans have been so up in the air.

My sister lives in Denver, but she can’t get out of the driveway. The plows haven’t been to her street yet. I guess I-80 into Nebraska is closed. My sister, her husband, 2 kids and 2 dogs are driving. I have no idea why they bring the dogs. One is a allergy suffering Golden Retriever. The other is a running fool of a Husky.

I think I finished the podcast. I will cross my fingers that the others don’t come back with more changes. Although something odd happened when I edited yesterday. I know I deleted an entire segment, but it was still there. There was six minutes of dead space too.

At least there were no nightmares last night. I can think of worse things than to be stuck here for the holidays. It’s looking like a really nice day here today.

I have been having nightmares that past couple of nights. I wake up startled at 4 am. Last night’s nightmare I was a witness to some crazy woman shooting everyone in the room. She had some sort of smallish gun that could be taken apart. No, not a handgun. A rifle. I don’t know if they were people I knew or not. I woke up when I was begging for my life. Nasty person. She just laughed. She said something about how witty and clever I was, but I was going to die anyway. Lovely. I kept pleading. Luckily, I fell back asleep over an hour later without dreaming the same thing. The previous night someone stole every piece of electronic equipment in the house. Only it wasn’t the same house. I was with other people too. Why is it that I only have these dreams when I sleep alone?

I’ve been wondering why I’m so tired and so out of it all day long. Hmm. Waking up at 4 am and not sleeping again until nearly 6 am will do that.

Good news today is that the white dress is completely white again. The drycleaners did an excellent job. I spent my morning running errands, so I don’t have to tomorrow. My biggest concern now is watching the weather to see if my son makes it here on Friday night. He flies through Denver. Heavy storms like this rarely happen at this time of year.

Time to return to the podcast. I have a list of changes to make. Minor, but time-consuming.