2005 - The Year In Review

Well, another year has almost come to an end.

2005 was a fairly "difficult" year for me in many ways - -

** My co-worker, Betty, retired after 6-1/2 years of she and I working so well together. I miss her so much, but I'm happy for her. She is enjoying life "on the outside", spending time in her garden and seeing her granddaughters a lot more now. Someday it will be MY turn . . . *sigh*

** They decided not to replace Betty when she retired. We have a very busy office, and she and I were always swamped. But instead of replacing her, they gave my boss an assistant to help her out. I'm all for that, because she is a VERY busy lady in a VERY busy office. HOWEVER - - the situation now is very different; instead of ONE administrator with TWO administrative assistants, it is TWO administrators with ONE very stressed-out administrative assistant . . .

And they wonder why I'm on Prozac????? *sheesh*

** The year is ending on a sad note for me. The past week has been a very difficult one. I have two friends that have been on my mind constantly - -

One was (yes, past tense) a retired administrator from the public school district, where I used to work. After retiring in the early 90's, he came back for a short time when the personnel director (my boss), was called up to active duty and sent over to Iraq for Operation Desert Storm. He was a very kind man and wonderful to work for. He was my boss for 6 months, and it was good. Since then, I would see him around town periodically, and it was always nice to get to talk to him and catch up on things. He was very involved in community activities, and was president of the county fair board of directors. In fact, he was very instrumental in putting the fair back in the black and kept it going for many years. One of the fundraisers he helped organize was bingo, to help raise funds for the fair. Last week, he and the other volunteers were cleaning up after bingo was over. All the volunteers except him and one other man were outside putting trash in the dumpsters. A masked man came into the building, shot him in the chest, and stole the small fire safe he was carrying with the bingo proceeds in it. My friend died at the hospital 20 minutes later. No one except him and the other man saw anything. Leads are nearly non-existent at this point. Needless to say, I'm upset, and more than a little angry.

The same day this happened, I received a phone call from another friend's husband, telling me that my friend was in the hospital, and had been there for FOUR MONTHS! She is dealing with many, many problems with her health, and they are not sure when she will be able to come back home. This situation is a long story, and will probably require a post of its own. Let's just say that there is a LONG history here, that I have known my friend since I was 18, and do not want anything to do with her husband. I do not like him, and do not feel that I can trust him. I cannot bring myself to be around him, and because of this, it has been over 10 years since I have been to see my friend. We do keep in touch by phone, cards, and letters, but we have not spent any time together. I cannot say any more than that at this time. HOWEVER - - once I found out about her being in the hospital, I made a point of getting over there and seeing her. We spent a LONG time together, did a lot of catching up, and I will see her again soon. But not when her husband is around. Period. More about this later.

The whole year has not been bad, though. We have had lots of good experiences also:

** Hubby Steve and I got our house plans drawn up, finalized, and blueprints made. We are now in the process of receiving bids from the contractors we contacted. Hopefully we will be deciding on a contractor sometime in January. I have another *blog* describing this project - - check it out sometime.

** Our grandsons are growing up big and strong and healthy, keeping everyone (especially mom and dad!) on their toes. They are my little men . . . .

** After many years of wanting one and not seeing any way of obtaining one, I was able to get the vehicle of my dreams. Thanks to Dear Hubby Steve and his knowledge of vehicles, we were able to get an incredible deal on a 2005 Jeep Liberty! It's my "baby" - - drives great, gets me through anything, and I just LOVE it! :-)

** I was given the opportunity to do some more teaching this year - - Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and some other Intro courses. Each class is offered through our Non-Credit division, and each one only lasts for 2 sessions. It's good experience, and a little extra "pocket change" never hurts! I would never want to teach full-time - - I definitely do NOT have the patience level for that! - - but doing this on a part-time basis is okay.

** Made an "A" in my Webpage classes, and will (hopefully!) have my website up and running shortly after the first of the year (oh my gosh - - that's TOMORROW, isn't it??? Guess I better get busy . . . . ).

Well, there you have it - - quite an "interesting" year - - some good, some bad. But thankfully, Hubby Steve and I and our families are well and healthy, we have wonderful friends that enrich our lives, and overall, life is pretty darned good.

I hope 2006 is a good year, not just for Steve and I, but for everyone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!