Farewell 2010, welcome a fresh new year!

Oh how time has flown away again! New Years Eve already, so we are saying goodbye to 2010, and welcoming in a New Year, (and in fact a new decade) with all the hope and anticipation of what it may bring.

2010 has been a huge year for us, with many changes and transitions, and not all in the ways we imagined.

We have moved to a new village, rented out our old home, and rather than building our new one, we have sold our land. In my last blog post we were still negotiating, but we actually sold to the first couple who saw it, the first day for sale. We are very happy with the price, and very happy with such a quick sale. We have been looking at houses to buy, and will continue the search when the agents open again in a few days.

Our children completed their kindergarten year, which seems to have flown by amazingly fast. They learnt an incredible amount, far more than I expected for their first year, and far more than I did at that age, I'm sure. Ready for Stage 1 next year, I wonder what new experiences that will bring for them. They will be in the same class again, which was a decision between teacher/parents/both children and was pretty unanimous! We also know who their teacher will be and which classroom they will be in, so that all helps toward preparing for the new school year.

I am thankful for all the experiences 2010 has brought, both good and bad, as I have learnt valuable lessons along the way. These transition periods can be difficult, but it is all worthwhile when we come out of it with new knowledge and a bit wiser for the experience.

So heading into 2011 ..... I am excited and optimistic it will be even better than the last year! A new home to look forward to, with a new garden of course! and who knows what else lies ahead waiting to delight us? A new start, fresh and open to exciting possibilities.

May this New Year (and new decade!) bring true happiness, good health, compassion and peace. May we learn the value of love, real friendship and gratitude. I am so thankful for all that I have.

I wish for you all that you need.

x

2010- Oh what a start....!

I've been out of blogland for so long it is getting a bit silly now.... I had intended on a short break over the Christmas hols, but with some lovely festive words to wish you all well and share the joy, however circumstances once again overwhelmed my intentions.

First let me be positive - We had a really lovely Christmas, a great day during which we opened some beautiful gifts, our children were excited and amazed and full of the joy that only children can bring to you on Christmas morning, we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch of cold meats/prawn and mango salad/other salad-y stuff (great food, but not too much that we regretted it!) and laughed a lot together as we tried to play on our new toy, a wii we received from my husbands parents. Really enjoyable.

Then ...... New Year's Eve.

It came with a bang, actually several bangs. Some moronic neighbours closeby thought the best way to see in a New Year is clearly with some explosive noises in their backyard. Not fireworks, just the ear-ringingly loud explosions. Clearly these must be people without children or animals, (and without any consideration for anyone elses). So our start to 2010 was divided between trying to comfort our dog, (who was shaking uncontrollably and so scared he didn't know where to hide), checking our sleeping children to make sure they weren't doing the same, and outside in the dark chook pen with a torch making sure that they hadn't all died with the shock (which apparently is more common than you'd think).

The following day at least we had some friends over for a coffee/ kids play/ wii time, which was heaps more fun than the previous night. We had planned a BBQ with more friends, but wet weather put the dampers on that.

Then it all went wrong.

I managed to get myself a hefty dose of food poisoning (my own fault- I left some fancy cheese out of the fridge too long, put it back in and had some the next day) Nothing like a dose of listeria to turn you inside out. I'll spare you the details, but I lost about 5kg overnight (which ironically WASN'T one of my resolutions this year). After the dehydration and meal-missing for 2 days, a migraine kicked in which lasted nearly 3 days. Could it get worse?
We all know when your immune system is down, colds come from nowhere to seek you out, and so it did.

So now I sit here, full of cold, worn out and red-nosed as Rudolph himself. All of this in the first week??? And let me tell you, the combination of 7 days of rain, being sick, and 2 children at home does not make for domestic bliss!

I had such high hopes for this year too. It is a year of big changes for us - our children start 'big' school (kindergarten!) and we are hoping to finally build our home and move in before the end of the year. (I'll do another post on that some other time, as that is a story in itself!)

Well, I am hoping that all my illness this past week is getting itself out of the way for the rest of the year so I can enjoy good health for the other 51 weeks!

Finally, I wish you all a belated happy, healthy and prosperous New Year, and hope 2010 brings all that you need!

:-)