The Decade Ended, the Decade Begun

The "Aughts" were a hard decade for this family. We started out healthy, happy, and rich--yeah, we were multimillionaires there for a brief, shining moment. Then we were plunged into poverty and sickness.

We've spent most of the decade climbing painfully out of both conditions, and while we're not entering the "Teens" in as good as shape as the previous decade, we're sure ending it better than we've been through most of the "Aughts." The main things we're grateful for about the decade are that we have Louisa (2001), and that I'm still alive after the medical cock-ups that started in 2002. I still fantasize about suing everyone involved, but I can't take the stress.

But here I am in 2010. I'm still alive. I'm finally feeling as if I can stop looking backward, as if I've finally processed what happened to us, and what happened to me. Financially, we're about as precarious as most middle-class families these days, but nothing like we were post-2001. Our kids are well. John's well--better than ever. And I'm ready to look ahead, not back.

I don't make "resolutions"; I set goals and list projects I want to finish. This is my list, for the year and the decade.

Goals for 2010:

• To keep off the 20+ pounds I lost last year, and take off more. I'm not setting a number. Last year, the weight just came off, unexpectedly.
• To continue to drive as little as possible. Part of why I lost weight last year is that I got my awesome, pimped-out bike, and I rode it hundreds of miles. This is a goal not just for my health but also for sustainability. Not driving helps make us less dependent on oil, foreign or domestic. At our house, one of our rallying cries is "Bicycle Against Terrorism!" Because every dollar we don't pay at the gas pump is money that doesn't go to terrorists funded by our alleged allies. (Saudi Arabia, I'm looking at you.)
• To get back to my spinning and knitting. I've let it sit fallow for most of the last couple of years, and unlike most people, NOT having wool all over me is making me itch.
• To get better at bellydancing. Yes! I've taken up bellydancing, and it's awesome. I refuse to quit, even though it's been hard not to.
• To write more here. I've been writing a lot elsewhere, and I really miss writing here.
• To work even harder at buying local and living sustainably.

Projects for 2010:

• Finishing the kitchen remodel, tearing everything out of the shelves, and re-organizing. The remodel is *so close to being done!* The floor should be in by the end of next week, gods willing and the creek don't rise. We've been dealing with this since AUGUST!
• Finishing the little bit of work in Lou's room.
• Paneling and painting Jo's room, and getting her a new wall unit.
• Redoing the basement and garage into our main family entryway and mudroom, setting up my sewing area down there again, and making me a proper office down there so I can keep office hours instead of trying to work in the chaos of the living room.
• Finishing that @%#^@!!! pound of merino I've been spinning for AGES. I also want to spin up at least three other 3-8 oz rovings.
• Finish the blanket-that-started-out-as-an-afghan. When I'm done it'll have something like 12 skeins of Homespun in it! It's already as heavy as my down comforter. Let this be a lesson to you: if you're going to crochet a simple "wave" afghan, use a big hook, dang it!
• Sew up the big novelty yarn pillows I knitted in September/October.
• Start sewing for myself again.
• Knit myself a sweater that fits and flatters me.
• Knit Jo a pair of mittens.
• Getting the newly-small yard done up for both enjoying and food production.

Goals for the decade:
I really only have one goal. This is the decade both my girls will (probably) leave home. I want them to have a good start, and realizing that the "teens" is when they're leaving really galvanizes me.

What are your goals and projects?