Ta-da!! The 2011 Year-End Meme, slighly shortened

Oh, I seeee... people are getting weary of the Questionnaire. Think they don't NEED that old antiquated MEME any more, now that the Internet's all grown up and we can do it our own selves. Well. Back in MY day...

You know, I agree. I guess I'm a little tired of the format, too, but how else do we start?

Overall, I would say that 2011 has been a great year -- I can't complain, truly. We did have a broken arm situation, and some financial stuff that was annoying in our immediate vicinity, but other than that no major troubles! Woo hoo!


1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
The aforementioned broken arm was new! I never broke a bone and had no idea how that all works. In fact I had previously worried, as one might when one's never gone into labor before, "How will we KNOW if it's bad enough to go to the hospital?" Now I know. I also helped throw a surprise 70th birthday party for my Dad -- never done that before. :) I took the week of Spring Break off work to spend with AJ. I want to do that every year now!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year I was feeling smug and forlorn at the same time, and so I made very simple resolutions which I mostly kept. I said then, flossing more than 'hardly ever' will be EASY. Heh. I did floss a little bit more than the previous year, so I WIN. I ate a bit more yogurt in 2011, yes, but I still don't love it. Eh. Who really cares. And my 2 dinner parties, I think, happened. One of them was very early in the year, and the other was Christmas dinner which barely counts, since it was hosting my parents... but I say Win.
Funnily enough, although I REFUSED to make a health-kick "Resolution" last year, I did do better overall in 2011 than ever before. I know I have mentioned that I signed up for Sparkpeople.com, and it did help me in many ways, stick to my routine. I was quite faithful February through May, then the hot months came along and it was harder, but I used the treadmill and didn't really backslide until September/October/November. I started the Couch to 5K in the end of November and I'm still trying to do that. So perhaps the answer is DON'T RESOLVE, JUST DO.

(Good grief, this is just the 2nd question! I may skip several of them.)
No one close to me gave birth, or died, and I visited no countries.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
I always say "Lottery winnings" but I will also include Solid Nights' Sleep more often than not. This year was a tough sleep year.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
This sounds ridiculous, but Feb 21st is my "Sparkiversary" (haha, embarrassed glancing as I use nerdy insider terminology) and I'm trying to have made some real progress/success by 2/21/12;
June 10 - the weekend of, because we were all together with my parents and sister/brother-in-law, and that rarely happens;
Sept. 11 -- the 10th anniversary was quite a Thing, wasn't it? Our community did a big display of 3,500 US flags in a huge park, and it was breathtaking. We drove by it every day for a week.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I hate to say this but there was a work project that took a huge majority of my time, but it was/is successful and made me look good to my peers. I am proud of it, although I wasn't the only one on the committee. I also have to cite our PAINTING project at home, because it was so long in the making and changed the look of that room so pleasantly/dramatically.

9. What was your biggest failure?
This doesn't keep me up at night, but we did fail to save as much money as we would have liked this year, and also failed to get our wills written. That is going to be a HUGE goal for 2012 -- the wills, I mean. We've been meaning to do it for (gulp) 7 years at least, since AJ was born.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Boring question, and no.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
We bought DH a new car in January, and it's been so good for him to drive something cool and not my old beat-up '97 Corolla. I think he feels like a real man again. Ha. We also bought a new refrigerator (awesome), a new water heater (unexpected) and a new water main line (lame)! So I've now answered the next question.
12. Where did most of your money go?

13. What did you get really excited about?
Seeing Guys and Dolls in August. I love the theater and especially that show. We were so excited to watch AJ's car win the Pinewood Derby in February! And I was on pins and needles when my sister came in THIRD in her first triathlon of the year! We were watching her times online and it was almost as exciting as being there! So awesome. I got really excited/emotional about that, for sure.

14. What song will always remind you of 2010?
The soundtrack of "Tangled,"which is great, and the Good Luck Charlie theme song, which is not that great. KT plays those two shows on Forever Repeat every chance she gets.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or Sadder: Happier. I think the kids are getting to the age where DH and I are getting some of our old life back. I mean, a little bit... As much as you can when one of them's still under 5... but still. It's something.
Thinner or Fatter: Same I think.
Richer or Poorer: Poorer, probably. Cost of groceries really seems to be increasing significantly. Or is that just me?
16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Fun activities with the kids. Taking more pictures and videos. (I might have to do the "One photo a day" thing this year. Days off just for me (I did take one, and it was HEAVENLY.)

17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Gawd, bulk shopping at Costco. I was conned into my volunteer job for the school and I will NOT be doing it again next school year.
19. What was your favorite TV program?I fell in love with Parks and Rec this year. Especially the theme song.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I didn't read too many, but The Hunger Games series wins, hands-down.
21. What was your favorite music from this year?
I'm certain I don't listen to any current music.
22. What were your favorite films of the year?
No idea. We loved Inception (was that new in 2011?), The Help, The King's Speech (2011?) Deathly Hallows 2 (2011?)... I can't remember any others.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
Sometimes you're just going to have to sweat a little.
Cookies are allowed, you're not a bad person for eating them.
Musicals make me happy.
Keep putting money in the savings account because you never know.