Happy New Year (and a quick review of 2009)!

Okay, so I'm 5 days late with the "Happy New Year" part, but it still counts, right?

2009 was really a bust as far as stitching, so I don't really have much to post about in that respect.

In other areas, it was an amazing/crazy/busy year! Steven was promoted yet again in January. He's now the Local General Manager for Schwan's Home Service. He's in charge of 6 (soon-to-be 7) routes here in Waco and the surrounding area. It's a multi-million dollar responsibility and I couldn't be more proud of him. This makes three promotions in 2 years! The next step will be up to a District Manager position or a lateral/vertical move into another division of Schwan's. The company definitely offers a lot and we still feel so blessed to be part of it all.

In conjunction with his promotion, Steven was invited to attend LGMU (Local General Manager University), an accredited school within the company, just for managers. Steven was away from home Sunday-Friday, for 13 weeks. Saturdays became very precious to us and to say we missed him would be a severe understatement. He graduated right before our anniversary and then we had a week's vacation; which we all needed.

Speaking of anniversaries; 2009 marked our 15th! Where has the time gone? Steven & I were just 17 & 14, respectively, when we met nearly 19 years ago. It was pretty much love at first sight for me and he caught up rather quickly. He's truly my best friend and I can not imagine my life without him.

Our wonderful children are all doing really well and growing like weeds (the pretty kind...hehe). Andrew will be a *gasp* teenager come August 2010, Annemarie just turned 10 and Olivia will be 9 in just a few months. My babies aren't babies any longer.

Currently, I'm on a mission to declutter and organize our home. I've been blessed to be a stay-at-home mom for most of the kids' lives, but I haven't always been the best homemaker, in my opinion. Steven & the kids are on board and helping with the decluttering (including the garage). That alone is helping me more than any of my own determination ever could.

As for stitching in 2010, I'm hoping to take the first quarter of the year to focus on some obligation stitching that I've apparently been boycotting. I've been so distracted, for lack of a better term, by everything I want to do for my home & family, that I've let "doing for myself" fall to the bottom of my priority list. I have come to realize, however, that I am much more productive if I take a little time for me (& my beloved hobby).

Okay, I think this post is long enought. I'm off to tackle some laundry & dishes...and some stitching!