Good morning all, here we are at the end of another year and what a rollercoaster year 2008 has been. Lots of ups and downs, lots of goods and bads but we have made it to the end of the year and here we are ready to start 2009 which will hopefully be better for everyone.
This year we have saw a lot of illness with myself and hubby – hubby had to have surgery which hasn’t helped and is now awaiting a referral to a Professor at a different hospital, and I have spent this year having various tests and procedures and am now waiting to be admitted for surgery. We have also had two bereavements of close family members and a close friend. As previously mentioned my sons memorial was destroyed just before Christmas too… add to this financial difficulties and problems within our family and it has been a very tough year.
Although on a plus note, we had family visitting from New Zealand in July who it was great to see. This year also saw the first of our ‘proper’ craft fairs at which we did reasonably well, and we are aklso now stocking our cards and candles in a couple of shops across the country.
Our hopes and plans for 2009 are pretty simple really… we’re aiming to get our cards and candles into another retail outlet (discussions have already started) and to attend a few more craft fairs throughout the year, as well as hopefully generating some sales via our website and our Misi shop.
On a personal level I want to get into a healthier routine… healthier eating, drink more water and less coffee/pepsi!! And hopefully start getting a bit more exercise. Ideally I’d like to lose some weight along the way but I definitely want to get fitter so here’s hoping that I can manage to stick to it. As some of you may be aware, part of my depression arises in forms of self harm, and although I’ve managed to keep this under control for most of the last six months or so, there have been a few occasions where I have lapsed, and I’d like to make it to the end of 2009 and be able to hold my head high in the knowledge that I have managed to beat it – fingers crossed. I’m also starting a condition management programme to try to get my depression symptoms, etc under control – that’s due to start in the next few weeks so we’ll see how that goes.
In the last couple of days I’ve got my son’s new memorial plaque ordered from Si at Wood Tattoos and we’ve made a decision on the design that we want – I’m hugely relieved that the idea for this has come together so quickly and we can now look towards building a fitting memorial for my baby boy. Monday 23rd February 2009 also brings with it the second anniversary of the passing of my mum and I’m hoping to get some sort of memorial in place for mum too, though I’m not very sure what – I’ll have to look into that one.
Well, today is going to be spent giving the house it’s final clean and sort out of 2008 in preparation for the new year celebrations, although I think that this evening will just be Gord and I at home with Gord’s dad coming to visit tomorrow for a New Years Day dinner. We might get a surprise and have some visitors to celebrate the New Year but as far as I’m aware then we’ve no plans.
Anyway, here is wishing everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!!
Love Laura xxx
