In Which I Sound Like a Corporate Shill

I took the kids to the library last week, and right on schedule Ace got sick a few days later. He was so nice as to pass the cold along to me. Lovely, really. I've been sick off and on ALL WINTER. That makes me grouchy.

So I started taking a multivitamin. Don't tell my mother about the multivitamin. She is a rep for Us@na, and keeps trying to convince me to take their products. At $30 for a one month supply, I don't think so!

I also started Zicam whenever I feel the twinges of a new cold. My dad and Rush Limbaugh suggested it to me. Who am I to resist those two? So....not to sound like a commercial, but holy crap Zicam totally works! I'm susceptible to colds, I get them hardcore, they last a full two weeks, can't breathe, feel like death, etc. But after taking just a few Zicam, my last cold was really, really, fabulously mild. I was completely functional. I was feeling so good, I didn't keep up taking the pills, so my cold still lasted about 10 days. Since now Ace has handed me another opportunity to test Zicam, I'm really going to try to take them the entire length of the cold.

In other news, I joined Paperbackswap.com and I looooooove it. I listed 10 books, people started requesting them. I mail a book, and once the other person receives it, I get a credit, which enables me to request someone else's book. So I essentially just pay the media mail rate for each new book. Cheaper than I can get them at used book stores or thrift stores.

In other other news, Ace is walking around the house in Miss E's princess shoes. And falling a lot. And then crying. But refusing to take off said shoes.

2009 Survey

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Competed in the Mrs Oregon pageant.*

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I made a goal at some point to get to my pre-Ace weight, and I'm now four pounds away from my goal. I'm ten pounds lighter than I was last January. It's really nice to put on a skirt and it's loose.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My sister-in-law had a baby girl in January and my friend Becca had a baby boy, um I can't remember which month because I am a bad friend. ha ha

4. Did anyone close to you die? No.

5. What countries did you visit? I barely made it out of the state. Woo, Washington!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? I didn't really lack anything in 2009. We have enough. Though I'd like to request obscene amounts of foreign travel.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Um, I guess Miss E's birthday. I threw a party, my first kid birthday party, and I was kind of stressed. For no reason, of course.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Once Ace reached 1, things got easier. I kept a pretty clean house and I developed my homekeeping skills. I baked bread a lot more and tried lots of new recipes.

9. What was your biggest failure? I made a baked pasta recipe from Martha Stewart Living. The sauce called for anchovy paste and tuna and some other stuff all combined in the blender. Once cooked, it smelled so awful I thought I was going to hurl. I took one bite and couldn't force down another. Martha? You let me down. Oddly enough, Dh thought the dish was just fine. I hate when a recipe sounds good on paper, but cooks up into awfulness.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Swine flu, October - November. That blew.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I scored a Sitwell skirt (Anthropologie) at the local thrift store for $2.50.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Everyone in my family! Dh for sticking with grad school, even though it's awful, and possibly created by the devil to make Dh suffer. Miss E for learning to count to 14, and sharing so sweetly with Ace (sometimes). Ace for finally getting off his knees and walking!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Tiger Woods, the Gosselins, Obama for breaking promise after promise before he'd even been president for a year.

14. Where did most of your money go? Graduate school. Dh just reminded me, Fixing up his boat.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Dh says, Him having a boat. I've got news for him. Not exciting. When Ace said "I love you," to me, and my heart exploded into radiant happiness.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. Miss E calls it, "I'm in the Room" and requests it often. (You know, "I'm in the room, it's a typical Tuesday, and I, I'm listenin' to the kind of music she doesn't like." Yeah. Anyway.)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? A little happier (see looser skirts, above).
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner.
c) richer or poorer? About the same.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Saving of $$.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Stressing out over things I have absolutely no control over.

20. How did you spend Christmas? In eastern Oregon, with Dh's entire family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Nooo...

22. What was your favorite TV program? I was introduced to Tru Calling. I liked Southland, then it got canceled. Boo.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No. (Usually I would put "Your mom" here, but I'm trying to elevate my speech. Lucky you.)

24. What was the best book you read? Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Gone by Michael Grant, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Little Bee by Chris Cleave and Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I really got into Muse.

26. What did you want and get? Shallow answer: black knee-high boots. Deep answer: time spent with my family. Both are true.

27. What did you want and not get? I honestly can't think of anything important that I really wanted and didn't get.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Star Trek. I am a bit of a Star Trek geek; I grew up on ST:NG. This movie was far better than I expected and I was delighted with it in every way.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 28. I went out to dinner with my husband to my favorite restaurant in town.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? An obscene amount of foreign travel.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? "In Which I Refuse to Wear Skinny Pants in Any Way, Shape or Form."

32. What kept you sane? Dh giving me regular time away so I could be all by my lonesome.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Pass.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Health care reform.

35. Who did you miss? My sibs. They are flung out across the country and we are all too poor to travel much. I got to see my brother Pat, but not my four other siblings.

36. Who was the best new person you met? My friend T. I guess I didn't meet her in 2009, she was an acquaintance before, but in 2009 I got to know her better, and the more I find out, the more I like her.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. If I read my scriptures first thing in the morning, the day goes much, much better.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Oh for heaven's sake. I can't think of a thing. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. That sums up how I tried to relax and enjoy life in 2009!

This survey was snatched off Cassie's blog. Thanks Cassie!
*Yeah, that's a total lie. I couldn't really think of anything good.