2009 - A Year in Review

2009 has been a very interesting year for me and my family. It has certainly been a year of changes, challenges and new beginnings.

Jim and I both started new jobs in 2009.

Jim started working part time for the Sheriff's Department, in addition to his full time job with the City of Phillipsburg. Jim seems to really enjoy the couple of shifts per month that he picks up. I think it's a way for him to live out a boyhood fantasy. However, I must say, he does look awfully good in his uniform!

I lost my job in marketing when the company I worked for closed down in Oct. 2008. I took some time looking for my next job and started working for a non-profit organization in March 2009. The dramatic change of pace has taken a lot of getting used to, but I'm really enjoying the new job. The flexibility that the schedule allows has been a great benefit. The cut in pay was painful in the beginning, when going from being a department leader for a large company to being a non-profit employee, but we have adjusted. There aren't a lot of career opportunities here in rural Kansas, so I'm thankful to have found a new position that meets my family's needs.

I also launched a website business with a former coworker this year. It's a service website for a specific industry and is a nice, small side venture that is pretty self-running.

Ethan turned 3 this October and is growing up so quickly! He goes to daycare part time at our neighbor's house and has made a lot of little buddies. This year, he conquered potty training and moving into his big-boy bed.

2009 was full of house renovation projects as well. Poor Jim's "honey-do" list was very extensive this year. I'm so lucky to have a very handy husband that can accomplish all the silly ideas that his wife comes up with! He told me that I am no longer allowed to watch HGTV, as it provides me with most of my inspiration. Our list of renovations this year included:

• Installing a dishwasher in our kitchen. I was so excited to get my first dishwasher! Jim had to take out a set of cabinets to fit the dishwasher under the counters. He then built a skinnier cabinet to fit next to the dishwasher. He did a wonderful job of matching stain colors with our existing cabinets and you can barely tell that they aren't original to the kitchen.

• We completely redid our master bedroom this year. We actually moved Ethan into our old room and took over his old nursery as it is wider and can fit a larger bed. We had been sharing a full sized bed and have happily upgraded to a king sized bed! We finally replaced our hodge-podge of mismatched college furniture and the room actually looks like adults live in it now.
  
  
• The biggest renovation project we tackled this year was the remodeling of our basement. We tore down a wall, gutted a bathroom and redid every surface. It is so nice to be able to stretch out into our new basement family room! It's also nice to now have a place to fold laundry and other chores that isn't directly in our front living room for all people to see when they come to our house.
  

We have a lot to be thankful for this year but I'm ready to kick out 2009 and welcome in 2010.

Wishing you and your family many blessings and happiness in the New Year!