The Year(s) in Review

I just noticed that I started my blog on this site almost exactly 11 years ago today. So I thought it might be interesting to look back at the 11 blog entries closest to today's date each year. Here's a summary of my life over the past 11 years, as noted in my blog. 

2010: My son was not quite three months old, and I was madly in love. With him, but also with how proud my husband was of him, and of me. 

2011: I had just announced my pregnancy with my daughter, and was laughing hysterically about all the food-related descriptions of how big my growing fetus was: grape...apple...cantaloupe...pumpkin. 

2012: My son was in the midst of potty-training, and I had really lost any sense of privacy. He was fascinated by people using the toilet, so I frequently had company in the bathroom. Ironically, since we recently adopted a pair of kittens, I once again am dealing with constant company in the bathroom of small creatures who are fascinated by the toilet.

2013: I described the concept of the "Mama Siren," which is when a child repeatedly announces, "Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama!" with gradually increasing volume until it cannot possibly be ignored. If you're a parent, you'll know exactly what I mean.

2014: Much like today, this day in 2014 was apparently bone-chillingly cold, so much so that I used the expression "booger-freezing cold." And lest you think I'm disgusting, I would like to point an accusatory finger at cartoonist Bill Watterson and one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes comics.

 

But clearly I was also making an effort to overcome, as my entry focused on the parts of a cold, snowy day that I enjoy. I can use that reminder today. 

2015: I was obviously wearing my homeschooling hat, and I had figured out a way to teach my son how to cook while incorporating chemistry, math, geography, nutrition, physics, botany, and penmanship.

2016: This year I was in the midst of one of my "Photo a Day" stints (which reminds me that I should do another one of those), but I took a break to write a cocktail blog. Which reminds me that I haven't had a good sidecar in a while. Today is Friday and I think we have some nice steaks in the fridge. Might need to do up a fancy restaurant-style dinner tonight!

2017: Speaking of food, it was cooking blog time 4 years ago today! I blogged about making lasagna, which is one of my absolute favorite cold-weather dinners. I nearly always make it for my husband's birthday (it's one of his absolute favorites as well), so a month after his birthday we're both ready for lasagna again. I feel like this is a very common late-January meal for us.

2018: Another of my regular blog "features" is red carpet fashion reviews, and this year I reviewed the Grammy Awards. And since I'm always looking for a twist, this particular review compared the 2018 Grammy red carpet looks with similar looks from past red carpet events: my personal version of "Who Wore It Better?". Another blog topic that needs to be revisited.

2019: I'm not sure what was going on with me in 2018-2019, but there is a big gap in my blog between July 2018 and late February 2019, when I reviewed the red carpet for the Oscars. Burnout? Exhaustion? Dealing with being back to work part-time and still managing two active young children and a husband? Distinctly possible. 

2020: Another gap in my blog, with the last entry for 2019 on December 11 (topic: Christmas music by decade), and the first for 2020 was March 13, when the world around me shut down due to COVID. I can't claim that I saw it coming (I most certainly did not), but I do recall that it was a very busy time for me at work, which made it that much more disappointing that the students weren't able to finish out the year and perform the show they'd already begun working hard on. 

2021: We're still in partial lockdown; I'm actually physically at work today for the first time in about 6 weeks. My husband went in to his office this week for the first time in about 8 months. So we're still in a weird place, but we're managing. We're settled into our new house, still working on fixing it up the way we want it, and the kids have found their groove with both school and friends. We're all looking forward to things going back to something like the way they were, but until they do, we're hanging in there, healthy and happy.

So it's been an interesting walk through the past decade or so. From being a new mom, to a mom of two, to a homeschooler, to having a growing focus on food and fashion, to a drift away from writing, and now to hopefully getting back to my blog, as I am reminded of how much I enjoy recording pieces of my life here. 

If you enjoy reading my blog, I'm glad. Even if you ignore some topics and read only others, I am happy to share my thoughts with you. I'd love to hear any comments my readers have on topics they'd like to hear more on, and even ones that you don't much care for, so please don't hesitate to post a comment (I get weird spam comments sometimes, so be patient while I moderate the comments before they appear publicly). I mostly write for myself, but I write for my readers, as well. Especially now, when social connections are a bit more of a struggle, I like knowing that someone out there is "hearing" my voice. I hope what I have to say makes your life a little more pleasant.