Putting the old year to bed early.

I'm up for a boring year come January, a year of making hay while the
sun shines.

Good Things
My brother got married, and they're great together.
Mr. F and I settled into this parenthood gig.
I'm writing. In the winter. And I'm fannish about my own story.

Mixed Things
FeldDad got cancer. FeldDad survived cancer, and is looking like
he'll also survive the treatment.
I got fired, and was un- and under-employed for upwards of five months
with no unemployment benefit. I now have a job that daily proves that
my previous job was killing parts of me.
We gutted the retirement savings, but even with the frantic square
dance of penalties and deductions at tax time, we will be in the black
for 2008.
I am no closer to grad school than a year ago, but I am much more
comfortable with the plan and the pace than when I was trying to
escape. Reaching toward is infinitely better than pulling away as far
as life satisfaction goes.

Bad Things
Fairy Grandmother has dementia. She can live on her own right now,
she's safe around the house, but in a way where we're already obeying
her final directives. She eats well, if sparingly, and she'd like to
get her cataracts out to see better. But she refuses to get her teeth
fixed and she's not consistent with her medications. Not just because
she has trouble remembering them. She is somewhat resistant to the
idea of taking care of her body for the long term now that her mind is
failing. I suspect she's hoping to die while she's still herself and
independent.

Best Laid Plans
In conclusion, I'd like a boring year of writing and playing in the
yard and working on my novel and rebuilding all the infrastructure
that went to pot this last year while we frantically bailed. Next
December I'd like to have everyone whole and healthy, a novel out
gathering rejection slips, and the ability to run for two or three
miles at a go.