A Tabula Rasa

For the most part, 2006 was a great year for me. Business boomed (our little mortgage company closed 53 loans) and expanded (I got a real estate sales license and closed my first sale the same month that the license was issued), the children blossomed (the twins started school, and elder daughter kept her straight-A record - and grew to within an inch of my full height). It's the year that I first got to go to Scotland and see its two major cities and some of its history (although Loch Ness is still on the to-do list). It marked the beginning of the end of my 30s and saw some fairly serious weight loss for me (and all I had to do was dump the Dr Pepper). I got a cute new toy at the end of July (Skarlet is a red convertible, and driving her is a joy nearing euphoria). Oh, and let's not forget 2006's crowning achievement - the collective pink slip handed to the ruling Republican't majority in Congress (in my daft little blonde head, it's tantamount to putting the GWB administration on notice that America isn't going to put up with its force-fed bullsh*t any longer).

It did have some down days, though. My beloved (step)dad, Dale Patrick, shuffled off his mortal coil at the end of September. A dear friend's new grandbaby born in December has some pretty serious heart problems (two-edged blade there: new baby, yay; heart problems, boo). England got excused from the World Cup after an Argentinian referee with an ax to grind punted Wayne Rooney in the quarter-final match against Portugal (0-0 in regulation time, 3-1 to Portugal on penalties, with Beckham out to injury - who knew puking was an injury? - and Rooney sidelined with his red card). And in Iraq, America tallied up a total of 3000 service member deaths so far (scratch your head and wonder why we're still there - nay, why we went there in the first place).

All things considered, though, I'll mark 2006 down as a success. Hope you can do the same.

Elder daughter was at Nana's house to ring in the new year (they've always been close, but have gotten more so since Patrick's exit), so it was just the spousal unit and the twins and me for the event itself. The plan was to go out for supper, then come home and watch "It's A Wonderful Life" ('cause your obdn't svt here hasn't ever seen it all the way through). We ventured out about half past eight, stopped in at our friends Sean and Mary's house (Sean's from England too - Mary is an Oklahoma girl - and Sean's parents arrived on the 30th for a fortnight), and then went to Abuelo's to eat. Upon arriving home, though, we couldn't find the DVD that we know is around here somewhere (if you've never seen/heard George Carlin's routine about STUFF, go find it and watch it - it's not only riotously funny, it's also quite descriptive of our house). Ah, but "The Producers" was on, and Mark and I had seen it in the West End last time we went to London (although poor Mark was in pain the whole time, being crammed into a seat built for a 5-year-old), so we watched that for a while. Mark started snoring about 11:15 (which is typical for him after eating at Abuelo's). I put the littles in their 2007 jammies, we sat and watched the seconds tick off the clock, wished each other Happy New Year, and then off to bed we all went.

The only New Year's resolution I've ever been able to keep is the one I made a few years ago ... not to make any more New Year's resolutions ... so instead of droning on about all the myriad things I'm going to do/not do in 2007, I'll end with a midnight photo of Kieran and Kendall.

Happy New Year!