Looking back at 2009

Thank God this year is almost over. In the quarter of a century I've been alive, this has definitely been one of the tougher years I've had to get through.

• In January, hubby and I were learning how to be "parents" to our cute little furbaby he got me for Christmas - Tiger sure keeps us entertained!
  
  Also in January, I went to the Disturbed/Skindred show at The Rave in Milwaukee with 2 of my bros-in-law and a couple they were friends with - definite concert first for me: getting knocked over in the crowd and being at the bottom of the pile! Now I've been to a ton of concerts in the past decade, and I usually stand down front in the crowd, however I have to admit, this time I was pretty scared and I was fortunate to have grabbed onto one of my brother in law's wrists while I was going down so he could pull me up before I got trampled once people pulled up the other 3 people who landed on top of me - I seriously think I blacked out for a moment at the fear of getting trampled underneath everyone, it was THAT BAD! And the ironic thing was, this happened during the set change, while "Bodies" by Drowning Pool was playing over the speakers - the crowd was acting like Drowning Pool was actually on stage! Needless to say, ever since this incident, I've been a bit more weary of going down front at shows since then.
  
  We also spent Friday nights for a few months playing Halo at one of hubby's co-worker's places with her husband and some of her friends.

• In February, we had the car accident. We had a green light, it looked clear, so we went... then about 2/3's of the way through the intersection a car on our right decided to run the red light and crashed into our front passenger side of the car, completely throwing off the tire alignment and suspension on the entire vehicle. We were lucky though - had he hit us a split second later, he would have crashed into me in the passenger seat, rather than the tire. The car ended up being totaled, as the insurance companies agreed it would cost more than what the car was worth to fix the tire problems, but luckily we had the GAP insurance on it and were able to get a new, better car - the 2008 Dodge Avenger. 

• March was pretty uneventful - we got our tax return and it all went to pay off my surgery bills from December. It was nice to not have that debt hanging over us anymore though... there was also the beginning of "the cell phone switch fiasco" which was more complicated than it should have been... I was also fully healed from my surgery too, according to the doctor.
  

• April was also pretty uneventful, from what I recall. We started hanging around with some of hubby's employees, which turned out to be a mistake later on down the road... I also had my first Lia Sophia jewelry party too at the end of the month. It was fun to visit with everyone that came - we had a nice girl's night while Josh was at work.

• Then in May, "the shit hit the fan" or so they say. I found out that first week that my bosses were cutting my hours (and my pay) in half, as we hadn't had much business and a lot of places didn't want to have to pay for the cost of advertising in their local newspapers. I spent the rest of the week filling out applications all around town with hardly any luck. Right after Mother's Day, I found about something that completely devastated me and pretty much shattered my world at the time. I was depressed and upset for days, and in the aftermath, it left me paranoid and with trust-issues now - both of which I still deal with even nearly 7 months later. It took longer than I would have liked for part of the problem to be completely out of the picture, but we worked through what had happened and started to rebuild what had been broken. It's a healing process, and while no one knows how long it will take for the paranoia and trust-issues to go away completely, I do feel myself and the person involved are stronger now than we were before. I firmly believe God lets everything happen for a reason. I feel this was one of His ways to finally get our attention, even though it hurt me like hell to have to go through what I did.
  
  May was also the last Wing Ding festival. Hubby and I went with his brothers and some of their friends. We saw Halestorm, The Parlor Mob, 10 Years, Coolio, Powerman 5000, Saving Abel, Saliva and Shinedown.
  
  My college roommate also moved to Dallas, Texas at the end of May - we helped her move and it's kinda sucked not being able to drive the 30 miles to hang out with her once in awhile... Hubby and I are planning on visiting her down there in October, as he's also a Dallas Cowboys fan and would love to see them play in the new stadium too.

• June was pretty uneventful too - just more of recouperating from the events that happened in May, as well as continuing to try and find a 2nd job to make up for the income I lost when my hours got cut at work.

• In July, we spent the holiday weekend out at my in-laws, which was pretty fun. We also took a trip out to Pennsylvania to visit with my relatives - my mom's side was having a big family reunion with relatives I had never met before, and it was nice to get to see my dad's side of the family too, including relatives who couldn't make it out our way for the wedding last year. We did some sightseeing while out there and also spent a day at historic Kennywood.
  

• August was a fun month. We joined Netflix, which I have been getting full use out of, and I also celebrated my 25th birthday in an epic way - we got tickets to see Nine Inch Nails' last show EVER in Chicago which was on my actual birthday. It was really neat - I just wished I had seen Trent Reznor and co. live a few times more, as he's not planning on touring anymore.

• Labor Day was in September and my college roommate was back for a visit, so we drove into a suburb of Chicago and visited with her and her boyfriend and a friend of hers - it was pretty fun. We also started watching HBO's TrueBlood and hubby got me the 1-7 boxset of the books the show is based on for our 1 year wedding anniversary- needless, to say I'm hooked on the story! 
  
  Our anniversary was good, we went out to eat at Lino's, which is a really nice restuarant here in town, and exchanged gifts. First year of marriage kinda sucked though, as we had a lot of ups and downs, as you can see... I always heard the first year of marriage was the hardest, but I didn't really believe it until I experienced it myself. I figured we had spent enough time together, known each other for over a decade, and practically lived together a few months before the wedding, however nothing could have prepared me for this past year and all we went through - I wouldn't wish it on anyone! All I can say is, communication is key - without it, your marriage is doomed to fail and have problems. If you're not happy with your spouse or something in your marriage, simply talk to the other person and let them know - keeping it to yourself and dealing with it in your own way will only hurt it and make things far worse than they should be. Marriage is a partnership - you deal with problems together, not individually. And you can't deal with the problems if there is a lack of communication about how you're feeling.
  
  But onto the rest of the month!
  
  To finish out September, our kitty escaped from home very early one morning - we had the window in the living room cracked only maybe half an inch, to let the air circulate out there, since it had been so hot, however we think she saw something or was trying to get at one of the stray cats that come by and pushed open the glass panel more and busted out the window screen. They said most indoor cats don't go far from home, so we were making the rounds on our block several times a day, but with no luck. We found her roughly 56hrs after she escaped near the back of our apartment complex, hiding under a large plant. She was scared, dirty, and you could tell she hadn't eaten anything. It was pretty scary, having my baby gone and missing for that long though!
  
  We also decided to start house hunting, as we learned online that pending the mortgage rate we get, we could end up paying just as much for a mortgage and utilities as we currently are now to rent. We looked a few, and decided to go get pre-approved for a loan, however we hit a few roadblocks when it came to the credit portion that we needed to get cleared up first before the bank could approve us for a good loan amount - one of the major ones being that the GAP insurance from the accident in February didn't appear to cover the remainder of the car loan like we were told it would.
  

• Near the beginning of October I joined Mary Kay and have been doing pretty well with it. I enjoy having my weekly girl-time too with my unit. Hubby celebrated his 26th birthday at the end of the month too.
  

• At the beginning of November I responded to a job listing I found on Facebook for a seasonal cashier job at a Sears store in town. I had an interview and got hired on the spot and started about a week later. It was a pretty easy job... Thanksgiving this year was spent with my family, as we are alternating who's family we eat with each year. We also met up for lunch with some friends from out of town too which was nice. I worked the mid-morning shift of Black Friday at Sears. It was busy, but wasn't too bad. I stopped over at Walmart afterwards and finished up the rest of our Christmas shopping - everyone's presents were bought and wrapped by December 1st this year - it was nice not having to rush around and deal with the crowds this year!

• December wasn't too bad. I earned my Sapphire Star with Mary Kay, which was exciting! We went to our church's production of A Christmas Carol, which my mom was in charge of all the costuming, and we also took the train into Chicago with my family where we spent time at the outdoor German Christkindlmarket, eating authentic German food, then a visit to Macy's, Millennium Park, and window shopping on Michigan Ave. It was a fun time! I also had a girls night of baking Christmas cookies too! Christmas Eve was spent with my family as usual, and then we drove out to my inlaws' on Christmas day. Hubby also managed to pick up some overtime at work this month too. 

We don't really have any plans for New Years Eve, however I really do hope that 2010 is a much, MUCH better year than 2009 was.

I am planning on really pushing to get people to host Mary Kay facial parties, and we're hoping to have the majority of our 'extra' debt paid off soon and jump back into the house hunting pool before the end of January, since the credit stuff should be cleared up by then.

Here's to 2010!