A Look Back, with Fondness: 2009

As I was trying to catch up on my favorite blogs, I stumbled across a December post from an excellent one, Pilgrim Steps, about a year-end meme. And while, yes, it is February, I decided to look back on the fabulous year that was 2009.


1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Got married! Went to California and Yosemite National Park!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made any for 2009. I did make one for this year - to get to work earlier - and I'm not doing so hot.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not any of my closest friends - they all did in 2008 and back. Some got pregnant in 2009, though.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness. But people that I care about lost loved ones.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the United States.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Two working showers in the house.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
5/09/09 - my wedding day.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Training our puppy Murphy to be the lovely dog that she's becoming.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn't exercise at all - seriously.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing worth writing about.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our wedding (of course, I didn't purchase it alone, but it was definitely money well spent).

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Murphy's - such a good girl.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People who kill children. I don't think I will ever comprehend.

14. Where did most of your money go?
The wedding!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My honeymoon!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
"Swing," by Savage. For some reason it became my and Kyle's theme song. (Ignoring the actual lyrical content, of course)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?

1. Just as happy



2. Fatter, most likely.



3. Poorer, but not in spirit.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Running

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Tossing and turning in bed.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family: Kyle's first, then driving to Palatka and spending time with my parents, my brother and his wife, and my husband. :)

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Yes, again and again.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
"No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.

24. What was the best book you read?
I can't remember reading a "best" book.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I didn't really have one.

26. What did you want and get?
A meaningful, lovely wedding and honeymoon.

27. What did you want and not get?
Fitter.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
"Coraline"

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 36 and frankly, I don't remember what I did. It came after the wedding and the honeymoon, so probably nothing too exciting.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had made it to Maine.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
A little too casual.

32. What kept you sane?
Kyle, cooking, an awareness of how lucky I am.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Obama.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Health care.

35. Who did you miss?
My Nana Knight.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anyone new in 2009.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
That the only thing good about missing someone is that it brings the realization of how deeply you loved that person and how much they loved you.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Every long, lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true:
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Two Hairy Situations

It was late Sunday morning and I was enjoying lunch in the den with a last cup of coffee. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, so Kyle was outside working in the yard.

I had just turned my laptop on when Kyle came in. He went into the living room and came back.

Calmly, he asked, "Have you been sitting there for a while?"

"Yeah, actually, I have. Why?"

"Come see what Murphy did in the living room."

Oh God. I figured she must have peed on the "dog couch" in there again (marking it? Who knows), but as I turned the corner into the front room, I saw a brand-new type of naughtiness:

She had uprooted Kyle's six-foot corn plant from its pot in front of the window, and dragged the entire plant--with most of its soil, apparently--onto the couch. That dark spot on the cushions isn't a shadow--that's dirt.

As we stood there, staring silently, Murphy wandered in. She had this look on her face, like, "Heeeey . . . so, you noticed the plant, huh?"

Stonefaced, Kyle said, "I'm not dealing with this right now," and walked out of the house.

Which was probably for the best, anyway. I yelled at the dog for a while, in the hopes that the yelling would communicate this was not considered appropriate behaviour. She wisely retreated to the back yard to think about her actions.

After thirty minutes or so of sweeping, scooping, replanting, and vacuuming, everthing looked pretty much the same. (Here I insert a shout-out to our "Gardening in a Minute" Flickr photo set, Repotting Indoor Plants) Of course, the plant is now leaning a little, and the pothos plant that was growing at the base of it is much, much smaller. I did take a few pieces of the pothos and put them in water; hopefully they'll root. And while the couch cushions are not clean, exactly--they're clean enough for the dog, anyway.

There are two lingering mysteries: one, why now? That plant had been sitting in that same exact spot for a few weeks. And two, how did I not hear her knock it over? I didn't have the television on or anything. Weird.

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I promised a photo of Kyle in his beard, and I got one just in time--he plans to shave it off when he returns this weekend from his trip down to Polk County (he's helping our friend Greg with a BBQ competition).

I took it with my iPhone last night at Hooters trivia:

He grew that in a week. Seriously.

My puppy's all grown up...

Wow, exactly a month since I last posted. How unprofessional of me! The holidays will do that to you. And by "holidays," I mean "college football."

I was looking at some new photos I took of Murphy, and I can't get over how different she looks now, compared to when we picked her up in July at 8 weeks old.

Her first photo (by phone) on the way home, the day we picked her up:

Later that month:


In August, after getting spade (thus the bandage on her arm from the anesthesia):

In September, at a house party for the UF-Tennessee game with a friend of ours (being silly - he didn't know I had the camera!) :

In October, in our front yard:

In November, another house party, which was ostensibly for the SEC Championship game, but turned into a dog party:

Last night, playing tug-o-war with Reggie:

When we first got Murphy, she was a little puff of fur with stubby legs and tiny ears. A friend called her "something that falls out of the dryer." Many others commented that she looked like a little bear. And then her snout lengthened (and became adorably freckled), her legs stretched out, and her ears grew as well. Our little bear cub is a dog now.

I think she's in an awkward "middle school" look now, but soon, I think she'll look a lot like her mama, Ruby:

Death of a Loquat Tree (with bonus puppy photo!)

We have several loquat trees in our back yard. Also known as Japanese plums, these trees are a pretty common sight around here, almost to the point of invisibility - you kinda stop noticing them. Until something weird happens.

I'm poking around with the dog in the back yard a few days ago and notice that one of the loquat trees is looking, well, pretty bad. Every leaf is drooping and turning brown. What's weird is that there are two more on either side of it - and they look great! They're actually flowering right now.

Not my best work, but here are two of the trees - the dying one is on the left:

A close-up of the leaves:


The other healthy tree:


I brought a leaf in to Kim, our Master Gardener, but it's really hard to tell what's ailing a tree by one brownish leaf. There's no sign of insect damage, which would lead me - in all my ignorance - to believe it's a disease affecting this tree. So why just the one? We must have seven or eight loquat trees in the back yard.

If we were to figure out what the problem was, I hope it's an inexpensive cure. Kyle doesn't really like the loquats for some reason, and has been talking about taking them down. Luckily, he's got an invasive mimosa and some dangerously close pine trees on his to-do list now.

In a completely unrelated story, my puppy!

Just chillin' on the front lawn with Kyle. I can't believe how big she's getting. Not a pokey little puppy anymore, sigh...

Although not a grownup dog, either. This morning I stumble out of the bathroom to see that Murphy has thrown up on the bedroom carpet (for some reason she never chooses to do this on the tile). This is not the first time this has happened, and in fact, it's the same stuff - pine bark, leaves, but with a new addition - some fiber from a toy she destroyed at a friend's house the previous evening.

Not the best way to start your day. But then I look at her and she's just so damn cute.

To use a phrase that's becoming very popular in our household, damn dog.

Puppy Hell

Our puppy is a vampire!

Miss Murphy is slowly draining the life out of us. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: How the hell do parents of real-life babies do this? Kyle and I are exhausted and cranky, and all we've got a dang dog.

A dog that won't sleep at night. That chews on everything except the toys we give her. Whose teeth are like tiny ceramic razors. Sigh...

I'm not sure if I've even blogged about getting a dog, now that I'm thinking about it. Kyle's been wanting an Australian shepherd for years, and I've been putting him off. First a house, then a wedding, then the dog. I can only handle one major life-altering event at a time.

So Miss Murphy Brown was born May 1, and we picked her up June 27. That's right - a little over a week, and we're in despair.

I don't think Kyle really thought about how time-consuming this stage of puppy-hood is. You have to keep an eye on them at all times or they're all over the place, leaving a path of destruction in their cute, fuzzy little wake.

But she's pretty dang cute: