Thursday 7 January 2010

New Year, New Decade, Another try

Well last year was crap, it was bad and then got worse.

The recession hit Ireland, and Derek and I were dragged in it head first. Derek lost his job in January and then struggled to find a new one only to be let down again and again. Our luxurious lifestyle took a hit when her went on claiming welfare and I took a 6 percent pay cut and got the regular ‘head down, work hard, be glad you have a job’ routine from the company.

To say the least blogging last year would have been one cry fest and I honestly didn’t want to put how bad things were going down in writing for all to see and for me to have to face.

Perhaps what I should have done was use this space to find three good things that happened each day and taken pleasure in the little things, the happy things, the positive things that I clearly needed. But hindsight is 20/20 and so now I can look back and say coulda shoulda, but more importantly woulda… going forward, start again, and try harder.

This year we have a lot to look forward to and what I need to do is think of these positive things and how we can only go up from 2009.

That being said, 2009 did have some good bits.

First, we have a much happier cat these days, after rather radical surgery in May. The poor devil’s ear infections were finally found to be caused by a tumor in his ear canal – not such good news – but I swear I saw the vet (whom we and the cat love) jump a little with joy when she saw the polyp, it was finally the solution to the problem that we had been dealing with since we brought him home.

I have become a huge advocate for Pet Insurance, something we continued paying the monthly cost when the three months free ran out, and for the first time I didn’t have to worry about costs of treatment or how I was going to afford to keep my little kitten. The deductible had already been paid so the surgery which was ugly wasn’t a worry except for the safely of the munchkin.

We collected him 2 days later and he looked like he got hit by a bus, face shaved, huge incision down the side of the face and paralysis of his eye and mouth. We were all worried about his recovery, Derek and me and the vet – and how was he going to manage with the cone but he bounced back after a few weeks and is now as good as new, no more pulling at his ears, drops or weekly visits to the vet – although I think he misses his Friday visits to see her!!

Another bit of good news last year is that Derek went back to school, and the government paid the fees for him to attend and continued paying his allowance while he continued to look for a job.

We went home in September and when we returned things were starting to look up, Derek started school and was hired at PC World in their customer care desk – somewhere I think compliments his school work in IT.

While we were in Montreal in September we took 1 week and planned a wedding, you name it is got done while we were there, dress bought, suits selected, cake tasted, reception approved and church taken care of! We were to most productive vacationers ever and returned with excitement for the big event taking place in June this year.

So what better excuse than a wedding to nominate 2010 as the year for change for the good. Derek and I – from the couch full of flu – said goodbye to 2009 and we weren’t going to miss it!

Hello 2010 and welcome! We home you’re as good as we hope!

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