2012: The Year In Review

I'd like to start this off by saying Thank You.  To YOU, my blog reader.  You have made my life so much more fun in 2012.  Thanks for allowing me the privilege and opportunity of posting my exciting frugal finds.  Your positive feedback and fun observations have made it a thrilling experience.  Claire and I would still thrift, but being able to share is the thick, sugary icing on the cake..........and boy, do I love that :)  It was also a thrill to be able to talk to you in person, and have you comment on my posts.  Several of you sweet ladies have made comments about scarves, especially at the Secret Sister Reveal party.  My precious friend Kathy even bought me two gorgeous scarves for Christmas because of my posts.  That's win all the way around.

I'm a positive person.  I'm a 'glass half full' person.  9 times out of 10, I will work my darndest to turn a bad situation into a good one.  It MAY be the way I was raised, but it may also be in my DNA. 

That being said, I have, for the most part, tried desperately to post only the good stuff in 2012.  Try is the key word.  Sometimes I sadly failed.  Sometimes something hurt me so badly, I posted it anyway.  Mostly on Facebook, which then made me feel even worse because I felt like a teenage girl.  It was nice to get the love and support from various friends when I did, but I always felt guilty afterward, like I was lolling in 'attention-getting,' and geez, how I hate that.  LOOK AT ME!!!  I'M TICKED OFF!!  SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING TO RUIN MY DAY!!!  Oh, the internet.

Lots of you are saying this weekend, '2012, good riddance.  What a lousy year.'  Well............right there with you.

2012 ranks up (down?) there as one of the most trying for me and my family.  When I think of hard years, I will lump 2012, the years of my divorce and my father's passing all together.  No one in my immediate family got cancer or lupus, but we had hard times nonetheless.  Finances and work culminated in difficulties that drove me to my knees over and over.  September in particular was a month I had a running 'whine' thing going on with God.  My car rides were spent crying out to Him, asking for understanding and trying very hard not to be blasphemous in my anger.  

What possible good could come from a year like this?  Deep patience.  Deep gratefulness.  I became grateful for every single good thing that happened to my family and I, no matter how small.  I got stronger, and so did our marriage.   I am wiser financially than I have ever been before.  Things will definitely be streamlined and different in 2013.

I covered all my bases.........I tied up loose ends and did all I could for my relationships in 2012.  Unfortunately, more often than not, I was the one doing all the work.  That ends with the old year.  No amount of fruitless exhaustion and heartache justifies one sided effort.   Stepping back and taking a break emotionally is spiritual and just what needs to be done.

 

In conclusion, I'm looking forward to 2013.  It's going to be a fun year, as Claire and I expand on what we know and are still learning regarding frugal shopping and mindful fashion.  Thanks for reading and commenting!  We value your input!