Moving into another year...

...and I for one cannot wait!

Just a brief catch up from 2012, as it wasn't the best year of my life. 3 months of being so ill that I couldn't drive or pick any of my kids up, yet not so ill that I could be signed off work (although I'm the main breadwinner in our house so we couldn't afford that anyway), followed by the bombshell that 2 consultants suspected I had cancer. I then had an operation to remove the offending lump - and this sorry episode fortunately ended in a diagnosis of "necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis" (basically a virus so bad that my body couldn't fight it off so my lymph glands attacked themselves instead).

Several months of constant rain was pretty miserable too, but we all had that. A week's holiday which was meant to be relaxing - but our accommodation was totally minging, so much so that we very nearly went home. Lots more house problems, mainly damp related; oh, and the boiler and washing machine both went so a hefty bill there. I totally lost interest in my weight loss and fitness levels throughout the year, and sought more solace in wine than I should have done. And I didn't spend nearly as much time with my kids as I would have liked to.

But, and it's a huge but, the positives really do outweigh all the crap!

We had a wonderful family holiday in Greece, with Mr Moo learning to swim properly and continued his obsession with foreign food. He has done exceptionally well at school this year, his current teacher is wonderful and he enjoys learning immensely. Little Legs also started swimming lessons, and whilst she's still a huge challenge in many ways, she loves her mummy dearly and unconditionally and is very fond of bear hugs to demonstrate this. The Husband has been my rock through all the crap this year and still loves me for some reason!

In June I did Nightrider, which was probably the biggest highlight of my year; 100km cycling overnight through the streets of London, with only about a month of training, and raised a good amount for Camille's Appeal. There was the Olympics too which was partly held in our home town, and the kids did lots of activities specially laid on for it. We saw the torch procession and were blessed to have a visit from a fellow Nightrider who was also a torchbearer, complete with his torch of course!

Work has been good and my job is developing in a more interesting way. I've started to develop my own sense of style (only took me 40 years!) and generally feel more confident. We have had some excellent get-togethers with old and new friends and also spent a few weekends camping which is going to feature heavily in this year's activities.

But the biggest thing is that we have finally sold our house and are buying another one! After all the discussions and losing the place we fell in love with, we've plumped for a major renovation project! It's the only way we could afford the next step up, and it's literally round the corner from us - in fact we can see it from my office window! It will entail a month in a holiday rental until we at least fit a working bathroom, carpet and plaster the bedrooms and clear out 25 years worth of dog and cigarette smells, then a lot more work including walls coming down, new kitchen, changing rooms around and some structural stuff. Scary and exciting at the same time!


Phwew, that was longer than I planned - hope you all have a wonderful year folks!