Happy New Year to all

First, we want to wish our friends and family a very Happy New Year. 2008 is going to be a great year. I'm sure of it.

We had quiet holidays spending time with the kids and resting. We snuck in some work too. We caught up with a stuff in the house. Since Bob is self-employed he has lots of trouble slowing down.

Bob worked too much and we squabbled about it. The kids alternated between being very demanding or becoming zombies by television. We rented DVDs and tried to fit in some time outside when it wasn't raining. We limit them to 1/2 hour or less a day with more on the weekends. It's just not feasible on a very wet long winter break.

We did more cooking and eating than usual. We made some treats and some traditions. We made Latkes to instill the tradition even though neither of my kids like them. We made cookies and brownies--big surprise--they do like them. I made a few experimental journeys in the kitchen. Thanks to Cooks Illustrated, I learned how to make French Onion Soup from scratch and Almost No-Knead Bread. The soup was amazing and I will make it again. The bread was still too much fuss for me. Since bakeries with good bread abound, it is better to leave bread to the professionals.

We caught up on some reading and crafting. The kids did some painting with watercolors and of course I knit. I'm catching up on several projects and trying to resist starting new ones. Even so, I started a simple Aran vest for Owen. I'm nearly done with the back. And, Zoe is really enjoying the Harry Potter books. She is deep into book five.

Bob & I celebrated the anniversary of our marriage in style with two kids in tow at a local fish restaurant. No, it was not romantic, but at least we were together. We will have many more with just the two of us. Our kids will have their own agendas. For now it's the awesome foursome.

Of course there were some missing things, first we missed all of you. And, we wished for snow. Even though we desperately need the rain here, we were sad that it didn't snow.

101st post

My last post was my 100th post. I meant to mark the occasion but I couldn't come up with anything clever. Then a lot of time lapsed. And, now I'm ranting again.

The reasons are many, and typical. My doctor had me worried for three weeks about some blood work. I had some nasty, brutal dental work with more to come. I got stressed out from that and then got sick. I enrolled in yet another computer class (Dreamweaver). My new job is harder. The book club I joined is reading interesting books that I feel compelled to read.

My kids are being extra difficult. Owen is screaming all the time. He's waking up screaming about missing blankets and scary monsters in his room. Zoe is having trouble with school. She avoids and deliberately looses her homework every week.

I had to go on a stressful, freezing business trip to New York City. The average temp was 12 degrees with a terrible wind bring it to -12 degrees. Even though I'm from Boston, I can't remember ever being so cold. And, my return flight was a nightmare. The plane was broken, and we had to get off, wait, wait, wait and wait. Then rush to another airport and try to get home. That flight was full, and then delayed. Are you surprised to learn that I threw up on the plane, and in the parking garage, and again in my car? (Their barf bags do work surprisingly well.)

And, my husband is working too much, and traveling more. Oy vey!

Of course, the things that I drop are exercising, sleeping, blogging, and knitting...not necessarily in that order. Just all the things that I do to help me relax.

knitfix

I'm moving my knitting blog content to a new blog:
knitfix.

The Dot Com Family blog will focus on our family with a focus on our kids. Feel free to read both blogs.