Reflecting on 2011 In Some Fairly Inconsquential Ways

I was thinking today about some things that marked the year 2011 for me. So here we go... some of the random things that figured prominently in 2011 chez Desch:

1. The Johnny Cash Children's Album. This is a fabulous CD and has had much, much airtime at our house, starting in St Louis and continuing here.
2. Transitions of all kinds. From St Louis to Peoria to Teaneck, from a family of 4 to a family of 5, from student to pastor, from marginally sane mom to officially insane mom (mwahahahaha), from sedan to minivan, 1 car to 2 cars, from reasonable rent to ridiculous rent, from Grace & Peace to Grace Redeemer, etc.
3. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I could sing the theme song backwards in my sleep.
4. Missing friends. We said goodbye to so many dear friends in St Louis and it's hard to come from such a tight-knit community to starting over again in a new place.
5. Weather catastrophes and power outages. The snowpocalypse was forecasted in St Louis at the beginning of 2011, and although that was massively overblown, I'll still count it. New Jersey has held weather surprises, including a hurricane and fall blizzard, with several power outages of varying lengths thrown in for fun.
6. Library fines. Although fines are not particular to 2011, they were a continuing theme. I paid fines to close out accounts in St Louis, I paid fines in Peoria over the summer, and I'm paying fines in Teaneck. I actually discovered after we moved to Teaneck that I had packed a Peoria library book with our books. Dangit. You can believe I started getting notices about that. I paid the replacement fee and now it's ours. But I don't even like the book. The irony. Someone should name a library wing after me. Seriously.
7. Somewhat pathetic NFL watching. Usually we keep up with the NFL season religiously, but Peyton sat the whole season out and in Teaneck you watch either the Jets or the Giants. Period. It's been a bit of a downer season for us. But we're still watching the playoffs and cheering for the downfall of the Patriots, as usual. At least there's no opportunity for playoff heartache as usual with the Colts. I think I only listened to Mike & Mike twice the whole season. That is highly unusual.
8. Bad diet. This has been the year of the horrible family diet. We started packing the kitchen up in April, which led to a lot of Papa (Johns) in da house, then moved in with my parents where we let the boys have the full grandma and grandpa experience for a whole summer which meant lots of sweets, then moved to Teaneck and prepared to have a new baby in 6 weeks. That meant more pizza. Then Wren was born. At this point our new pizza place of choice (Victors) was practically on speed dial. Then we found this AMAZING licorice at Whole Foods. I would be content to be buried alive in it and forced to eat my way out for survival. Then we discovered how much we love bagels. Yeesh. One of my new year's resolutions was to start cooking again, and that means more than putting a hot dog in the microwave, pouring a bowl of cereal, pulling the wrapper off a lollypop, and preheating the oven for chicken nuggets. This is embarassing but I am in need of accountability. Please hold me to this.