Birthdays, Holidays, Dating, New Classes, Table Top, Etc. = Busy

So I haven't posted in a long time.  Basically since right before graduation and my birthday.  So I apologize that this post will be very out of order and the details won't be great.  Hopefully I remember most of what has happened.  Also, a few things here actually happened after my Jeju Trip but didn't want to include them in that post.  Enjoy. ^.^  Also, I want to say Congratulations again to my sister, Katy, as not only did she get into that awesome honors society (look at my last post), but she got a full scholarship to Dickinson Law School.  Congratulations, Katy! You earned it.  Also, the cherry blossoms were here and gone again.  They looked gorgeous as always.  I love cherry blossoms.  The ones near Greg's place were really nice.  Also, for those of you who know me, I watch a ton of anime.  Ever since I started dating again, I have to admit that even I am falling behind in anime.... yes, I just said that ... I am behind in anime. T.T

So I started with a class of seven but only had four graduate because all of them moved far away, one to Seoul, one to Malaysia, and one to America.  My kids worked hard for graduation and they did a good job.  They were really adorable and did well on their speeches.  You could tell some of them were really nervous.  Took pictures with the parents afterwards and I got some pretty flowers.  Poor Mellisa was sick the entire time so she was glad it was over.  I actually have Mellisa and Amy in first grade now.  Either way it went well and was a good end to another school year.

New classes began and I got the big 7-3 kindergarten.  Though it's a lot harder than the other kindergarten classes that I've taught, especially since it has a full class of ten, it is still enjoyable.  The class can be a handful but then again they are kids and any kid can be a handful.  But I like them a lot.  We are getting ready for Open Class at the moment and so we have more work than we normally do.  I can say with certainty we will all be less stressed when Open Class is over.  No more fixing decorations, practicing speeches, or doing extra art projects though I really like how our planet posters turned out.  Had to take a picture of them because I loved how they turned out. It's a lot of work for everyone involved.

Otherwise, I have two first grade students.  Most of them I have taught before which was nice.  My old first grade became my second grade and it's my easiest class because they are so smart.  When we did the Reading Championships, three of the four students in the class took most of the prizes.  I was so proud of them.  Sadly Ryan ended up going to another school for second grade but I hear he is coming back for third grade.  He actually wrote a pen pal letter to my mom and she wrote back.  His mom told my supervisor that he was showing all of his friends the letter from my mom.  He is the kid who will see me when I dress up, know I never dressed up, and be like, "Teacher, what happened to you?"

I had a low level third grade which was hard to teach after teaching advanced classes all day.  Laura did me a favor and took over that class because I ended up getting really sick and blacked out of the subway.  Really scared me and I'm lucky a nice Korean lady realized what was going on and pushed me into a seat.  I had known I was sick but if I had known it was that bad I would have had Greg take me home.  Sadly, I wasn't coherent enough to thank her before she got off the train.  Now Greg is on my case to take better care of myself and I ended up getting my supervisors worried too.  They still occasionally ask if I am having problems or how am I doing.  Though truth be told, even now I haven't fully recovered but I am much better than I was and keep improving.

Then my third and fourth graders combined into my current fourth grade.  I have a fifth grade newspaper class and another sixth grade literature class full of smart students.  Sadly, they don't enjoy fantasy as much as my old class did so I may have to make a lot more literature schedules.  For the most part my classes are going well.  As always, I scare a few students but that is normal and they usually warm up to me after getting to know me.  One of my first grade classes calls me Cat Teacher which honestly doesn't bother me as I love cats. 

So, let's talk about my very talkative new kindergarten.  I have ten students: Ashley, Bella, Cindy, Jordan, Jumee, Matthew, Maychel, Olivia, Sua, and Yebin.  I have a few sensitive kids, a few bossy kids, and a kid who's head seems to always be in space, which is fitting since we have a space decorated classroom.  Bella I have taught before in afternoon kindergarten and she is amused that she and my cat have the same name.  Olivia loves to talk and goes on and on that I have to tell her to slow down as I don't understand a word she is saying.  She also loves to write.  Cindy is really good at belly dancing, which I find to be an odd hobby for a kid but hey she loves it. Jumee leaves early a lot and Yebin and Jordan are late a lot but they seem to like class.  Matthew always has these crazy expressions on his face and seems to be always laughing.  Maychel's English is really good and she has an aunt in Texas who is in the army.  Sua is really smart and really understands the stories we read.

For our first field trip, we went to a Pororo play.  What I understood of the play, as it was in Korean, was that the car was looking for someone to play with and the dinosaur was having gas problems because he didn't eat healthy foods.  I remember a lot of spinning lights that made me dizzy as this was right after I blacked out but the kids enjoyed it a lot.  They have also been doing little dramas in class.  So far we have done Shoemaker and the Elves, Scary Dino, and now Gingerbread Man.  They like to sing the songs but sadly we haven't had much time to do the plays as we have been so busy with other things.  I'm so behind in that class T.T and I never seem to be able to catch up.

So the kindergarteners have started project class with polar bears which they loved.  They actually made the adorable polar bear hats with Hanna Teacher (who is really helpful when you need someone to help you when Korean is involved) but I helped take pictures.  Cindy seems to not like to take pictures when there are hats involved.  We also did the ice and fat activity again where they stick their hands in ice, one in a "fat butter bag" and the other with no protection to show how the polar bear's fat keeps it warm.  Though this time the kids talked me into doing it and yes, the water was very, very cold.  They wouldn't let me take the igloo down after we finished the polar bear unit.  Otherwise, we are doing jobs now and we made a career collage with lots of different jobs on it.  It turned out pretty cool.

I've had two birthday parties so far with my class.  (I wasn't joking when I said it has been a long time since my last post which was before my birthday.)  First was Olivia's and she made all these adorable curious looking faces as she watched Sunny Teacher set up the cake and all.  I think I took more pictures of her face than the actual party.  Then it was Yebin's birthday and she had a Frozen cake and a princess castle to set up with princesses and knights.  Probably the most elaborate birthday party I have had.  It was cute and all the kids wanted the Elsa plates except for Yebin.  Thankfully, there were enough Elsa plates for those who wanted Elsa.  The kids are so obsessed with Frozen that some even tried to hide their dirty Anna napkins to try and take home.

Speaking of Frozen, it is crazy here.  You cannot do anything without someone starting to sing Let It Go or some other Frozen song.  Thankfully, I actually like the songs, but it is distracting as you are trying to get work done.  The students, especially the kindergarteners, have Frozen everything.  They come to school wearing Frozen dresses (which I believe are actually pajamas) and when it first came out all the students would bring in the English lyrics to learn it.  And this includes older male students.  Kids are always trading Frozen stickers and you can't walk down the street without hearing Let It Go on some store's radio.  The kids give each other Frozen gifts for each others' birthdays, too.  If Open Class wasn't coming up, I would fully have expected the last song contest to be all Frozen songs.  It is that crazy. ^.^

Children's Day was our next big event and after doing all work, work, and no play, the kids deserved a break.  We had an all day event for the kindergarteners and did Market Day for the older students.  For kindergarten, we played games, did face painting, chased bubbles on the rooftop, had a rooftop lunch, and Song Contest.  My class was with Charles Teacher's class.  They enjoyed the bubbles and all the kids were coming up to me to try and make big bubble balls with my bubble gun.  I painted my students' faces which included a few snow flakes (as I said, Frozen is scary popular here).  Then we played Duck, Duck, Goose and musical chairs with hula hoops before lunch.  Thankfully I brought my own lunch as I don't eat kimbab and one of my student's didn't like it either so she had some of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  A water bottle flew into my head because it was so windy.  That hurt enough I accidentally said a word I shouldn't though thankfully none of the kids noticed.  Then we had Song Contest, and, as per usual, I volunteered to be the MC.  My class didn't place but I think they did a good enough job. 

After that, we had Parent's Day where we made paper carnations for the parents.  Following that was Teacher's Day where my kindergarten class spoiled me.  I actually got some pretty nice gifts though I am not exactly sure how to use them.  Not that I need gifts, but it is nice to know that the students and their parents seem to like me.  Sometimes you just can't tell.  I think that is most of the school stuff that has happened and now on to the stuff not related to school.  Remember that a lot of what follows happened intermixed with all this stuff as I can't remember well when I did certain things.  Hopefully I am not forgetting anything important. 

So as I said before, I met Anna and she introduced me to the table top crew.  Anna's birthday is near mine so we decided to have a joint birthday party.  We invited the table top gang and some of our co-workers to go to a galbi restaurant and then do karaoke.  Nathaniel came to join, too, and his gifts were perfect.  He didn't know that I had gotten a cat and had gotten me cat things (a stuffed tiger, fish stickers, fish shaped snacks, and a cat toy) as a joke.  He walked in and Bella practically jumps on the cat toy and he laughed, saying it wasn't quite the cat he intended the gift for but it worked out quite well.  I basically had him play with Bella as Anna and I got ready.  Wasn't quite sure where the restaurant was but we found it.  It was funny because Greg, the person who is usually last to show up, was first and already waiting for us.  Dinner went well and then karaoke.  It was nice to sing loudly and with a bunch of people.  The songs chosen by others weren't too bad and I was able to sing Eternal Snow in Japanese well enough. 

It didn't take long after the birthday party for Greg to ask me out on a date.  As always, I was clueless and had no clue that he had even noticed me though I knew I had liked him and was kind of my normal obvious self.  Anyway, he took me out to dinner and we started dating.  We've been dating two months now and I'm loving every bit of it.  I like feeling special and not having to make all the choices in a relationship. ^.^  If only he wasn't allergic to cats. T.T  At least he likes Bella and Bella likes him.  Sadly we have completely different schedules so I can only really see him on the weekends.  He is making me try a lot of new things and even better yet he likes video games and anime.  ^.^

Table top went well and I'm a little sad that it is over.  We finished off Shadowrun with a big magical showdown and of course I can't roll to save my life.  Not sure how I managed to survive with how badly I rolled.  But it was a lot of fun.  We also played a big of Adventure Conqueror King which basically has you looking for treasures to save up money and eventually try to become king of the world in which you play in.  We didn't get very far in it because we wanted to finish Shadowrun before Adam returned to America.  Now that Adam is gone, we haven't played, but I hope we get a chance to play again sometime, though perhaps not every week as I do enjoy having some down time where I don't have to think about plans every weekend.  Besides, my sleep schedule on weekends now is awful.  Hahaha.

Before Adam left, we did an Easter brunch with him, his wife Jessica, Greg, and Anna.  Kyle and Tony already had other plans.  Greg made cupcakes for everyone and the icing was so good.  He baked and I did the cleanup which works out well for me as I hate cooking and don't mind doing the dishes.  Greg also made cupcakes for when Adam left.  Either way, the Easter brunch was at a place called Craftworks and everyone else liked the food.  I didn't care much for the food but I enjoyed spending time with everyone and then having cupcakes on the roof of Greg's building. 

I took Bella to the vet for the first time and they did an x-ray to see if anything was causing her vomiting and gave her some vaccinations.  There weren't any problems, and the vomiting seems to just be a nervous habit sadly.  I will have to take her back to the vet to get her rabies vaccine updated.  I should have already done that.  T.T  I'm a bad owner sometime.  Maybe this Friday, since I won't be going anywhere Friday off and I now get off early at 5:30 on Fridays since I don't have the third grade class anymore.

Otherwise, I have been to more bars in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life.  We were trying to help a friend become more comfortable with meeting new guys and they needed a third person.  Why that third person is me I have no idea, probably just because I'd be around anyway.  Either way, it was an interesting experience for me and I tried a few drinks.  Some I liked, many I didn't but that's just how I am.  It was fun dressing up and I've been trying to add blue into my hair but I haven't figured out how to get it to stay in my hair.  It's mostly come out into my brush and fades way before I take a shower to wash it out.  At least it comes out easily and doesn't seem to bleed unless you are actually touching it.  I've used temporary dyes and they would bleed all over my face and into my clothes, so this chalk stuff isn't too bad. 

Anyway, I think that is most of what I have been up to other than the Jeju trip that I went on and that will be a separate post on its own.  Sorry for the long wait for those of you who actually read this.  ^.^  The next post should be about Jeju Island.

Getting Busy in the New Year

So I haven't posted since I went home for Christmas but I've been busy with little things.  I don't think anything major has happened and the events I am about to mention are not in order.  I should remember to post more often .... ^.^  Let's see what I can remember.  So the Lunar New Year was coming up (end of January) and I wasn't doing much when Megan asked if I wanted to join her for a short trip to Yatap to buy some things off of a girl who was leaving Korea.  I didn't have any plans (like always) so I went with her only to run into a girl who both Chris and Megan say could be my twin personality wise.  For those of you who know me, I'm not exactly interested in what most people my age are interested in and it was great to find someone who had the same interests as me.  Her name is Anna and we have hung out a lot since. 

Before Lunar New Year, I met up with a Korean guy named Yong Jun who I had been talking to before on Kakao Talk after getting his contact information on Tinder though I didn't keep the Tinder application for long once I realized it was primarily a casual dating site.  It was the first time I met someone via the internet and I was a bit nervous about that but it turned out alright and I made sure to stay in public places.  Besides, it's a nice way to meet new people and it was better than staying in all the time.  We talked for a good long while after lunch and he was friendly enough.  He knew a lot about a lot of different topics so we didn't run out of things to talk about.

Anyway, Lunar New Year came so we had a four day weekend.  The kids wore their awesome Hanbuk and said Happy New Year to the teachers in English and Korea and of course bowed.  I love the bowing .... it is just so adorable.  Over Lunar New Year, Chris, Anna, and I went to the cat café that has my favorite cat in it.  It will be the most memorable and worst trip to the cat café I have ever had.  Right off the bat, one of the cats peed on my jacket.  Then because of the smell, two other cats came and peed on it, including my favorite cat. T.T The employees only noticed it the one time.  Let's just say I don't have a strong desire to visit a cat café any time soon though that is okay because I also have my new cat, Bella.

A funny little side story about Lunar New Year.  I was buying groceries because I knew that most places would be closed for a day or two and ended up buying two much food.  Anyway, I was carrying like 5 or 6 bags (I usually only buy three bags worth and one of those bags are my backpack) and could barely carry everything.  The Koreans were very helpful though, one took the coin out of my cart for me.  Another took some of my stuff on the bus and this older man would have carried my stuff home for me if we hadn't been going in opposite directions.  It just surprises me how nice some people are and I really wish more people were like that. 

After that, Anna introduced me to table top.  Table top is basically a game where you do missions to get money and karma (at least the version we are playing) and try to survive.  You use dice to see if you succeed in your ventures or fail.  It's basically dungeons and dragons if you have ever played that but we play a different story line called Shadowrun where we are hired but major companies that rule the world to do different missions.  Mostly, the idea is to complete the mission and get out though we end up having a lot of explosive fights along the way.  My character is a beast shaman with a wolf named Rhian and I can summon animal spirits and fight with magic.  Though my favorite spell is Chaotic World because it confuses the enemy which means they use less dice.  It's a lot of fun and I now do it every Sunday until the end of April when Adam, the game master, leaves Korea.  Kyle, Tony, Greg, and Anna play with us and we even had Kyle's brother join us for a few games.  Anna writes up her version of the story later.  Check out Anna's story here.

 

Right now at work we are getting very busy with preparing for graduation.  I am attempting to teach Nathan's and my classes an umbrella dance that Joanne made for Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.  It's cute but the kids can't focus long enough to do it right and its complicated because the boys and girls do different things.  I have trouble remembering it all so I can only imagine how hard it is for them.  We will get new classes soon, which I hope to find out more about next week as I don't know what classes I have yet.  Though I do know I will be losing my literature class. T.T  I love that class.  Anyway, it is definitely going to be a busy few weeks with graduation, a few birthdays (including mine), and new classes starting. 

Last, and the most exciting news so far, is that I finally got my cat Bella.  She is currently sleeping on my bed and is definitely a cuddle kitty.  She likes to sneak under the covers or sleep on my clothes.  Thankfully my allergies aren't acting up too badly.  I'm sure it will take her a few days to get used to living with me but she seems to have adjusted well so far.  She is eating and drinking, and using the litter box which are all good signs and I don't think she has gotten sick yet ... at least not that I have noticed.  Either way I have only had her one day and I can honestly say that I am enjoying having a cat again in the apartment, even if I do have to make a few adjustments to how I am at home like putting the toilet seat lid down or not closing the doors.

 

 

Also, I just want to mention how proud of my sister, Kat Dales, I am.  She is graduating college this year from McDaniel college and is getting ready for law school.  She is in the top 1% of all graduating college students in America this year and got excepted into the exclusive Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, a selective honor society that only selects the best of the best.  Past members of this society include 17 US presidents and 38 Supreme Court judges.  Congratulations Kate!  I'm so proud of you.

Home for Christmas

So my big surprise for my family was me flying home for Christmas and my parent's wedding.  My mom knew and she had to tell my sister but I did manage to surprise a few people.  This of course meant a very long flight on Christmas though I thankfully didn't have to get up early.  Getting to the airport was easy and, as always, I was there early.  I had only taken a backpack and my purse because I had short layovers and I didn't want to risk missing anything.  So the first part of the flight was 12 hours and I sat by a Korean lady who actually worked in Maryland.  It was ironic because I happen to be from around that area myself.  We talked a lot and, though I tried to sleep, I was too excited to get any rest.  The second part of the flight was only an hour but there were some delays to deice the plane before we take off.  I don't mind safety delays though I definitely was ready to get off the plane.  I sat next to a nice family and a lot of people let me go earlier so I could rush to see my family.

So my mom told my sister earlier than necessary and spoiled the surprise for her but for the most part people were enjoying the surprise.  Nancy's family knew because someone had to stay with Fred while they went to get me.  We got lost on the way back because mom kept talking to me and missing the turns.  We finally got there and I was running on only 30 minutes of sleep in the last 27 hours (by the time I went to bed anyway).  We had Fred close his eyes and I snuck in and said, "Merry Christmas, Dad."  His eyes flew open and he started crying.  I knew he would. ^.^  Let's just say he easily forgave my mom for being late.  We stayed for a bit and had some Christmas dinner and eventually went home because I was running on pure adrenaline at that point. 

Before we got home we made a quick stop at the Benecewicz household to surprise them.  Andrew was surprised, of course, but Pat takes the cake on that one with his "Oh My God!"  To be honest, he sounded like a teenage girl which is what made it so funny to hear.  We stayed a bit to take pictures as it had been a long time since the four of us, "the kids" as mom calls us, had been together all at once.  It wasn't too late by the time we got home thankfully.  The cats of course were mad at me and wouldn't give me the time of day.  T.T I fell asleep pretty quickly once I was home.

My mother hadn't been planning on wearing a wedding dress for her wedding but my sister and I forced her to go dress shopping.  She was worried about none of the dresses looking good on her and money and stuff like that.  But Kate and I insisted because she always told us that her one regret was never wearing a wedding dress during her first wedding.  She was always going on about how we had to wear one when we get married .... not that I expect that to be any time soon for either my sister or I.  Of course my mom teared up at the first dress.  All three dresses looked good on her, especially the first and the third.  We had to find a smaller size, but we went with the first traditional white dress that she tried on.  With a lot of help from my sister, we pulled our resources together and got the dress for her.  I think at this point she really realized that she was getting married.  ^.^  The dress is really nice and I hope it gets passed down to Kate (well if she wants it that is).  David's Bridal was really good to us and even gave us $60 worth of free pictures for the wedding.  Yay!

We went out to lunch before heading back to meet Kate's boyfriend, Phil.  We went up to see Fred at some point and I got a purse as a Christmas present from Nancy which was really handy as it was bigger than my purse and I needed just a little more space to bring everything back with me.  We had a second Christmas dinner with Phil.  I found out the hard way that his is extremely allergic to poinsettias.  Sorry Phil! T.T  I seem to have been bad luck to him this week. 

The next day, with Phil's help, my sister and I went up to get my grandmother's things from the nursing home.  Mom hadn't been able to handle doing it herself, so we went ahead and took care of it.  She had a lot more stuff than I had initially thought and we really should have taken the truck.  So Kate and I were packed with two boxes on each of us and Phil could barely see.  But we managed to get it all in and head home.  They were nice enough to stop at Gamestop to fix my new 3DS which was just missing a sim card.  Go figure it was something as simple as that.

On Saturday, we surprised Brandy and Justin.  We made sure the baby was safely on the couch at this point so she didn't drop it when I came out.  She cried and at this point I actually surprised myself and started tearing up as well.  So I finally got to meet my niece, Payton, who I actually held despite her still being a baby.  Brandy had to get a picture of it just to prove that I did in fact hold the baby.  Haha, my dislike of babies is definitely well known, yet I do like kids.  Go figure.  Anyway, they visited a while and my mom had made homemade lasagna (yum, and that took a while which made it take 3 hours to finish a 2 hour Christmas movie the night before, haha).  Andrew and Chris had come over to visit too.  I managed to dig out my two manga totes for Brandy to take with her as I won't be using them for a while and someone might as well get use out of them.  It would be a waste for them to sit in storage.  Though I tried to get Chris to help me, I find that he had no upper body strength and Andrew had to help me carry the heavy totes up the stairs.  It was kind of amusing as Chris has gotten really big since the last time I saw him.

Sunday was when Austin and Liz came to visit and Liz finally gave me my nice frame with lots of pictures of us on it that was to have been my graduation present though she hadn't finished it in time.  Better late than never.  Dara and Jon sadly didn't make it but Dara's book did come in the mail, so I brought it back with me and will have to check it out when I get the chance.  We mostly watched different types of Cinderella movies as it was a marathon on TV and talked a bit.  It was kind of cold and rainy that day so I didn't want to go anywhere.  Sadly they both had to work the next day so couldn't stay for too long.

So Monday was the wedding day and we had a lot to do.  We went out to buy some last minute things and I finally got the hair cut I needed.  Since I was there anyway, I had them style my hair a little after they trimmed the dead ends and thinned my hair out.  Though it doesn't look like it, I actually have thick hair.  The girl styled it in a French twist which was an interesting style.  Not what I would normally choose but it worked.  Both my sister and I had old black and while prom dresses that we still fit into so that's what we were wearing for the wedding.  The flowers were really pretty with some earth tones and lilies which are my personal favorite.  There was even some purple flowers which was nice as it suited Fred.  They even through in a free boutonniere (not sure how to spell) since they had an extra flower.  Dawn came over to do mom's hair which looked great.

The wedding was a small event at Nancy's house.  The minister came and I liked how friendly he was and his motto that their was never enough money as it really is true.  We weren't allowed to see the wedding room which Nancy and some others helped decorate so we were in charge of helping mom get dressed and she looked great.  We took some pictures as we waited for Fred to finish getting ready.  I don't remember what but something made me laugh and then I couldn't stop laughing.  Then the wedding began and Fred began crying when he saw mom in her wedding dress.  The wedding itself was short, and mom accidentally blew out the candles too soon.  *shakes head* Regina and Cassidy took care of the rings and lots of people were taking pictures.  Sadly a lot of pictures on my camera turned out blurry but I'm sure others got some great pictures.  The only downside was they put the wrong icing on the cake, which was sad because mom had been really looking forward to that part.  Kate and I were the bride's maids and Kellie was the matron of honor.  Dawn was in charge of pictures.

After the ceremony, we all ate and then started packing up the car.  Dawn took some time to decorate the car and though mom wasn't feeling well, it was a good night.  It just figures that she gets to be sick for her wedding day.  We took a bunch of stuff home for mom to figure out what she wants to keep.  It was a great night.  I have to be really thankful to everyone who helped make this a real wedding despite Fred being ill.  Nancy got the rings, and Kim took care of the catering.  My sister and I helped with the wedding dress and Nancy decorated.  Eddie took care of getting Fred ready and there were a lot of other people helping in their own ways the entire time.  My mom and Fred are really blessed with a great family as I never really knew how much until this wedding.  Thank you everyone for making my mom and Fred's wedding a day to remember.

I feel like I just got home and I have to fly back again.  Time definitely went by quickly.  I basically spent both Christmas and New Year's Day on a plane.  Ironically the family that had been on my flight from Detroit to Baltimore were also on my same return flight from Baltimore to Detroit.  I was surprised to see them again.  There was an hour delay due to deicing the plane but Megan was still at the airport to pick me up when I got back.  Thanks Megan!  And then I posted the pictures for my mom and *cough* may have updated her facebook while I was at it before crashing for the night.  I have a lot of anime to catch up on over the weekend that I didn't watch while I was home. T.T

As a new year begins, I have to say that though bad things have happen over the year, it has been a pretty decent year so far.  I still have a job which is always good, and I should have one for at least another year.  I was in three different countries this year (South Korea, Japan, and America).  I have a new niece who I finally got to meet.  And I hear that many of my friends are doing well, too.  And of course, my parents finally got married.  I'm sure there will continue to be bumps along the road this next year but I'll figure them out as I get to them.  Happy New Year Everyone!  And thanks for reading my blog this past year.