The horrible, awful, terrible year...

2019 was the most horrible, awful, terrible year of my life and I have some doozies of bad years in my history.  I can hardly wait to be done with it and start fresh again with January's clean slate.  2020 is going to be a year of starting from scratch.

The first fresh start is a new place to live.  I've secured an apartment for me and Lightning and Gizmo.  We get to start moving in on December 27.  I don't have much to furnish or decorate with so the look is likely to be an ever-changing version of "Secondhand Chic" as I can upgrade our stuff.

One of the most exciting things about being fully on my own again is cooking my own food.  I've pretty much decided that my first meal in the new place is going to be soup.  But I keep changing my mind about what kind of soup it will be... Chicken Noodle?  Creamy Potato?  Navy Beans with Ham (and some cornbread)?

I'm also interviewing for a job that I'm really excited about.  It would be a huge departure from both my previous work experience and education but I KNOW I would make a heck of a good General Manager at a local Co-op that focuses on locally produced food and other goods.  The variety of foods being made close to home is pretty amazing with gourmet cheeses, maple syrup, lunchmeats, and honey topping my personal favorites.  It's so fun to discover more!

And I'm taking another stab at school... SNHU has a Master's of Counseling that I can enroll in for the quickly upcoming January semester and in 3-5 years have the credentials for LCSW licensure.  The distance between Maryland and New Hampshire presents some challenges but I'm hopeful they can be worked out.

My health also remains a focus area that carries over from the old year into the new.  There's still lots of fallout from the big PE (pulmonary embolism) event in November I'm thankful to have scored what's by far the best health insurance I've ever had in my whole life.  And I plan on taking advantage of that for as long as I can!

As if all that isn't enough... I really want 2020 to be a year filled with fun and adventure!  I want to see new places and try new things.  Things I've wanted to do for years but could never quite get done like learning to fly fish are at the top of my list.  If I can get the knees into shape I'd also like to bicycle the 15 miles of the GAP Trail that runs between Frostburg, MD, and Meyersdale, PA.  GAP means Great Allegheny (or Allegany since we spell it differently in Maryland than they do in Pennsylvania) Passage where it crosses the Eastern Continental Divide.  And I want to take a mushroom foraging class, crochet the temperature afghan that I worked so hard to track daily temperatures for all of 2018 and get my finances situated to buy a house in 2021.

Please help me stay on track by asking about these things throughout the year!