The Annual Christmas Letter

Another year and I'm still working on this old house and still working at Cargill. But the old house has a new metal roof, new dormer and spiral stairs and I am now in hourly management at the plant instead of supply. I don't hear from Stormy but understand from Cami, her oldest daughter, my oldest granddaughter, that she is fine. Bryon is out in CA and likes it there in the L.A. area, he catches me on line now and then but our hours rarely match up. Ben is working carpentry in this area, and I see him some, he helped put the metal roof on my house and with the stairs and work in the attic. Jake is in Japan and our hours don't match often but I do catch him on line now and then. If he doesn't stay in the Marines, this should be his last deployment overseas. I am not making fast progress on the work here but have a great usable space in the attic now, it will be a while before there is a bathroom up there and walls, ceilings but it's insulated and I will work on it as I have funds and time. And I have great natural light and plenty of sewing space now. We've had rain so far and just a skiff of snow, tonight I had ice on the windshield to scrape before I could leave the parking lot. But we are not having a bad winter yet this year. It's been a long year but my foot is doing better, a brace from Hanger Prosthetic has helped a lot with work and pain but I am not ever going to dance or skip. I have come to terms with the life changes that accident has made in my life and my body but it's been a long and hard battle with some of that adjusting. I am also finding some ability to forgive and let go with some people, I don't know why I was lied to about financial issues but do feel that it was not done to deliberately deceive me and create a mess of my life or use me. I do know my life works for me, here and living alone. I don't want the demands or needs of another person on my shoulders at this time. Occasional playmate and company works well, can work with my job and my old house and my foot and it's pain issues. Finances are improving, not fast but at least there is some progress, I still have a huge amount of high interest credit debt but it is going down every month and I am paying extra on the house payment and it's paid early every month so that helps too. And I'm still dating the same man I have been for 10+ months, he lives a few blocks away and has been widowed for over 3 years now, retired and it's his camper we take camping and his garage that my little Honda passport is spending the winter in. Wishing one and all a very good holiday season and a good year to come.