End of Year Questions 2016 Edition

Hello Swappy Friends :) The questions below are for a new swap being hosted by thebragal over on swap bot. For more complete details click here 😊

End of year questions

1. What did you do in 2016 that you had not done before?
  I did find and join swap-bot and that has been incredibly fun. I love "meeting" new people. We went to an apple orchard at the end of September and got to pick our own apples and go on a wagon ride. I let my son pick his own halloween outfit. (deep sigh) He is now 4 so had a lot of opinions on the matter. lol
2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions/goals for the year and will you make/set more for next year?
 What are the goals? What are your new ones?  I never seem to keep them. I always start out with the best intentions and make it a few months but then it all fizzles out. My resolution ever year is to lose weight and keep it off. Overall I did lose some weight and keep it off but to be honest it wasn't due to "trying" to do it. It was more due to health issues and finding out that I am diabetic now so I HAVE to watch my sugar/carb intake. That alone has helped me lose 30 lbs this year but I've not really changed my exercise routine which consists of NOTHING.  I think this year I will just try to be aware of my diet and try to make better choices. That seems much more doable.  Also for 2017, I want to get more sleep. I normally go the bed around 1 or 2 am then have to get up at 7:30am for work. That really isn't enough sleep. I also want to stop stressing about the small stuff. To pick my battles and stop worrying about the things I can't change. I want to make it the whole year through with my heART journal, I only made it two months before I missed a few weeks and once I miss time I have trouble making myself restart. I want to have a family game night every week. I want to save money for real.  I think that is enough for now :) 
3. Did anyone you know give birth? Or become pregnant?
 I know a few ladies from work that gave birth or became pregnant but no one I know personally in my day to day/week to week real life. 
4. Did anyone you know die? Or have a serious illness?
 A bunch of my husband's dad's cousins and such passed away but I'd never met them before. No one in my family got sick or passed away, thank the Lord! 
5. What places have you visited?
 We went to Lawrence Orchards and to the Renaissance Fair this year. We didn't really do much traveling type places. My husband doesn't get much vacation at work. 
6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016 (doesn't have to be a physical thing)?
 I'd like to have less stress and a more harmonious marriage. I'd like to rebuild my savings account. I'd like to finish at least one room in my house completely!! 
7. What date from 2016 will remain etched in your memory and why?
 I can't remember the exact date but a big event that happened in our life this year is that we found a huge bee's nest in the ceiling of our kitchen and had to move out of house for a few days and live in our camper. The whole ceiling how to be ripped out so that hive could be removed and the bees removed. That totally freaked me out!! 
8. What was your biggest achievement this year?
 I guess I would say losing the 30lbs. But I don't know if I can technically call it a achievement since I didn't actively set out to do so. But  I was able to walk around the whole 30acre renaissance festival without any pain this year. It was an incredible day and I enjoyed it so much more. 
9. Did you get sick or injured? How about your family?
 I got a really bad case of bronchitis that landed me in the hospital for two days. They couldn't keep my oxygen level high enough and the prescriptions my doctor gave me weren't working, weren't potent enough. It took a day and a half of intravenous antibiotics to finally kick the bronchitis out of my system.  As far as my family, my son had several trips to the emergency room because he kept putting tic tacs up his nose. Grrrr..... We have a no tic tac rule in our house now and they aren't even allowed to be bought. 
10. What was the best thing you bought?
 In May we bought a brand new 2016 Subaru Forrestor. It was one of the happiest days of my year. Previously we'd been driving a 2005 Chevy Cavalier with out 140,000 miles on it! I'm so spoiled, I'll never be able to go back to driving a normal car again. 
11. Where did most of your disposable income go (money leftover after you pay for food, transportation and shelter)?
 Honestly most of my spending money went to postage. Since I've joined swap bot I went a little crazy with the swaps. One month I actually spent $200 on postage. My husband was not a happy person!
12. What song will always remind you of 2016?
 Chainbreaker by Zach Williams. It's my anthem! :) Here's a link to the youtube of the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGYjKR69M6U
13. What do you wish you would have done more of?
 Gone to different activities in my area. I wanted to do more festivals and sight seeing. I'm a total homebody so I love to just relax at home on my days off but I also love going to festivals and such like that and I only did 2 things like that this year. Hopefully in 2017 I will do more. 
14. What do you wish you would have done less of?
  Worry about things outside of my control. Let other peoples negative attitudes drag me down. I am normally a very happy and optimistic person but I found myself being "angry" a lot this year. 
15. What was your favorite new TV program? Movie? Album/Songs? Or if you didn't pick up any new ones, what are you still watching/listening to?. My favorite tv for the year: Designated Survivor and MacGyver. My favorite movie of the year is "Fastastical Beasts and Where to Find Them". Other then the song I mentioned in question 12, I've not listed to much music. I do love the Sirius XM in my subaru and I found a great channel that plays christian music all day so I love that. (Channel 63)
16. What was the best book you read this year?
 How many did you read? I've probably read over 200 books thing year. I tend to read A LOT!! I get free books every day on bookbub.com so I have over 200 more to read that I've got for free. It is hard to narrow it down to the best book I've read this year, though I will have to say that the one that stands out in my mind right now is a series I found called "From Away" by Deke Mackey Jr. It is a great series and you can still get the first book for free on Amazon for kindle. There are 3 more books in the series and the fifth is being wrote. They run $2.99 for the kindle version. 
17. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? Did you feel differently?
 I turned 41 on my birthday and I didn't do anything different. I didn't feel anything different. I think once you get to a certain point that nothing changes. It's just another day. I can't remember if we did anything. Probably not since I don't remember. 
18. What political or social issue stirred you the most?
 I don't get involve in politics. I don't watch news. I don't care for all the social bickering and back biting so I remove myself from it. I'm quite happy living in my self imposed bubble. I don't need to know about all the social atrocities and hatred that is out in the world that it daily touted on the news as "news". 
19. Who was the most interesting new person you met? I've not "met" anyone new. But a new pen friend I found this year is a woman named Heather. I totally admire her and we've developed a friendship where we write back and forth. It's nice. I'm honestly not good at maintaining friendships. I'm kind of a out of sight out of mind kind or person. It's not that I don't care about them anymore it's more that I'm very independent and private and don't really open myself up to other people. 
20. What changed at your job?
 They announced that most of the work force is going to be switched to WORK FROM HOME like I am. So our whole crew will be sitting at home in our pjammans. lol 
21. What changed in your home?
 We got the kitchen partially remodeled. What was once a dining room and a kitchen is now a huge open space. We also removed the double doors between the living room and those two rooms. Now it's all open and makes the house feel larger. I redecorated my bathroom myself with my husband doing the actual installations of the new sink and commode. I think it really looks elegant now. I totally love it! I also instituted a bunch of organizational procedures in our home. 
22. Describe how a relationship changed.
 I'm going to skip this one because I am trying to stay positive and I was taught that if you have nothing nice to say then to keep your mouth shut. lol
23. Do you think you are still the same person that you were at the beginning of the year?
 I hope not. I feel that I've become a slightly better person or at least have strived to. I immersed myself more in my faith and have become an active participant in my church where I used to just sit on the side lines. 
24. Summarize the year in three words or less. Bonus points for doing it in one word. Explain.
  GONE . The past year flew by so fast that I blinked and it was gone. 
25. How have people around you changed?
 Everyone changes. Kids get older and more independent. Parents get older and you worry more about them. Friends move away and you lose track of them or have to work harder to maintain them. 
26. What have you learned throughout the year? (Other than crafts)
 Too many people feel the need to shove their opinions down your throat and feel they have the right to comment on things in your life. I've learned to ignore them and to move on. You will always find naysayers in every aspect of your life. It is up to us how we let them affect us. My one tip for a happier self is to remember that by stooping to their level you are actually making them HAPPY and FULFILLED because they are getting satisfaction out of making you feel bad. If you ignore them it actually stops them in their tracks. It's hard for them to maintain an arguement with no feedback. Let them have the last word. In the end you are actually winning because you are not losing your happiness.  
27. What was your favourite outfit for warm weather? Cooler weather?
 I'm not really a fashionista..lol I tend ot wear the same things all year long. Jeans and a tshirt or shorts and a tshirt. I wear a lot of geeky tshits like Marvel Avengers, or Spiderman. Truthfully since I work from home I tend to wear mostly pjamma bottoms or sleep pants. I only dress up for church on Sunday and that just involves jeans and a nice blouse. 
28. Did you learn any new crafts or techniques? What was your favourite thing you made?
 I've not really learned any new craft techniques. I am trying to improve my drawing. I'm not at all artistic in that way. I wish I was so I am trying to follow along with the drawing tutorials I see on the youtube channel FUN2DRAW.  If you look further into my blog you will find a drawing I did of Harley Quinn. ( Once I publish that entry..lol) 
29. What changed about your physical appearance? (Hair? Wrinkles? New makeup style? Etc)
 Oh my. I totally butchered my hair!!  I was having a bad day and my hair was driving me crazy so I cut my own hair but ended up giving myself a mullet (not really .. but it feels like that) now I have to wear my hair in a pony tail until it grows out. I'm going to wait until the tops and side grow out a little longer and then just go get it all cut short all over. 
30. What are your hopes and dreams for the new year?
 I have the dream of being about able to rebuild my savings account and get bills paid off.  I want to live within my means and not use credit cards. 

The partners I sent to for this swap were: Meganporter789, Kimt1989, and MichelleGG2

The partners I received from on this swap were: kygirl, NoriMail, and Cpoudrier17. I am not going to post their answers unless I'm given permission since this set of questions was of a more personal nature. 

Kygirl gave her permission for me to post her answers. Click here to see them :)