Looking back at the last decade.

Tonight is the last night of 2009. The decade is almost over! I for one am thrilled that 2010 is coming!! 2008 and 2009 were my worst years!. I am so ready for a new decade and all it has to offer!! Below are what I consider high points of each year.

2000: Perfomed at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. Discovered my second favorite city! Competed in my first 500 (20 Laps) race; discovered that this was my event. Vote for first time- the presidential elecitons. George W. Bush (son of George H. Bush) takes office. :)

2001: January- had my first knee surgery. Enjoyed my last swim season :( Graduated high school!!!!! Second generation in my family to do so :) Adopted Phantom Menace from Vet- first pet of my own- my complete responsibility. Was the Day Shift Lead for B-Flats (Brittania Flats, Area 2) which consisted of Highland Fling and Grand Ole Carosel at Six Flags St. Louis.

2002: Attened Meremec Community College, join SAC and meet incredible friends who will impact my life. Mark graduates from high school!! Witness two miracles, stregthens my faith in God. Have second knee surgery- this time on the left knee.

2003: Transfer to University of Missouri-St. Louis and join my father's fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega- a National Co-Ed Service Fraternity. Meet more incredible friends who impact my life. Forever Remembered: my best friend and cat, Sparkle- mi angel.

2004: Attend first Regional Conference in Omaha with my fraternity. Attend first Sectionals. Begining of my obession for all conferences and all things APO. Attend first National Conference in Denver, Co. Visit and see my Uncle Milton, Aunt Angie, and Cousin Duke for first time in 13 years. Have 3rd and 4th knee surgery (both knees). Go on Carribean Cruise (best vaccation ever) with amazing friends from Six Flags St. Louis and see Cozumel and Costa de Mayo, Mexico, Belize and the Grand Cayman Islands. George W. Bush is re-elected :) Republicans have control of the sentate :)

2005: Announce my minor in Spanish. Attend 2nd Sectionals :) See my all time favorite artist in concert: Carlos Santana. Mom and I agree it is the best concert of all time. Start blogging :) Hurricane Katrina devestates and destroys New Orleans. Good friend Liz welcomes son Andy to the world! Hurricane Rita devestates Texas. Enjoy a white Christmas!

2006: Attend second Regional Conference in St. Louis. Best friend Froggiegirl marries her sweetheart Gimlet, acted as one of her bridesmaids :) Graduated college with double major in International Business and Managment, with a minor in Spanish. Become second generation in family to attend and graduate college. Attend 3rd Sectionals. St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series for the first time since I was born in 1982. Pittsburgh Steelers win Superbowl!! Mom and I both have our gall bladders removed with in months of eachother. Mom retires from teaching after 33 and 1/2 years!! Forever Remembered: beloved Grandma Lorraine Noel and my first dog, Shadow. New puppy Loki makes grand enterance into Noel family- I learn first hand what it takes to train a dog.

2007: Get first "real job" at Wolfgang Puck Catering- only part time, but its a job. Attend sectionals again -anyone noticing a pattern here :) Help pick out new living room furniture, new kitchen table and chairs, new carpet for living room and new tile for kitchen. Forever Remembered: my first pet, Climber aka King Tut.

2008: Get first "real full time job". Get laid off for first time. Kitchen floods requiring new kitchen cabinets, floor and trim. Inside house- living room, hall, entry way, kitchen, and living room re-painted. Repaint office and garage door. Also get new siding for house and new gutters-whew! Another best friend Veronica marries her sweetheart Kyle, get to be an attendent!! :) Barak Obama becomes the first African- American President- big moment in U.S. History :) Pittsburgh Steelers win their 6th Superbowl :) Have 5th and 6th Knee surgeries.

2009: Another good friend Suzanne marries her sweetheart Marshal. Dealt with unemployment most of the year. Learned new computer system: Worldpsan at new job as domestic travel coordinator. Enjoy first White Christmas since 2005. Mark moves into his own apartment!! Good for him!! Forever Remembered: My (personal) first adopted Cat and best friend, Phantom.

To all those friends and family I have lost and gained: I love you all and thank you for beinga part of my life. I look forward to spending the next decade with you enriching my life! Looking forward to the next decade and what it may bring!! Happy New Year everone!!!!

Updates

Here is the latest in JBear's world:
*Home Repairs: The kitchen is 98% done; we are waiting for the rest of the cabinet handles, and a new door. It looks awesome! The new floor is fantastic; it looks like a ceramic floor but its not. Its called Dura Ceramic. Its really neat. The whole house is more earthy and open. The siding and roof are done. The gutters are being installed t/m! Hopefully that won't take too long. I will be glad when all of the hammering is done. We are repainting the front and back doors as well as the garage door a nice red color. The next room to be re-done is our office. We have to de-junk it first and then re-paint it. Should be interesting.
*Apartment: Isn't going to happen anytime soon unless I get a job. I got layed off (really don't feel like going into it). So I'm back with Office Team, hopefully I will get some temp work soon. Meanwhile, I need to call the apartment comlplex and explain the situation to them and see if we can push the move in date back a few more months.
*Knees: I am in physical therapy at the moment. My knees are still hurting, most of it comes from my knees not tracking right. So we are taping my right knee so that it does that. I have my good and bad days with my knees. As it is I am limlited on the temp jobs I can accept. I can not stand for longer than 5 minutes without pain; so there goes the idea of me working at any retail place.

*Random Note: The store Linens'n'Things is closing for good. They went bankrupt and were sold last week. They are having liquidation sales right now. So if you need house stuff, go there and get it for a decent price.

What a mess!

Okay so the past month, our kitchen has been a mess. Our icebox leaked and flooded our kitchen. Luckily we caught it before it got to the carpet. So the floor in the kitchen was ruined, the wallpaper got messed up, the lower cabinets got warped. So we filed an insurance claim, figuring we would get a new floor.....we are and then some.... Because the lower cabinets are 20 years old and we can't match them we are getting new cabinets. We are also getting a new counter top b/c they can't fit the old one on the new cabinets. That also means new sink and faucet too. We also got our kitchen repainted and wallpapered. B/c our kitchen opens up so much to the living room, our living room, hallway, entry wall, and stair well got painted too. So we had to pick out a color. Mom wanted to keep the green color but she wanted to go a bit deeper in color. While, we were debating color choices, the painters suggested having an accent wall. So thats how we ended up with two different colors. We now have accent walls in Honeycomb, and the other walls are Vegan (or sea mist as I call them). Mom and I picked out a new wall paper that has a nice trim at the top. The Honeycomb color makes the room warmer, earthier and opens it up more. The deeper green looks great. So they started painting on Tuesday, and now the living room and 3/4 of the kitchen are painted. The wallpaper will be done next Thursday. Another great thing; our insurance paid to have a crew come in and pack all of our living room and kitchen up for us. Not only did they pack it up, they will (and have) put everything back where it belongs (give or take a few things that we re-arrange to make it personal). The DVD shelves I have to re-organize; I categorize and then alphabetize the DVD's (for those who know me, this shouldn't suprise you), one unit down, one to go. Our new cabinets and counter will be installed w/in the next two weeks. When that happens, the crew will come back and pack up our stuff and then put it back when they're done. Then the floor guys will come and put our floor in. Then life and the house will return to normal! So by mid October or so our house will look amazing. Did I mention last week we had our new roof put on, and we should be getting new siding and guttering put on soon as well? The roof and siding were expected and planned. The whole kitchen fiasco was an unpleasant suprise, but it turned out for the better. Mom had been wanting a new counter (the current one has super glue on it from my tower making days). Unfortunately, we had to choose a new kitchen floor b/c the design we have has been disconintued...and we only had this floor installed last October! Oh, we are also getting new curtains. I will probally make an album of the event with plenty of before and after pics. I soo can not wait until things return to normal...or as normal as things get around here.