New Year, New Hodgepodge

I haven't actually been able to get to one of these since September.  New Year feels like a good reason to try again...

1. Share one favorite moment/memory from your Christmas holiday. 

The end of a long drive.  Fifteen hours in the car, ooof.  Seriously, though--getting to see everyone.  Getting to go to the candlelight service on Christmas Eve.  Watching my son transform as he carried his youngest cousin everywhere.  She adores him, and he loves every second of it.

2. What was the best thing you ate over the holidays? Was it homemade or store bought? If it was homemade did you make it?

My BIL made a pretty awesome prime rib for Christmas day.  

3. What was one of the most beautiful things you saw over the holidays?

In one sense, watching my kids play with their cousins was an absolute high.  In another sense, those looong car drives are stressful for everyone, so it's always a relief to see the stadiums in Kansas City , because it means we're almost done.

4. What does fresh start mean to you?

Moving on from the past.  Making another attempt to reach a goal.

5. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very positive and 1 being not so great) how would you rate 2016 in terms of personal achievement and well being? Explain. 

2016 was a mess of a year.  I feel like things went to pieces about every six weeks on us.  That made it really hard to take care of ourselves well, focus on stuff that needed to be done, etc.  For myself, I give 2016 a -95.

6. Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness. Go here to read more about how the words were chosen or, if you're like me, to find out what in the world the word or phrase even means or the context in which it's used. There were quite a few on this year's list I'd never heard before.

Here's the 2017 list of banished words-

You, Sir-focus-Bete Noire-Town Hall Meeting-Post Truth-guesstimate-831-historic-manicured-echo chamber-on fleek-bigly-ghost-Dadbod-listicle-get your dander up-selfie drone-frankenfruit-disruption

Which word on the list would you most like to see banished in 2017? What word or phrase would you add to the list?

Guesstimate has always kind of made my hair stand on end.  I don't know why people started saying "bigly" but UGH.

7. Large or small, light or deep, share with us one goal you have for the new year. 

One of my friends posted something on Facebook at the beginning of the year about crocheting a "temperature blanket"--chrochet one row a day for the year, and the color is based on the outdoor temperature that day.  I chose to amend that to "outdoor temperature at noon" because otherwise it's too variable.  My goal is to actually keep up with that blanket.  So far it's light blue, but the row I'm adding now is just a little darker.  And yes, I know it's going to be ridiculously long.  That's okay with me.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Also a goal: be nicer.  My gut is telling me that crocheting is going to be an easier goal to keep.