thank god that's over

[yvette]

Not just Christmas, but the whole darned year (almost). Sorry to be so negative, but I found this year very hard - its just been one of those years where lots of big things go wrong, one after the other, and there's hardly time to catch a breath.
Since this time last year:
parents ceiling fell in due to unsuspected leak
husband had an accident and wrote off the car (luckily, unhurt - but pretty shocked)
uncle very ill last Christmas day, and ill on and off through the year with empheysema
lost my nan (at 97, she'd had a good innings, but it was still a blow)
dad fell over and broke his hip...on a beach in Stornaway. They had to get the air ambulance.....
Grandmother (92) rushed in for emergency op followed by lengthy stay in hospital
Grandmother's partner (92) suffered a series of ministrokes
attempted break-in through my back door while I was in the house (scary)
two students at the school where I work died
husband lost his job (still out of work).
Have had enough now, thanks!
SO, now is the time to put all that behind me and look forward. I've got my veg garden to plan (new beds needed), my feltmaking business to develop, and I'm going to need all my creativity and resourcefulness to meet the 'Buy nothing new this year' challenge, and carry on stretching the money.

What are you all looking forward to for 2011?

[123sologne]

I am also looking for a better year: A bit of light at the end of the tunnel... We have had 3 tough years and when I thought it could not get worse, it did with the loss of my mum to cancer this summer and as I am in Britain and my family lives in France, and I am an only child, this was a very stressful time. But it has put a new perspective on my life and the way I look at certain things, so I am looking forward to the future, no matter what it brings, hopefully there will be some good bits!

[boboff]

Well I hope you both have a brilliant 2011.

I am a lucky man, with a great wife and two great kids, doing what I want to do. It's reading your stories that makes me realise this.

All the best to you all.

[old tree man]

Me to i'm looking forward to a new year and glad that this one is over so new year joy and blessings to all, health and happiness to follow all of you

[spider8]

We are hoping 2011 will be better than 2010. For myself it's been health problems all throughout the year with a visit to a specialist to come in mid Jan 2011. So here's hoping he doesn't find anything seriously wrong with my liver and we can focus on trying to find the property for life here on Orkney and finally live the life of being more -ish that we've dreamt about for many, many years. Good luck to you all .

[missy]

another one here that's had a tough year, here's hoping that 2011 will be better for all x

[Green Aura]

Oh me too! I'm sorry to hear about all your troubles. I found this year hugely stressful but for very different reasons.

My daughter, who had been struggling and became increasingly down, came to live with us in March. Although we've all got on amazingly well we've been packed to the gunwales with furniture and cats as well as people so the house feels full, dirty and unmanageable.

On the upside, she's lost 4 stone since then and has found some of her old bounce and confidence and we're just in the process of acquiring a house for her in the same village so the other bit should be resolved soon too.

My mother's deteriorating mental health continues and will carry on doing so but the change in her personality is hard to watch - from always being a happy, lively woman she's fast becoming......nasty - I can't think of any other way to describe her moods and barbs. Unfortunately I bear the brunt of it, if one of the cat's make her jump I get the flak, if she winds my daughter up until she retaliates I get the fallout, if she breaks a cup.........you get the picture. Strangely the only pleasant time we have is when it's just the two of us then she's back to her old self (a bit anyway).

But the thing that's got me down most this year was the General Election and subsequent onslaught by this bunch who make Thatcher seem mild. I've tried to keep out of the more political threads on here, not least because it's when I feel like our "family" on here is most strained. And I feel like crying when I read of all the redundancies, tax evasions and other actions this lot are responsible for. All my old leftiness, which had been pleasantly quiet for years, has come back with a vengeance but there's nowhere to get involved up here so I feel totally impotent. Hopefully 2011 will see the end of this debacle.

It's weird what really gets to you isn't it?

[Mrs H]

I'm in total agreement with the other replies, a tough year all round but which in turn has made me more determined that 2011 will be a happier more productive year. With the shock and worry that came with hubbies redundancy has now led to us searching our souls for what it is we really want out of life. With all challenging things in life comes good stuff eventually, I truely believe that. We've had r rough times lately but surviving and getting threw them turns us into the people we r today.
Sending so much love to you all on here, u really hav been so supportive when times have been hard and it has given me the chill out time that I needed. I truely hope you all have a great year and I look forward to sharing our year with you all. Xxx

[happyhippy]

Same here OP!I'll be glad to see the back of this year and I truly hope I have a better year next year(hope everyone else does to thats had a s*** year!xx).Christmas was pretty yuck,had to work both Xmas Day and Boxing day,thanks to my colleaque who decided to take 3 weeks off sick with "Malaise"?Was'nt sure what that was so googled it,turns out to be a feeling of "Just can't be bothered"Well neither can I?????

[Big Al]

Not just Christmas, but the whole darned year (almost). Sorry to be so negative, but I found this year very hard - its just been one of those years where lots of big things go wrong, one after the other, and there's hardly time to catch a breath.
Since this time last year:
parents ceiling fell in due to unsuspected leak
husband had an accident and wrote off the car (luckily, unhurt - but pretty shocked)
uncle very ill last Christmas day, and ill on and off through the year with empheysema
lost my nan (at 97, she'd had a good innings, but it was still a blow)
dad fell over and broke his hip...on a beach in Stornaway. They had to get the air ambulance.....
-----------........-------------
SO, now is the time to put all that behind me and look forward. I've got my veg garden to plan (new beds needed), my feltmaking business to develop, and I'm going to need all my creativity and resourcefulness to meet the 'Buy nothing new this year' challenge, and carry on stretching the money.

What are you all looking forward to for 2011?

husband car crash. When he drives now it will probably be more defensive driving and less offencive driving. Safer for your hubby and others regardless of fault.
A crap year in one way but think of the positives in your post. I know it is hard at the time but it does help.
Parents ceiling............. chance to redecorate with brighter more cheerful colours
uncle still alive albe it poorly. He probably make less of his condition than others.
your nan ... as you say a good innings

your dad, how many people get to have a free ride in a helicopter???

If we all look and feel down then we will be down and believe me it hurts real bad in them dark recesses of the mind so if we take a leaf out of the spinner kings book and make a positive out of a negative we can feel good for a while.

GA, remember the good times with your mam in years gone by and if possible make allowances for her age. My mother went very negative to me in her last 2 years mainly due to 8 strokes in 14 months but she was still the nana who went out to do a factory job to earn money so she could provide for me after she adopted me. At a particularly bad time a person who knew us both told me that snippet of making allowances for her age and each yime she hurt me I thought of that and whilst it still hurt it was bearable.Your daughter will always be a worry, it's parenthood and I think my son will be coming home in July..
As for the politics I really feel hatred to the system we have. People did not vote Lib dems to get a toryboy in number 10. Even if no one trusted labour or gordon brown and no one party had a majority there was no reason what soever to sell the country out the way the lib dems have. Talking about selling your soul to the devil for a few months of power, and only make Deputy PM.

As for me, I'm looking forward to a year with, in no particular order, a bit less pain, weightloss of another 7 stones or 45kg,( Then I can go p[aragliding) A more content son and a happier, less stressed wife. Some money, about £30 to make a few bars of soap and a good year in the fruit, veg and livestock garden.

[Susie]

its just been one of those years where lots of big things go wrong, one after the other, and there's hardly time to catch a breath.

It's just the worst when this happens, when it's one thing after another and you don't get to recover inbetween. Roll on 2011 and I hope it's a brilliant one for all ishers.

(Your feltmaking business sounds exciting!).

[yvette]

I'm grateful (though sorry ) to hear all your experiences - reminds me that I'm not alone and that the universe is not having a go at me personally! Not that I'm paranoid or anything..... Its just life, and sometimes that's hard. So many of us have had very tough times, but what is so great is that we can still look forward and hope for the new year. On ish I am so often amazed at the personal resources people have, and the grit and determination thay show. This site is often where I come when my resolve and strength are failing, and I always find something that helps me pick myself up again.
Thanks everyone, and I wish everyone a happier, healthier time in 2011. May your crops flourish!

[Millymollymandy]

I hope everything is much better for those of you who had a rotten time in 2010. Here's to 2011 and may it be a good year for you all.

[Zech]

I'm glad to say my 2010 was nowhere near as bad as yours, and much sympathy to you, but I've had some bad years. The worst was when my Grandma died. It was the deterioration before she died that was tough, and she got nasty too. I'd promised her we'd never put her in a home and she had enough savings to employ a carer at home, but towards the end we couldn't find a carer who could cope with her. She went into hospital as a short-term measure while I looked for a home (though granddaughter, I was next of kin - try explaining that to every nurse, home manager and health-care official involved).

I felt terrible breaking my promise but there was no choice. What I hadn't anticipated was how hard it would be to get her into a nice home once I'd found one. The better ones had waiting lists of up to two years, or simply refused to take her! I have to admit they had a point, I didn't want her living with me, either.

The conversation when I tried to persuade her to go to a home was the hardest I've ever had. By that time her memory was so bad that she'd forgotten she'd had live-in carer for the past two years, so she kept suggesting this option as something we might try.

Her savings had run out by this time, so I was looking into equity-release schemes so we could use the capital in her house to pay for care. Although power of attourney gives one the right to sell the person's house, the bank refused to accept the attourney's signature for a loan secured on the house. The Court of Protection was no use at all, saying it was up to the bank to have whatever policy they liked.

Luckily, Grandma died after six weeks in hospital, shortly after her 98th birthday. For those six weeks she believed she was in a hotel, but then, she always did have a knack of believing whatever she wanted, in spite of any evidence to the contrary.

Writing this down reminds me just how bloody awful that time was, but I lived through it and life is much better now.
There is light at the end of the tunnel

What am I looking forward to in 2011? Like you, planning and planting my veg patch. May 2011 bring us good growing weather