Last Week of 2009, Year End, New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve Day 2009...This morning my husband and I are driving over to Port Canaveral to meet my aunt for breakfast then drive/walk along the beach. We'll probably have a quiet afternoon and evening at home. We're not big New Year's Eve revelers like many are. I'm lucky if I stay awake until midnight most years! We'll see what tonight brings. New Year's Day will be a time of visiting friends, parades and football games that evening. Happy New Year! I'll probably be off the blog until Monday.

Here is a link to 10 questions to ask yourself at the start of a new year (or on your birthday) by Don Whitney. Good to ponder this weekend as 2010 begins.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Last Week of 2009, Year End

Another end of the year chore today will be to balance the last checkbook and pay the final bills and property taxes for 2009. I've got everything laid out to begin today. Final reports for school aren't due until January 7th but if I have time, I'll finish those as well. I also need to go to Walgreens and spend down our flexible health spending account. I usually estimate pretty close to what we need during the year but occasionally have a little left to spend. This year I have about $50 left so I'll stock up on cough drops, Tylenol, and basic medicine cabinet items. I also purchased a new wall calendar, the kind with BIG blocks and no pictures, for our kitchen. I need to transfer birthays and appointments onto that as well. I know...I have a computer calendar but this way, everyone in the family can write on the calendar and check dates as well.

This morning after walking I spent an hour or so going through our church's Silent Communion program. I had to practice a musical piece for that morning's offertory the day we did this at church and I had set it aside to be sure and do before the New Year began. It was a nice long quiet time of praise and prayer for everyone in our church family.

Last Week of 2009, Year End

One of the household chores I always do before year-end is filing of paperwork and tax-related documents. I breathed a sigh of relief after finishing this job last night. I don't know why I put it off for so long (besides the inevitable paper cuts). The stack was about 10 inches high in a folder that was about to burst. I cleared the dining room table and started sorting everything in piles and within about 30 minutes had sorted AND filed it all. I'll try and not procrastinate next year and do it each month. Now I'm ready for the end of January when I start inputting what I need to into Quicken in preparation for taxes.

Later today I plan to start going through my eBay inventory and weeding out as well as listing a few new items. We purchased two computers for Christmas this year (ouch!)--one for my husband and one for my college-aged son. My younger son got our old desktop and I got my son's laptop. I've never had one before and feel like I'm in a new age of technology! I can see all kinds of uses for it particularly in my business(es) and am one happy camper. :)