Sitting in a hotel in Kissimmee, FL...

Well, here I am sitting in a hotel in Kissimmee, FL...tired (exhausted, really) and a bit fried. Trying to figure out if goldfish crackers qualify as a "sound" dinner...they just may. I did get some bread, peanut butter and (my favorite) raspberry preserves to have a good ol' PB&J, but hell, that may just take too much energy.
Just found out my grandmother, Helen (mom's mom) had a small heart attack (whatever that means) late last week and is in the hospital. Baylor Grapevine. Apparently they will not do a bypass due to her age (92), so they are doing a procedure as soon as my uncle can get there (due to the risks involved, he wants to get there before they do it). Anyway...my mom starts Dialysis tomorrow also. Crazy. She has an auto-immune kidney disease that is shutting down her kidneys (apparently affects no other body functions). I spent a lot of my life trying to get away from DFW/Denton, TX...and now I just wish I was there...not like I can really do anything, but I feel like I should be near. Maybe even to just support my dad. Oh well...
I've been chatting with a few "old" friends lately on Facebook...never really got in to all of the internet social site stuff, but I am having fun finding folks. I guess I am just a sentimental mess. It is really interesting/neat to see how folks are doing these days. Most are quite well--I don't suppose if they weren't they'd be "Facebooking" or whatever.
Hmm...makes me think of the 'good ol' days' back in Denton. Being back there over the December Holidays was quite entertaining. Drove all over the place looking at how things have changed and grown. Funny how you either "sugar-coat" or totally damn certain things in your mind...wait a few years and look at them again. I found places, buildings, roads, etc. either longer, bigger, smaller, less significant, etc. than I had stored them away as. Hell, I always said Dallas was flat. It really isn't. Pinellas County Florida...THAT is flat, and only a few feet above sea level. Denton is downright hilly compared to the version I had stored in my head.
I think I found something calming or peaceful there...or maybe I just had to admit it had those elements always in some form or another...or...maybe it is just the familiarity of it, the comfort in or of the "past."
Hmmm...

So, THIS is what it is all about? A New Year...

So, THIS is what it is all about?
Starting off 2009 having accomplished quite a bit last year...
I have a little ritual I follow every New Year's Day wherein I grab my little notebook and look over what I have/haven't done and what I plan to do in the upcoming year. I don't look at the notebook during the year...just once on 1/1. It is a good ritual...
Plans for 2009:
Continue excercising (hey, I am using that Gold's Gym membership) and enjoying outside "adventures" (kayaking, hiking, beach, etc.)
Travel to: Austin, Texas and/or San Francisco, California
Figure out how to de-clutter and organize better.
Make my hand-made, from scratch, soap.
Do some more artsy-crafty things.

I'll see where I get with all of this ;-)