I mean... I didn't actually achieve a whole lot of things from my list of goals for the year, but it was, overall, a very productive year.
Some of the things that I was hoping to do were smaller, outdoor-related things, like catch two fish species that were new to me, to find a frog species that was new to me, and other such outdoorsy things that don't necessarily rank as high priority in the ol' hindsight scale of things, you know?
So I have a few highlights here that I am pretty happy about. Some of them are to do with collections, milestones, family time highlights, etc. So in no particular order; here's a very brief overview of 2018:
We started the year in England, which in itself is a blessing to be able to say. We'd just spent a lovely Christmas and New Years with my folks back in the UK, and met up with old friends and their new kiddos. It was a blast. We were able to see the new building for our old church, and visit old haunts with our boys. It was a lot of fun.
This year was a great year for my coin collection. Some huge moments added a solid number of pennies to the mass; notably, a 23-coin haul of 1964 half dollars, a two-week span that saw 30 Eisenhower dollars brought in, and several nice little finds in coins rolls - a NIFC 2000 nickel, and a couple of teen 1900's pennies. I also started down the slippery slope of buying specific coins...
I purchased a couple of Indian Head Pennies, a V-nickel, and a Mercury Dime, along with a bag of 1950's pennies and a pound of Canadian pennies. I also won a Morgan dollar and a Standing Liberty quarter, among other coins. It really was a good year for this particular hobby!
I set up an account on Shutterstock this year, too! I've only got a handful of pictures on there, and from all of the ones I have, this one has done the best. As in it's the only one that's been downloaded! My aim is to get some more up there this year and have a bigger selection on my account, but there's something nice about having something going on in the background that can (very slowly) accrue some income.
I caught one new fish to me this year; the Creek Chub. I was very happy with that, since I had to battle my way through spikes and thorns, through the summer heat in Tennessee, unwillingly donating half of my blood to the local mosquito population in order to get to the little pool in the woodland creek and land the thing.
I also went hunting a lot more; crossbow and rifle, when the seasons allowed. Didn't see anything, but it was nice to get out more than ever before. A wave that I want to ride for as much as possible for the next short while, as I only have two months left until the end of the season. My goal, as has been since we moved over here, is to harvest as much meat as possible for the family from the fields and streams of this countryside. Good, clean, happy meat.
I was happy with my personal growth and life lesson/life skill additions this year. From the top; a friend and I went up into our attic space to disconnect the furnace and a/c ducts through the end of summer, since the units had died (of old age) early in 2018. This was pretty interesting - nothing I hadn't really done before, but this time, the house was mine and I knew the end goal pretty solidly.
Next, I changed out parts on my car's engine! I would never have thought that I would have done something like this, so to have taken some parts off, replaced and reassembled them - and then to have the car start up first time - was amazing! I replaced the thermostat and the water pump on my Blazer. Not at all a thoroughly complicated job, but as someone who went from not having a car until they were 27 to having to learn how to keep one on the road, this is a huge step in skill level and confidence for me.
Of course, as I type this, it's at the mechanics, because I haven't got the time to replace the head gasket, which I'm pretty sure is done for. So there's that.
Bottom left, we have my legs sticking out of the bottom of our deck. This was fun. I just ripped up an old, rotting panel, put some more support beams underneath, and replaced the panel with a new one. Again, not a huge task for most, but one of the first homeowner repairs that I've made. And I'm very happy with it.
And then bottom right is (half of) the closet space I made for the new furnace and a/c unit. We had a bloke install them for us, but the housing and such I did as much of as I could to help out keep costs down, and also to make their job easier. Now we have a warm house! It's lovely.
We got a cat! This beautiful little stray was found in the abandoned house towards the back of our property. Covered in ticks and fleas, we cleaned her up, got her fed, and she's been happily clawing my arms ever since. My vote for a name was Roosevelt if it was a boy. My wifey insisted on Queen Victoria if it was a girl. So Queen Victoria it is... She's pretty chill.
Family time was a premium this year. We saw some fantastic development in the boys, as well as some lovely time spent as just me and the wifey. As much time as can be found alone with two young boys, mind, but we relish every minute we can have to chill out together.
The year was full of fishing, flipping rocks, building LEGO, and lots of drawing, building forts, playing tag and hide and seek. And we got a trampoline at some point through the year, too, which is an amazing energy burn for the lads.
I also did a few things that I was pretty happy about; I made a small animation to go with a Kickstarter campaign that I'm planning on releasing a little later this year; I made a chicken wing rub that is probably my favourite dish of 2018; I released a 4-part series that I completed on this blog; and I made a few commission dolls that will hopefully get a little word-of-mouth going. They were shared through social media a little, and people I didn't know that knew about them were asking about them. As much as I think I can do all of this social media, I find it a challenge to capitalise on things like this. But maybe this year will be a breakthrough year for that. I have an Etsy account going, and the Shutterstock that I mentioned earlier. I'm trying to push myself and get my work out there as much as an Englishman can...
Little Man started Pre-K this year, too. And he's loving it! He's flourished in this new setting, and is learning a whole lot of new skills and abilities. Some better than others, but hey. He's 4, and they'll iron out. He's having a blast, and making smiley faces on his report card most days!
Oh... And we're adding to the clan! Boy number 3 on the way in 2019! Absolutely cannot wait to meet the fella, and Gideon will most likely enjoy being a big brother (he doesn't quite grasp the concept yet). Micaiah was super hopeful for a sister, but I know he's going to adore another sibling to roughhouse with. It's going to get noisy, muddy, scrappy and all around mental up in the Fairweather household this year. My goodness.
So that's been about the year we've had. A lot of things that came around unexpected (my car repairing adventures were on one of all three that broke down), but we're doing well and can't wait to see what 2019 holds in store.
More repairs to something, I'd imagine...
Happy New Year!
Peace.
