Happy New Year!

I guess my resolution is to get back to blogging more. I just read back over my most recent entries, and I realized that all of my postings from 2017 fit on one page, and that made me sad. Onward and upward!

John is underway to Mannheim to deliver his high school friend and family to the train station to return to Paris. They spent several days around Xmas in Paris and at Euro Disney, then came to us for a few days leading up to New Year's Day, and they are flying back out again tomorrow, if the weather in Dallas allows it (people on FB have been reporting icy conditions in north and west Texas).

I myself only got back from Texas a day or two before they landed in Europe. My sister was able to have her surgery the second week of December due to a cancellation, so I hopped on a plane to spend two weeks with her. My mom came as well, even though she had bronchitis and probably should have stayed home and taken care of herself, and my other sister came one weekend to check in on us. When I left, my sister's recovery was going quite well, but she took a turn for the worse once the steroids and surgical drugs finally cleared her system and had to go back to the doctor, but a new round of steroids seems to be helping immensely.

While I was gone, I found out I got the job I had interviewed for the last week of November! I was able to handle most of the stuff for accepting the position via email, and after I got home I was able to get a signed copy of my contract back to them before 2017 was over. I've been so busy that I haven't really been able to think about it, but now that the holidays are coming to a close, I've started dreaming, which is always a sign I'm digesting something.

At our New Year's party last night, my friend was asking if I'd be able to finish my last translation gig (a book) before starting my new job, and I was all, "Sure! No prob!", but I still have 3000 words to go, and I feel less booze-fueled confidant this morning. I still think I can get it done, but there are lots of other things I would like to do, too, and I am less confidant about them.

I'm starting the new year by getting organized, not in a Fung Shui or Marie Kondo way, but by clearing my desk and swapping out my calendars. A little bit of organization goes a long way in making me less crazed (although the leftover lava cake I just had with coffee is counteracting that at the moment).

--Nee in Germany needs more than a little bit of organization