One of the great things about keeping a blog is looking back over the year to see what happened.  In general, I can hardly remember what happened last week, let alone last January, so it’s kind of fun to look back and see what was going on for 2011.  What happened in the Boyhouse?  Here’s a look back at the highlights of the year.

January

Against all odds, I gave up drinking wine on weekdays, I survived Blue Monday, the saddest day of the year, and I watched Money Never Sleeps without actually falling asleep.

I also bought Sorel boots!  Because it was SO COLD.

February

I talked about bald men and The Bachelor, which may just be the worst show in the world, Jake made all my Valentine’s dreams come true by making me a Valentine saying “Bee Mine” complete with bee, and we went to Disneyland and I did not lose my mind (much)!

March

I got all pissy about Mommy Wars, I became mentally unhinged due to Daylight Savings Time, and Mark turned seven!

April

I had my varicose veins stripped and discovered that it is a very, very painful process (and that using the word “stripping” will bring a lot of presumably disappointed readers to one’s blog), I turned 36 and contemplated the weird cultural phenomenon that is the surgical “Mommy Makeover“, and I went to a friend’s house at 2:30 in the morning to watch the Royal Wedding!

Me, strung out on Percocet.

May

Someone wanted to name Mark’s soccer team the “Burning Blue Balls” which, quite frankly, would have been awesome, Mark’s super-persistent cough turned out to be pneumonia and I thought that perhaps I was the worst mother ever, and, completely unrelated to the pneumonia, Mark became obsessed with beavers.

June

I threatened to storm the local weather station to debate their methodology of deriving average temperatures in my city and also revealed the biggest fight my husband and I have ever had, we got a new gas meter installed, and the kids started a kids’ yoga class.  Wow, June was pretty boring.

It was also the coldest Super Soccer Saturday ever.

July

At an amusement park, Jake won a stuffed octopus whom he named Octopussy, we stalked Will and Kate at the zoo, and my esthetician quit on me and the boys became obsessed with cougars.

August

Mark was still coughing all night long even though his pneumonia was gone in May, I became extremely emotional, then suddenly excited about back to school and I also fell in love with the 1975 Sears catalogue, and I became incensed over stupid t-shirts about being too pretty to do homework.

We also went on vacation and Jake learned how to swim!

September

The boys started Grade One and Two and were placed in the same class, Jake turned six, and I worried about turning into Mullet Lady.

October

Against all odds, my dog became a bloodthirsty predator in a fluffy body and caught a squirrel, the boys learned how to dance hip-hop, and I did not stop believing, I held on to that feeeeeling at the school’s Halloween Family Dance – which was complete with girls crying in the bathroom.

November

I debated the usage of the words “vagina as a clown car“, I challenged People’s Sexiest Men list and made my own, and I talked about Movember.

We also decorated the tree!

December

I went to my husband’s Christmas party and also posted a picture of me in eighth grade, my kids got all crazy about the mistreatment of Rudolph, and I accidentally sang along to Baby It’s Cold Outside with a complete stranger in the liquor store.

So that was 2011!  What will 2012 bring?  I hope it brings much peace, joy, and happiness to you.  xoxo