2016: Wins and Losses

Let me just get this out of the way: 2016, you bitch. You dirty, soulless whore.

The reason I no longer tolerate The Walking Dead

Ok, now I can move on. Most years are filled with wins and losses, and at the end you just hope to have more marks in the Win column, but this year was rough. It was more than just "you win some, you lose some." It was a year of loss, both big and small, with a few wins thrown in to keep hope alive. Most people who know me know of the bigger ones, so I'll focus on some of the smaller wins and losses we encountered this year.

Win: Travis finally got his dream truck that he scoured the earth for
Loss: After having it for only a week, he was T-Boned in an intersection
Win: It wasn't his fault, and he was largely OK
Loss: Both Trav and the truck sustained some body damage, and all the airbags deployed
Possible Win: Someday, I assume we'll get a pretty nice settlement

Loss: Almost every appliance we have went to shit this year. The oven stopped cooking right before we hosted a family dinner. The 6-month-old dryer stopped drying, and it took the repairman 3 return trips and 4 weeks to figure it out. The garage door just completely broke everything attached to it, and my parents had to come pick up Trinity and take her to school one morning because my car was trapped. The fridge stopped dispensing water into our cups and started dispensing it onto the floor underneath. The hot water handle on my soaking tub broke off, and the kitchen sink faucet became a leaky mess.
Win: We have a lot of new appliances
Loss: My hot water handle is still broken on my tub

What a cruel world we live in 

Win: Trinity started kindergarten this year
Loss: She didn't get into the school we were hoping for, so we're still paying for private school
Win: This isn't much of a loss. It's good for her, just bad for our bank account. Fingers crossed for this year!

Trinity and two of her good friends at the Winter Celebration

Win: We took an amazing vacation to Cabo with Trav's side of the family

Loss: I had to jump in the pool to save Trinity from drowning once. We lost her at the resort for about 15 heart-stopping minutes. We left Trav's sister's suitcase on the airport sidewalk and had to rescue what was left in it a day later. Our hotel was overtaken by Spring Breakers. At some point, we all got uncontrollable diarrhea. 

Win: We really had an amazing time with everyone and we came home with our beautiful Panchita kitty

Win: Trinity is, for the most part, an enjoyable child. We like spending time with her, and she's super smart and witty.
Loss: She has become pretty mouthy in her ripe age of 5. She has quick, evil comebacks that would be hilarious if they didn't make you so furious.
Wins: It's hilarious when she uses this on her father. Just today, she was sitting on the wall for her inability to listen, and their conversation went a little something like this:

Trav: Do you know why you were on the wall?

Trinity: Because I didn't listen

Trav: Why weren't you listening?

Trinity: Dad, these are big questions, and I'm just a kid. I don't have all the answers.

Around Christmas time, we had this conversation:

Trinity: I really want that

Me: Well, it's almost Christmas. Maybe you can ask Santa for it. 

Trinity: But Mom, Santa only exists in my heart. 

What do you say to these things?! At least she's cute.

Christmas morning after "Santa" brought her everything she wanted

Loss: My maids. Travis took over our budgeting because he thought he could "save us more money." His cuts included my maids, revealing that he obviously hates me deep down, and our savings is really no better for it. For Christmas I demanded a Roomba. I thought maybe he'd surprise me with bringing the maids back, but no.
Win: I got the Roomba for Christmas
Loss: He apparently bought the same Roomba that every husband bought for their wife, so it won't be here until February sometime.
Loss: As far as I know, the Roomba does not clean the toilet, so it is still an unfortunate situation.

And just because I can't ignore the elephant in the room...

Win: The first ever woman of a major political party was nominated for president
Loss: America elected the first ever unqualified man (among other things) instead. There's a huge question mark hanging over the next 4 years.
Win: We got the Biden memes

Win: 2017 is already looking better. We've got a lot planned to look forward to, and we said goodbye to 2016 with great friends and family at the Mt Hood cabin.

This just goes to show that for every loss, there is a win, even if it's small. My wish for everyone is a happy and healthy 2017. May it be better than last year.