It's already 2003 in most parts of the world. It's about 9 hours away where I live. We're not doing anything super-spectacular tonight as Mark has to work really early tomorrow early (or late tonight -- around 4 a.m.). We're not big "new years" folks anyway. Most of the time we just stay home and avoid the chaos quietly. We're going to take his dad out for an early dinner and then get to bed well before midnight.

Yesterday, other than groceries and errands, I didn't do too much. I'm just puttering around the house again today, getting caught up on laundry and general tidying up. I felt kind of flu-ey yesterday so that's probably why I didn't accomplish much.

I took my new breadmaker for a test drive this morning and it worked really well. Yesterday I picked up some groceries and got the ingredients for it. I didn't realize that milk powder was reccommended over actual milk. The first loaf I made was a little over-done on the one end. This made it a little difficult to get out of the pan but eventually I was able to shake it out. Mark came home for a break shortly after I had taken it out so we each tried a slice. For a first attempt it was very good. I was a little suprised by some of the noises the machine was making. It's a very cool little gizmo. I'm looking forward to trying some whole grain breads in it (I just made simple white bread today). The best part of it all was the smell. The whole house, every corner of it, smelled like fresh bread!!

We've now used each of the new appliances we bought at least once and they're all very good. Our kitchen is getting very full but I don't mind the clutter at all because we're actually cooking more and using all these nifty gadgets. I'm sure that they're going to save us money in the long run and we'll definitely be eating better quality food because of that. That's one of my goals for the new year (I have a few, I haven't written them down yet), to get back into our healthier eating thing. We're both committed to it so I know that we'll be able to do that.

Overall, 2002 was a good year for me I think. I really enjoyed my job this year and feel that I'm getting better at it all the time. We accomplished a lot around the house, we still have a lot left to do but a home is a work in progress (I think anyway). I'm looking forward to the new year, to getting back to work and into a routine again. I think that 2003 will definitely be a good year for us.

Hopefully 2003 will be good for you too, Happy New Year!!