Positive New Year Ahead!

A new year is almost here, yet again.  And I always ask the same question,"Where did the year go?"
I think most of our year is spent with a lot of work, never ending work.  I've accepted the fact that we may never catch up with our chores, but what would that mean if we did?  I guess for life to go on, it just means that the work we are meant to do continues. 
This past year was difficult in many ways, mostly the slow economy and the milk price bottomed out.  It went Kaput!  Watching what we spend, shopping at second hand shops and just making due with what we already have has been something that's kept us going.
The new year coming looks to improve.  Milk price is said to be in the increase, along with cattle prices.  We'll have some of our equipment paid off this coming year, which gives us some more income to be tossed someone else's way. 
Emily will be starting Kindergarten in the fall, and she's excited. 
If my drs. appointment on January 6th confirms my hunch, we'll be welcoming another little one to our family.  I'm thinking late August to early September.  Course, I'm already feeling sick and so very tired, but so excited! And very thankful that we did not get rid of anything from when Emily was a baby.  We're all set.
Cheese orders are coming in very consistently.  In fact I have 8 wheels heading out either tomorrow or on Monday, depending on the road conditions.  Looking forward to getting back to making cheese this March.  But, until then, I have some work that needs to be done in the cheese house.  Going to start that stuff today.
I've got 2 batches of cheese that is due to be waxed right now, clean up the mats that we lay wheels of cheese on in the cooler (it helps keep the air circulating underneath each wheel, helps for development), want to wash down the floor in the cooler and wipe off shelves (they will be wiped down with salt and vinegar, takes care and prevents any mold growth), need to also bleach down all packing room tables and store any Christmas gift basket items.  It will feel good to tuck in for a couple of months.  Thinking of adding a new cheese to our lineup, but also want to concentrate on the cheeses that we know our customers know and love, and just keep improving them!  Quality is always better than quantity.  It would be easy to slap out 8-15 types of cheese, but what if they don't taste consistent each time they are made?  Nope, that's not the right way to be an artisan cheese maker, and we are focusing and getting it good. 
Al will be heading out to haul the manure for today to the field, run the gutter (we have a chain gutter system that when turned on it carries the manure from behind the cows and takes it out to the manure spreader, a lot easier than pitching it by hand! We're spoiled by that handy gadget!), but it still can take about 15-30 minutes to run it out.  This time of year we watch it carefully, since it can freeze in cold weather.  Almost milking time for evening as well.  If I get the waxing done in good time, I'll be heading down to the barn and help out there. 
Even during the holidays, our work is never finished up.  Would love to have some overtime pay for the hours we put in! haha! 
Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!