Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Have you lived?

I saw this on Tara's blog and shamelessly stole it....

Do you think you’ve really lived so far? This is a list of 100 activities–some I have experienced (bold), some I have not (regular)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Bathed in a river (if it doesn't have hot and cold running water then um NO)
7. Been to the Taj Mahal
8. Walked on a glacier in Alaska
9. Caught and held a snake (I wasn't always quite as squeamish as I am now)
10.Spoke in front of a big crowd (But I didn't like it at all)
11. Bungee jumped (Sooooooo not happening)
12. Had a whirlwind love affair that broke your heart (Haven't we all?)
13. Found an arrowhead or fossil
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Rescued an animal
16. Ate sweet breads, glands or tripe (not sure what these even are….)
17. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
18. Grown your own vegetables (I was a kid but it still counts)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hiked to base camp on Mt. Everest
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Watched an animal being born
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Learned a foreign language
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Stayed up for more than 24 hours
31. Trained a dog to do cool tricks
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Can drive a stick shift car
37. Won over $1000 in a raffle or lottery
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (Does a rock climbing wall count?)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Been serenaded
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Broken a bone
47. Started your own business
48. Quit a job because you were totally unhappy
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the Eiffel Tower
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain passionately
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Joined a prayer group
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
62. Gone whale watching
63. Received flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (Dachau in Germany)
67. Bounced a check (Not for a really long time, thank goodness)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London
77. Broken something extremely expensive
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Got a tattoo
83. Been to a coffee shop in Amsterdam
84. Seen the aurora borealis in person (Huh?)
85. Read the entire Bible (Not yet but about 3/4 of the way done)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (Does it count that I fed and medicated my children?)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Toured the UN
95. Hiked to Machu Picchu
96. Swam in the Indian Ocean
97. Conversed with someone when neither of you spoke each others language
98. Dirty danced
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Acted in a play


I only had 44 out of 100.....looks like I got some living left to do..........

Friday, January 23, 2009

Things that are good to know.....

* If your hot water heater explodes it will only do so on a holiday weekend and when you have procrastinated about doing laundry, running the dishwasher, and showering.

* If you procrastinate putting gas in your car by ONE DAY it will go up 30 cents a gallon the next.

* If you decide to cut down on the amount of food that you make for a meal eleventy gazillion people will show up at dinnertime.

* If you procrastinate getting your car inspected then something that will keep it from passing will happen to it.

* If you decide to take a short cut because you are waaaaaaaaaaaaay too busy to wait for traffic lights, then you will inevitably get caught up in a traffic jam the likes of which you have never seen before.

* If you procrastinate watching all of the shows that you have recorded on your DVR until you "have more time", the DVR will eventually self destruct and you will lose it all.

* If you save $100 on a particular bill don't get excited...your electric bill will mysteriously double.

* If you breathe a sigh of relief because the new school that your child will go to does not have uniforms then the next year they will rezone everything and your child will go to the one that has the uniforms.

* If you wash your car......it will rain.

* If you put off picking up Boy Scout handbooks for the boys who are crossing over TOMORROW you will find that everyone is out of them and have to drive 80 miles in which to get them.

* If you put off posting to your blog for three weeks you will get some really weird emails.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Wow.....2009 already

Could someone please explain to me where exactly 2008 went? Seriously, I know that it was just here but it really doesn't seem like it was around for a whole year. I think I was gypped.
I have resolved to not have this problem at the end of next year. For one thing I have decided that this year is going to be a better year than last year.
The past couple weeks I have been thinking about it and decided that with dad's stroke and subsequent assisted living issues and mom's declining health and then her death in August, it just really hasn't been the best year. However, I think I was looking at it wrong. Those things just happened last year. It's not like there is anything that I could have done to stop it. And while the whole year had a gloomy cast to it, I don't think that I really did anything to counteract the whole thing.
So this year I want to do things a bit differently.
While working is very important to the whole "paying of the bills" thing, I am going to try not to let it take up such a big part of my life. I quit one job already, though for some reason I am still working at it for the next two weeks and I will quit another if that is what it takes.
Also, I am going to try to be better about spending actual quality time with my family. The holidays are always so packed full of togetherness and family time and we don't get to do enough of that throughout the year. I am going to work on that.
There is also the financial aspect of our lives that I want to work on. Life is way to short to owe so much money. So I am going to work on trying to get our debt paid off and money in savings.
There are various other little things that I want to do this year. Things that I have been meaning to do and just haven't gotten around to for one reason or another. I have it in my handy dandy little notebook that has all my other lists in it.
Speaking of which did you know that there is a list of the top ten New Year's Resolutions?
* Make more time for family and friends.
* Quit smoking.
* Start exercising.
* Got back to school/take a class.
* Get out of debt.
* Advance in your career, make more money.
* Get into philanthropy and community involvement.
* Quit drinking.
* Lose weight.
* Get out of bad relationship/find true love
I really hate being typical, but unfortunately 6 of those things are kind of on my list.