10 Things to do Before I Die

I was perusing my amazingly talented, hilarious, and wonderful mother's website which she recently updated, and came across a list she made of things she wants to do before she dies. For all you blog-stalkers out there, her website is right here. I thought that was a pretty neat idea, and since all my kids have gone home early today I'm gonna give it a shot. I didn't really have time to think up this list, so I may add some more stuff later.

1. Have at least three babies...preferably four. And of course, my first girl will be Juliana. The boys will all have manly cowboy names like Ike or Eli or Wyatt.

2. Spend a month cruising around Europe. I've wanted to go ever since Dad took Melanie when she was 10. I was so jealous! He took me to Hawaii though, so he's off the hook.

3. Write a kids book and have it published. You can illustrate it, Mom.

4. Get myself back into single digit pants and stay there. Now that I'm trying to reproduce it's the worst possible time to diet. But once the babies are here it's on!

5. Have more foster kids. We're actually thinking about doing it sooner rather than later. It's been discussed briefly. I'm not sure Pete is completely ready to do it again, but I am! This time I want a 2-4 year-old though. I can live without the 9 year-old sass! I rock with the terrible two's.

6. Get rich, buy a private sailboat, and sail around the world over a couple of years. See EVERYTHING. I actually know somebody who did this with her husband and three kids. She is my hero. This is one of the items on this list that is more of a dream. This may be a little harder to make a reality. Pete agrees it would be amazing, though. I'll just keep buying those lottery tickets!

7. Learn (or re-learn) to play an instrument. In high school I took a piano class that I loved. I learned to read music, and could actually play quasi-well. I've completely lost my ability to read music, and can barely play chop-sticks. Now that Pete and I have a decent sized house, I may just get my piano back from Melanie and start taking lessons again. I've also been thinking about taking up the guitar.

8. Learn a foreign language. I took four years of French only to forget 98% of it. The problem is that I have absolutely no use for it in New Mexico. I want to learn Spanish so I can keep my hand in over the years. Dang, I wish I was as smart as I was in high school! I also wish I took Spanish.

9. Learn to juggle. This has been on my list since Junior High.

10. Have an amazing garden. I'm really awful with outdoor plants, especially. I plant them, take care of them for a couple weeks, and then completely ignore them and they die of thirst. Or the dog digs them up and drags them through the yard. I guess what number ten should really say is "have self-control and will myself to take care of outdoor plants." Even the local, low-water plants seem to die in my care. My indoor plants are doing great, though.

This was fun. Now I need to get off my double-digit badonk-a-donk and make it happen!

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