Revised Addition Forty Things To Do Before I Turn Forty:
1) Learn to knit, so I can one day knit a blanket, scarf, long chain for my grandchildren
2) Start and continue an exercise regime for three months, even if it kills me [God, I'm lazy]
3) Do sit ups everyday for 3 months [Yup, still lazy]
4) Learn to accept my body and all it's imperfections (yeah, right) [oh, I am laughing...wooo hooo.]
5)Read novels I should have already read, classics I read a long time ago and either hated them with a fiery passion or loved them with a fiery passion to see if time has changed my feelings towards them [Still hate One Hundred years Of Solitude... hate it.]
6) Go to Paris with my husband
7) Spend a summer in Italy with my children
8) See the Grand Canyon
9) Take my kids to a Broadway show. I used to go frequently when I was child and have such fond memories of the experience [after looking at the prices of tickets, I'm not so sure I even want to do this one anymore]
10)Bring my daughter to the American Girl Cafe
11)Find my father, before he ends up dying and I never get to meet him.
12) Renew my wedding vows and have a party to celebrate, since we never had a wedding.
13)Finish writing a book (should probably start it too.)
14) Go through all our photographs and select some to matte and frame. AND hang them on the wall in our family room. [I've done a few]
15)Gather pictures of our home renovation and compile them into a coffee table scrapbook thing
16)Spend an entire 24 hour day without once yelling [I should be able to do this one around July 28th]
17)Bring my children to one of those indoor playgrounds and let them play without making myself nauseous over the amount of germs and bacteria they are touching and NOT once force them to go and wash their hands in the middle of playing. (Not sure I can do this one as just typing it is making me sick to my stomach.) I do draw the line at coating their hands with hand sanitizer and spraying them down with lysol before they get into the van; there are just some things that I can't give up. [I don't think I'll ever be able to do this... ever]
18) Ride on a rollercoaster, and if I feel particularly daring one that goes upside down
19) Catch up on buying all my children their annual Christmas ornament. (The idea is that I buy the children an ornament every year that represents them at that year of their life. When they grow up they will take the ornaments. Though who knows they will probably think it is totally stupid and queer and I will be stuck with all these ornaments on my tree forever or my attic)
20) Work tirelessly to rid the fashion world of low waisted pants by complaining constantly to anyone who will listen. [I work on this one every. single. day.]
21) Dig out my paints and easel and paint a painting
22) Hang the painting up somewhere in my house
23) Read the entire Narnia series aloud to my younger children [One book down.]
24) Take all my children to a baseball game at Fenway Park, wear a baseball hat, cheer and pretend I am a fan for the day
25) Find a reliable babysitter
26) Buy a huge bottle of vitamins and take them every day until the bottle is empty, without missing a day
27) Make it a habit to drink 8 glasses of water a day [though I am beginning to think if it were actually good for us to drink this much water our bladders would have evolved to be much larger. Also, God would have made water more tasty]
28) Finish renovating my house [before it sucks the very life out of my soul]
29) Get rid of all the things in my house that are just clutter and would benefit someone else [I'm trying, but convincing other people that their stuff is crap and they should get rid of it, isn't easy]
30) Make an ice skating rink in my back yard, build a bonfire, make hot chocolate, and have a skating party and enjoy it
31) Learn html [or pay someone else to do whatever it is I want done]
32) Learn how to make a really good pie crust, from scratch [thank God, I have accomplished this one, only once, but still...]
33) After I finish nursing my youngest baby, buy some new expensive bras and matching underwear. [I'm getting ready to do this, though shopping for a bra that is the size of a training bra isn't all that exciting]
34) Re-invent my mother's ring since it is missing a few stones
35) Buy a plant and keep it alive, instead of treating plants as if they are meant to be disposable
36) Practice saying the word "forty" so that I can learn to not throw up a little while I say it [working on this one, unsuccessfully I might add]
37) Unpack all the boxes in my attic and label properly the things that will stay [or just toss them randomly into the dumpster]
38) Organize a box for each child to hold their special childhoodcrap memorabilia, limit size of said box so that they can never say they don't have room for it in their own house
39) Keep the flowers alive in my flower boxes on my front porch for an entire summer. This will be accomplished by watering them instead of ignoring them and blaming drought like weather for their demise [well, now that I have gardening clogs, there will be no stopping me]
40) Come to grips with the fact that I am closer to 40 than I want to realize and there is no way I will be able to accomplish all of these things
I have come to the realization that aside from being lazy about following through on my lists, I am also very fickle and I'm not sure I even want to do all these things anymore.
2) Start and continue an exercise regime for three months, even if it kills me [God, I'm lazy]
3) Do sit ups everyday for 3 months [Yup, still lazy]
4) Learn to accept my body and all it's imperfections (yeah, right) [oh, I am laughing...wooo hooo.]
5)Read novels I should have already read, classics I read a long time ago and either hated them with a fiery passion or loved them with a fiery passion to see if time has changed my feelings towards them [Still hate One Hundred years Of Solitude... hate it.]
6) Go to Paris with my husband
7) Spend a summer in Italy with my children
8) See the Grand Canyon
9) Take my kids to a Broadway show. I used to go frequently when I was child and have such fond memories of the experience [after looking at the prices of tickets, I'm not so sure I even want to do this one anymore]
10)Bring my daughter to the American Girl Cafe
11)Find my father, before he ends up dying and I never get to meet him.
12) Renew my wedding vows and have a party to celebrate, since we never had a wedding.
13)Finish writing a book (should probably start it too.)
14) Go through all our photographs and select some to matte and frame. AND hang them on the wall in our family room. [I've done a few]
15)Gather pictures of our home renovation and compile them into a coffee table scrapbook thing
16)Spend an entire 24 hour day without once yelling [I should be able to do this one around July 28th]
17)Bring my children to one of those indoor playgrounds and let them play without making myself nauseous over the amount of germs and bacteria they are touching and NOT once force them to go and wash their hands in the middle of playing. (Not sure I can do this one as just typing it is making me sick to my stomach.) I do draw the line at coating their hands with hand sanitizer and spraying them down with lysol before they get into the van; there are just some things that I can't give up. [I don't think I'll ever be able to do this... ever]
18) Ride on a rollercoaster, and if I feel particularly daring one that goes upside down
19) Catch up on buying all my children their annual Christmas ornament. (The idea is that I buy the children an ornament every year that represents them at that year of their life. When they grow up they will take the ornaments. Though who knows they will probably think it is totally stupid and queer and I will be stuck with all these ornaments on my tree forever or my attic)
20) Work tirelessly to rid the fashion world of low waisted pants by complaining constantly to anyone who will listen. [I work on this one every. single. day.]
21) Dig out my paints and easel and paint a painting
22) Hang the painting up somewhere in my house
23) Read the entire Narnia series aloud to my younger children [One book down.]
24) Take all my children to a baseball game at Fenway Park, wear a baseball hat, cheer and pretend I am a fan for the day
25) Find a reliable babysitter
26) Buy a huge bottle of vitamins and take them every day until the bottle is empty, without missing a day
27) Make it a habit to drink 8 glasses of water a day [though I am beginning to think if it were actually good for us to drink this much water our bladders would have evolved to be much larger. Also, God would have made water more tasty]
28) Finish renovating my house [before it sucks the very life out of my soul]
29) Get rid of all the things in my house that are just clutter and would benefit someone else [I'm trying, but convincing other people that their stuff is crap and they should get rid of it, isn't easy]
30) Make an ice skating rink in my back yard, build a bonfire, make hot chocolate, and have a skating party and enjoy it
31) Learn html [or pay someone else to do whatever it is I want done]
32) Learn how to make a really good pie crust, from scratch [thank God, I have accomplished this one, only once, but still...]
33) After I finish nursing my youngest baby, buy some new expensive bras and matching underwear. [I'm getting ready to do this, though shopping for a bra that is the size of a training bra isn't all that exciting]
34) Re-invent my mother's ring since it is missing a few stones
35) Buy a plant and keep it alive, instead of treating plants as if they are meant to be disposable
36) Practice saying the word "forty" so that I can learn to not throw up a little while I say it [working on this one, unsuccessfully I might add]
37) Unpack all the boxes in my attic and label properly the things that will stay [or just toss them randomly into the dumpster]
38) Organize a box for each child to hold their special childhood
39) Keep the flowers alive in my flower boxes on my front porch for an entire summer. This will be accomplished by watering them instead of ignoring them and blaming drought like weather for their demise [well, now that I have gardening clogs, there will be no stopping me]
40) Come to grips with the fact that I am closer to 40 than I want to realize and there is no way I will be able to accomplish all of these things
I have come to the realization that aside from being lazy about following through on my lists, I am also very fickle and I'm not sure I even want to do all these things anymore.
26 Comments:
I love your list and the revised addition is even funnier than the first! Good luck and again happy birthday!
I loved reading the list.
Happy birthday. My son is celebrating 7 today and I cant believe how fast time is going since I hit the 30 mark.
HA! At least you did the important things, like matting and hanging the photos.
What do you mean, plants aren't disposble? Of course they are. Well, all mine certainly are! My poor mother, after years of trying, has finaly acknowledged the futility of sending me a potted plant for my birthday, and now sends cut flowers. Which I tend beautifully, because they're my mind of plant: no long-term commitment, and I don't even have to TRY to keep them alive!
I like this list idea. Only mine would have to read, "...to do before I turn FIFTY." Knowing me, it should say "Three things to try to do before I turn eighty. If I remember."
Happy birthday!
I could not even make a list like this, I just know I would find some stupid say,.... a few minutes after I wrote them.
Just curious as to just why you so dislike One Hundred years Of Solitude?
take it from a knitter - knitting is so easy! Start there and soon you'll be able to do sit ups and knit at the same time and knock those things off the list and work your way down!
and oh yeah, happy birthday.
LOL @ #33... Just finished weaning Pumpkin who is 9 months old... and I'm back down to my "normal" size. Which is an A cup. I have NO bras that fit any more and I'm not looking forward to shopping in the little girls section where 9 year olds have bigger boobs than I do. Ah, oh well.
I loved this list. But I love your revised edition even more.
I too, shop for my bras in the training bra section of girly underwear. It is hard on the self esteem, but I like to tell myself, at least I won't be all stooped over with back pain from my bowling ball-sized knockers...
And the plant thing, I work in a green house, you'd think I could manage keeping my flowers alive through the season. Alas, I can't.
Happy birthday Chris. Enjoy your clogs.
Love the list. The Narnia one is worthwhile - I've read the whole thing to my 6 yr old - couple of them twice. My 4 yr old might've tolerated it if we'd had a set w/more illustrations.
40 aint' so bad. I'm facing 41 and I wish I looked as good after 3 as you do after 7. Happy day!
Happy Birthday. You know, if you keep holding on to that babysitter idea.. in a few short years, you can force your older children to watch the younger ones. Great list.
Please don't try to rid the earth of low rise pants. Us individuals with rib cages that sit atop our hip bones feel they are a life saver. Otherwise, the waist line of our pants meets our bra strap (which in my case is a 32A after breastfeeding five kids).
40 is just like 30, only with hot flashes and added wisdom! Plus lots of kids keeps you thinking young.
a.k.a. onetallmomma 45 years young
42 this month sob sob.
I have got to make one of those lists, lol, I guess I should put that at #1 *rotfl*
Leslie,
I only want to rid the world of the pants that are so low waisted they require a brazilian to wear them
I love the one about the indoor playgym. I hate to be a germie, but eww, those places can get nasty!
Go ahead and do the christmas ornament thing. I had a friend who did that with her kids, and you are right, they don't want them, but I sold them on e-bay for her and got a pretty penny!
I'm so lazy, I'm just gonna copy practically this whole list. Of course, I only have the next few months to cross everything off. Hmmm.
Well, you may be fickle but at least you came up with a list! I can't even figure out what it is that I want to achieve.
Oh, thank goodness I'm a year past 40... all that sort of pressure is off (they don't make use do lists of 50 things before 50... all we gotta do is a) try to bring on menopause and b) try to remember to try to bring on menopause.
It's going to be difficult, but I think I'm up for the challenge.
Hi, I'm new to your blog. Nice to meet you. :)
Longtime reader..first time commenter! Love your blog and just had to TOTALLY agree w/you on #33. Where the heck do those huge melons go to? 2 words for you... water bra! Padding and push up all in one! Happy Birthday!
I like this. I just did a "what I want for #30" - but it's highly unlikely most will actually happen, however, you never, know - someone might send me a Michael Vartan real doll :)
What our family did for #9 was to go to the high school productions. They aren't as costly or as long as a Broadway play. Most of the larger high schools offer two plays a yr and one is usually a musical. Also check out the private and church schools. We also have a great children's theatre group.
Good luck with your goals.
Lotsa times the Broadway thingies come to Boston first. Don't know how long a drive that is for you, but might be worth checking out.
Love your list...
Actually I do the ornament thing and I love it. My thoughts were that they would to but I know they will put them on the tree when I visit and then put them back in the box as I go!
You have got the energy to do all things on your list... mothers of millions of kids normally do...
re: #32 32) Learn how to make a really good pie crust, from scratch
I have what my friend calls the Idiot Recipe for Pie Crust. In no way, I am calling you an idiot, it's just what she calls the recipe.
I will be glad to share it with you. I'll post it to my blog....and you can go find it and share it with the world!!
Suzanne
http://suzannebalvanz.blogspot.com/
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