A Few Things on My Bucket List

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

I have been so consumed with finding work and creating income since we moved to our new state that the thought of filling out just one more job application or revamping my resume one more time makes me want to slit my wrists.  Yeah...I'm that burned out.  So I thought I'd take a break from the job hunt and focus on some of the really motivating things I would like to accomplish in my life, in the hopes that I might regain some of my sanity and maybe win an awesome family vacation in the process!

There are about a billion things I'd like to do before I leave this world, here are 15 of them:

1. Write a book.  I know.  Everyone wants to write a book, right?  And actually, just about anyone can do it these days with all the self-publishing options and e-books, but I can't remember a time when I didn't want to write a book, so even if it seems like a trendy, "everybody's-doing-it" kind of goal, it is a goal I choose to keep on my bucket list.  Don't ask me about the book topic, I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete.  Although I had an amazing idea today for a coffee table book that involves Dog the Bounty Hunter.  Intrigued?  I know, right?  How did someone not think of it already!?!

2. Learn how to design and build a website.  Because then I could more easily pursue some of my other goals that are sitting and waiting for a finished website to call home so they can come to life. Which reminds me of #3 on this list.

3.  Go back to school and finish my education.  I have a 20 year old Associates degree in an industry where my skills are no longer relevant.  I learned ad design and graphics before the computer!  Ever heard of amberlith, rapidographs and Prismacolor markers?  How about a Varitype Typesetter?  Ever made a photostat copy of something? No?  I KNOW!!  Because all these things are obsolete!  Time to start over and learn how to use all the spiffy new design programs out there like Dreamweaver, Photoshop, InDesign and whatever video editing software the kids are using these days.

4. Learn to play the banjo.  The redneck in me needs an outlet once in awhile.  I have this vision of sittin' around on the porch Andy Griffith style with a cool guitar player, a fine fiddler and a rad harmonica-nista.  We'll be a pickin' and a grinnin' while the neighbors clap and the kids dance on the lawn.  I cannot WAIT to post the video one day to prove to y'all that this one actually happened.

5. Own a 1965-68 Mustang with a big V-8 and cool mag wheels.   Va-rooom!  I LOVE those cars!

6. Move to a farm where I can raise my boys and live out the rest of my life growing amazing things and taking care of funny animals.

7. Lose weight and get healthy...so I can learn to do things like #8.

8. Ski with my family!  Even when I am thin, I have never been really athletic, but skiing down a mountain of snow sounds like a hoot.  Even if I never make it off the bunny hill, I'd like to try it once before I die.  And the weight loss thing would also be of great importance when it comes to finding a snowsuit that wouldn't make me look like the Michelin Man's wife.

9. Travel across the country in a decked out motor home to visit places like Mt. Rushmore and The Bigfoot Discovery Museum while eating really cool road food like "Rippers" from Rutt's Hutt in New Jersey and tossed rolls at Lambert's Cafe in Missouri.

10. Buy a really great digital camera and take a photography class with Arizona Highways or National Geographic photographers. .

11.Accomplish something physical that I never thought I would be capable of doing, like running a marathon or hiking the Grand Canyon. 

12. Find a cure for cankles.  Seriously.  I hate my ankles.  Even when I'm not heavy, I still have cankles.  Not from fat or water retention, but from giant bones and muscles.  I have thick ankle DNA.  I will never look good in a dress and strappy sandals until cankles become a thing of the past.  Please donate today to the "Cure for Cankles" Foundation.  Your contribution will help women like myself, my mom and Hillary Clinton shun pantsuits and long skirts forever.

13. Visit Ireland and come home with a wicked Irish accent.

14. Become a published author in a magazine or newspaper.   

15. Visit Grandmother/Great-grandmother's old home in Virginia with Mom and Sister.  My mom has always wanted to know more about her mother's side of the family and where they came from.  She has relatives there she has never met.  It would be wonderful to help her reconnect with family there and learn more about her southern heritage.       

Holiday Wish List Meme

Times are tough for a lot of people right now, right?  We don't have a lot of money any money for gifts this year, so in the spirit of hope and believing in the power of positive thinking, I am entering lots and lots of contests to help supplement the lame homemade gifts I will be giving.  I like this contest, because along with gaining me entry to win, I can share a little bit about myself with my friends and readers. 

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

Todays Mama (http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?  To find our path.  We have been struggling for 13 years now to figure out how to become the family we want to be.  We want a healthy family dynamic, a home filled with love and acceptance and the skillset to deal with and overcome adversity without losing our minds and our bearings in life.   And we want to find where we belong.  We want to find the place where we all feel like we're finally home.   

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?  Sadly, we haven't really established anything really great.  We all just kind of get up and watch the kids open gifts then I get breakfast.  Maybe I'll put on some Christmas music.  We didn't grow up with traditions, so we are still struggling to find one that means something to us.  Maybe that will be my goal this year is to really hone in on a Christmas morning tradition that will have some meaning for our family.  

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?  To have the money to attend a really great blog conference!  I love social media and I have so many ideas that I need help to flesh out and a blog conference would be the perfect place for me to network with the experts and get their input and advice.  Plus I would finally get to meet some of my great blog friends!  A vacation and a learning experience, all rolled into one awesome package!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? We try to focus on the real reasons we celebrate the holidays.  On Thanksgiving, we talk a lot about the blessings we've received throughout the year and we take time to thank our Heavenly Father for his love and support.  Throughout the Christmas season we talk a lot about our belief in Christ and really focus on loving and serving others as much as we can to create a spirit of warmth and love.  We try to give gifts that have meaning, rather than gifts that cost a lot of money, like photo albums, handmade cards, homemade treats, etc. 

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?  Ummm...we didn't play games.  We didn't really play as a family at all.  We didn't really have that kind of family dynamic.  My sister and I lived in many different homes with different family members, so there wasn't a lot of game playing, mostly just trying to adjust and survive.  To be fair, when we did live with my mom, she worked 7 days a week, so there wasn't really a lot of time for "playing" or doing stuff with the kids.  But enough of the whining!  I'm trying to leave those issues behind!  I do remember a few times, back when Atari Pong came out, sitting with my step-dad and playing Pong with him for $25 a game.  I KNOW!!  He played for some serious cash!!  Now that I think about it, he had to purposely lose the first game because neither of us kids had $25 to start with!  Wonder why that never occurred to me then?  Ahhh...good times.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? Like I said, we never really had holiday traditions growing up.  I guess no matter where we lived or who we lived with it seems like we always made sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles.  And I can always remember being able to watch the Christmas specials and It's a Wonderful Life.  I do make sure my kids make cookies and we watch some of the classic specials and Christmas movies every year, so I guess we do have a tradition!  Yay!!!!  We're making progress! 

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? I would love to go to Switzerland and see the Alps and eat lots of hot, melted cheese dishes while I watch the snow fall and listen to milking maids yodel about hot chocolate. Seriously though, Switzerland sounds like a wonderfully, picturesque place to spend at least one Christmas, with it's pretty little villages nestled among huge snow covered mountains.     

8. Check out GameStop (http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year? 

1) A Nintendo Red DSi Bundle for Little Man, his Gameboy is antiquated and hard to find games for.

2) An Xbox 360 w/Kinect for The Man and Big Brother, because apparently PS2 is no longer relevant in the gaming world.

3) A Wii Fit Plus w/ Balance Board or EA Sports Fitness Bundle for me so I can get my fat butt moving in 2011 to something fun and finally get in shape!

Well, that's my meme.  It actually made me a little depressed.  My goal right now is to be extremely positive, so I really need to work hard this year to create a different experience for myself and my family!  No more mourning the past!  Now you know a little bit more about me, I would love to hear about some of your family traditions and Christmas wishes!!  Maybe I can borrow from some of you to start creating better memories for my kids.  Here's to a happy, memorable Holiday Season!!