What AM I Doing?

I guess I should have started this blog before I did anything on the list but anyone who knows me knows I never do things the way they should be done.

So my much younger cousin (we won’t lament the fact that she is almost 2 decades younger than me) has a 30 x 30 list.  This is a list of 30 things she wanted to do before her 30^th birthday …  and here’s the kicker … SHE’S DOING THEM.  Just recently she went to Thailand (by herself) for 3 weeks and she ran the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, D.C.  The “kid” is amazing me.

It made me think about things over the years that I said I wanted to do.  Then it inspired me and I created my own list – a 50 x 50 list.  Actually it ended up being a 53 x 50 list.  Anyway it is a list of things I want to do by my 50^th birthday in 3 ½ years.

This is different than a bucket list because I have a definite time frame in mind.  A bucket list has an end date but we have no idea when it is.

The reason my list has 53 instead of 50 is twofold.  While growing up my family had a tradition of an extra candle on your birthday.  So if you were turning 8 , you had nine candles on the cake – one for each year and one to grow on.  So in keeping with that tradition my list had to have 51. 

After looking at the list, I made the decision that everything on the list should be something under my control.  Otherwise it is set up for failure.  For example, I could put win the lottery on the list but I have no control over the final outcome.  I can buy tickets for every drawing but I still may not win and then I would fail.  So there were 2 items on my list that I could do everything possible to make them happen but the final outcomes were out of my hands.  So I created 2 alternate items in case the original should fail.  Hence 53 items on the list.

So here is the list:

1. Get out of debt.
2. See the rest of California
3. See Colorado
4. See Connecticut
5. See Delaware
6. Get a pattern published
7. Clean out my house and storage unit
8. Remodel the upstairs of my house
9. Lose  120 pounds
10. Hike part of the Appalachian Trail
11. Do my $100 deal at the Atlantic City casinos
12. Have a $40,000 year of sales
13. See Barry Manilow in Las Vegas
14. Be on TV
15. Have my teeth fixed
16. Have a spa day
17. Get a western outfit for Schweetie
18. Make a Christmas ornament for the White House
19. Go to an on Broadway play
20. Drive north to south on the east coast
21. Drive a motorcycle
22. Take part in a play somehow
23. Finish the wild cat crosstitch I started many years ago
24. Finish the crosstitch Santa tree skirt I started before the wild cat picture
25. Crochet 12 afghans
26. Finished my beaded Ornamental Lady sign
27. Remodel a room all by myself
28. Read the Bible
29. Win 1^st prize at one of my art shows
30. Meet Clint Eastwood
31. Get a sleep number bed
32. Stay at the Sayre Mansion Inn
33. Eat at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant
34. Go to 5 festivals as an attendee instead of a vendor
35. For 1 year decorate the house for each holiday
36. Go jetskiing
37. Go to a psychic
38. See major museums in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC
39. Go off roading in an ATV – me driving
40. Take a ride in a stretch Hummer limousine
41. Make a beaded doll
42. Learn ASL
43. Go to the Tucson bead show
44. Take a bead (and yarn) crawl of PA (with Hedge)
45. Go see the David Letterman show
46. Stay at a haunted bed & breakfast
47. Go to the Philadelphia Flower Show
48. Play bingo at Foxwoods
49. Walk a marathon
50. Learn to play guitar
51. Make a gourmet meal for family & friends
52. Read Sue Grafton’s books A-?  wherever she has gotten to
53. Go to the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee

I know none of these are going to change the world but I am hoping maybe they change me somehow – just a little – make me grow – appreciate the world more – bring more joy to my life.