kicking the bucket

I saw commercials awhile back about some guy who was dying and had a list of what he wanted to accomplish before he died, hence, the bucket list. As I was vegging on the back porch last night I realized that although I am doing things that I love, I'm so busy doing the day to day that life is rolling by. I am in my 40s. Not old, but definitely not young any more. I'm not dying, in fact the last time I was at the dr's was to deliver my youngest :) I'm just not that crazy about dr's. I think most of them are idiots. I'm blessed with good health (so far) (knock on wood) but all that's beside the point. My point is that when we were told that Dd2 only had about 6 months (told you drs were idiots) rather than get depressed we came up with a bucket list and she set out to cross them off her list. She accomplished everything but 1 which was have a child. That's a different blog. This blog is about setting a list of things I would like to have accomplished before I am gone. I had some things in the back of my mind like raising chickens that I am working on and since I am a list maker, I added things that I have already started as well as things I still want to do. Here it is in no particular order;

1. Win something. I would like to win a cool prize or the lotto or something. The only thing I have ever won was foster parent of the year last year. It sounds much cooler than it was so I don't consider it as a prize.
2. Take one great picture. I am not photogenic. I am very nice looking in real life but take a picture of me and I look like a real dog. I have learned a few tricks for those yearly family pics, but still. ick. Nothing I want blown up for a funeral.
   
3. Own a red jeep. I see them on the road everywhere taunting me, tops off, doors off, radio loud, no room for anything but groceries in the back seat. I would love to trade my Durango w/ the xtra seat in. Not yet, but before I am all gray. Old people driving cool cars look ridiculous (sorry mom, I know you love your convertible)
   
4. Live in the country. I love my home. I wasn't buying a house, I was coming home. I have all the space I need for my orchard, garden and chickies. Grumpy on the other hand is not as enthralled. He wants to move somewhere closer to Mt Rainer and into the deep woods. I don't. We'll see what happens (or doesn't) :D
   
5. ReCreate my ggrandmother's orchard. I have been working on this for 3 years now. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. It took me 2 years for the yellow plum alone. Still looking for a King and Gravinstein apple tree.
6. Be self sufficient. Not because I have to, I just want to be able to. I want to be as self sufficient as my ggrandmother and gggrandmother. I have all their diary's and pictures of the homestead and find it amazing. They had very little stress in their lives because they were self sufficient. In fact the depression just passed them by. Between gardening, canning, hunting, and bartering they lived a very comfortable life. I would like to be off the commercial grid enough that food and gas prices don't affect me.
   
7. Go to a good day spa. The kind that bring you foofy drinks and you are waited on hand and foot. This one I should do fairly quick. There just has to be a point of body gravity that you no longer bare your ass to strangers.
   
8. Make a quilt for every child/grandchild. When my aunt was diagnosed with cancer we made her a picture couch quilt. It had pictures from her childhood on up and she took it with her everywhere. I believe she was buried with it. I would like to make a bed-sized quilt with all their childhood pics for each person. So much better than a photo album.
   
9. Finish my genealogy book. I haven't worked on it much this last year and every year that goes by, some history gets lost. We have some amazing lines to follow back and I would like to get it all documented and printed before I die. How cool is it that my grand daughters will be accepted in 'The daughters of the Revolutionary war', 'Daughters of the Mayflower', 'Daughters of the Oregon Trail', etc. I have gotten back to about 800 ad with accepted lines going back even farther. History is amazing when you have a family spin on it.
10. Go on a cruise to Alaska. I keep waiting for prices to drop so low that they pay me to go. Think that will happen any time soon? :D
11. Get my home organized. I am always so amazed when I run into someone who is naturally organized. I have to do 3 times as much work trying to stay on top of things. When they build up too much I shut down for a couple days to catch up. Good thing I have a job with flexible hours :) It will take some major work to declutter my closets. Maybe after a trip to Goodwill it will be easier to stay on top of things.
    
12. Learn how to cook. You would think after being married for 27 years I would be a good cook. I'm not. I'm a passable cook. Nowhere near the same thing. Case in point. I wanted to make some baking powder biscuits for dinner. 3 nights running and 3 different recipes every night and still can't find that WOW biscuit. They weren't bad, but they weren't great. I think it's something you are born with and I got skipped.
    
13. Go to a renaissance fair. In costume. That would be so much fun for me, but no way in hell would Grumpy be caught dead with a codpiece and I wouldn't want to go alone. I enjoy period history and he thinks history is what he had for dinner last night. This one might take some work.
    

At night when it's quiet out it seems that my list goes on forever. hmm. Maybe now that I have it down on paper I can organize myself to cross off more things on my list. So, to quote Fred Meyers...what's on your list today? :)