the countdown begins!

It's officially less than one month before I hit the big three-oh. I'm coming to terms with it. Sort of.

Remember that list I made? 30 before I'm 30

Well, I'm pretty sure I won't hit them all. But I'm making progress! Lets see how many more I can cross off in the next month!


Updated 30 things to do before I turn 30

1. Have another baby (haha) ok, how about get pregnant? I doubt my husband reads this, but if he does he's probably rolling on the floor laughing right now. I don't care, it's still on my list. :) update 7/13: this ones still not even close! It's staying on the list though! ha!

2. Make progress with knitting. I finally (after YEARS!) learned to knit. But just knit. Next step purl! And by the time I turn 30 - how about a hat? (We'll save socks for 31) 7/13 - haven't touched anything to do with knitting in months. I still have a month though . . .

3. Go skiing. I've never been, and now we live about 2.5 seconds from a skiing hill and the kids get reduced passes for Friday nights through school. Time to learn. 7/13 - we didn't do downhill, but we did cross country in February. It counts!

4. Sew a quilt. A real one, with quilting and everything. I've done the tied quilts, but I want to actually hand stitch the quilting on one. It may take a while, I should start that right about now. 7/13 - the sewing stuff is in the process of being brought up to my room for a permanent space. Hope to start this in the next week.

5. Fill my freezer with home-made convenience foods. I always start, but never follow through. I may have a lasagna floating around, or some cookies - but I want a nice supply of ready and homemade things to pull out in a hurry. 7/13 - not there yet, but have made some progress. I'm actually looking at a pressure canner to help with the homemade convenience foods, I think I'll make a nice dent on this in the next month.

6. Decide what I want to do with my life. I mean, what I really want is to just stay home and have babies and cook and sew. Really. But, I don't think that's in the cards. I don't love what I do now, and I want to. By the time I'm 30 I want at least a plan on how I want to spend the rest of my life earning a living. I don't need to worry about the practicalities now, but I want to get the gears going. Update: 4/6 - I've been looking into holistic nutrition degrees, we'll see where that leads me. 7/13 - Think I'm going to start at SU for a registered dietician degree. I hope to be taking classes within the next year.

7. Stop my tooth/dental obsession. It's stupid and I'm not going to go into a ton of detail here, but it's really awful and affecting my daily life. I need to find a way to end this. Update: 4/6 - not completely gone, but probably 50% better. I got a night bite guard which has been helping tremendously with pain.

8. Lose more of the "baby" weight (unless of course, goal #1 happens!) It's been six years - six years - since my youngest was born. I gained 80 lbs with him and have only lost half. For most of my 20's I have been overweight, out of shape, and unhappy about it. I accept I will never be a size 0 again. I don't want to be a size 0 again, I just want to love, or at least be happy with, what I see in the mirror. I can love my stretchmarks. I can love that little bulge below my belly where the skin stretched and will probably never be flat again. I can not keep accepting and will not love a body that I'm not proud of. I need to get moving and stay with it. I need to stop making excuses. I need to make some changes and get back to loving this body of mine.7/13 - Making progress. I'm down about 15 lbs, I have around 15 more to go.

9. Stay smoke free. It's been a year, but I've had a couple here and there and sadly, it's still an ongoing battle to stay cigarette free. This needs to be a yearly (daily?!) goal for me still. Update 4/6 - having a very occasional cigarette, when around people who smoke and I'm having a few drinks. Tried to have one the other night at a bar - and tossed it a couple drags in. Gross! 7/13 Um. I'm still smoking when I have a few drinks. It's summer. It's hard. I still have no desire to really smoke again though

10. Take more risks. I'm going generic on this one. I don't have anything specific in mind. Maybe it'll be my hair again. Maybe I'll skydive. Maybe I'll simply say yes when I want to say no. I just want to stop playing it so safe all the time (within reason of course ;D).7/13 - ok. kinda. Nothing drastic. No skydiving. But, I think I've been a little more 'go with it' lately.

11. Take a class. I don't know what kind yet, and I don't care. I've been out of school for too long, and working at a mundane job. I need to get out and learn again. Maybe I'll continue my accounting classes, maybe I'll take a nutrition class, maybe I'll take a knitting class. I don't know yet, but I'm going to do something.

12.Get a massage. The Husband and I promised ourselves when we quit smoking, we would treat ourselves to a massage every 2-3 months. It's been a year and we haven't had one. What am I waiting for?

13. Get a manicure and pedicure. My first one ever was before my wedding 2 years ago. I haven't had one since. Why not? Sometimes it's ok to splurge a little and get pampered. I'm not a very girly girl - but I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks. Why wait for another special occasion. It being a Thursday is just as good a reason as anything else.  Treated to one by my MIL over Christmas!

14. Wear a bathing suit, in public. Even when I was a size 0 I would wear a t-shirt and shorts over my suit. Why? Why? I had no idea how fleeting that body and that youth was. I haven't worn a suit (shorts or not) since my youngest was born. I don't want to be sitting here in another 10 years wishing I had only loved my body then. I mean, who cares? I haven't gone swimming in years - and why? ugh. 7/13 - did it last week on vacation. I wore shorts with my suit  but it's a start! I even went swimming and on water slides. Haven't done that in 10 or 15 years!

15. Don't use the computer or TV for a week. I'd have to use it for typing orders at work, but I don't need to go on myspace, facebook, tumblr, blogger. I don't need to look up recipes, check the news online (or on TV). It's too easy to get sucked in. No excuses. Aside from typing orders - no computer and no TV for at least one week. Radio is ok. Update: I have done a computer free 2 weeks, over Christmas, with limited TV but haven't yet completed a week without using either!

16. Go see a play, even just at Syracuse Stage. Every year we give tickets as gifts, and yet we never go.

17. Watch football just once with The Husband. And I mean really watch it. Don't read or knit or sew. He likes it, and it wouldn't kill me to show a real interest in it just once in my life. Update: Oops. Football season is over!

18. Visit my nanny and poppy and grandma. I haven't seen any of them in two years.

19. Make another wine.      Mixed berry wine currently fermenting!

20. Find a new favorite restaurant locally. We moved away from our tried and true favorite place. We need to find a new one here.

21. Go bowling. I haven't in ages, and I really like it.

22. Read a book a month. I used to read several books a week, and the older I get - the less I read.   Update 4/6 -I've been reading a book a week at least, with no signs of slowing down.7/13 - Joining my MIL to see if we can read the TIME top 100 novels of all time

23. Pay off my credit card  ---  Update 4/6 - Paid off 2/3's of the balance - almost there!!

24. Paint the wall length bookshelf in the living room

25. Replace kitchen lights

26. Wine Tour. We've talked about doing this for a few years, a girls weekend wine tour. And we haven't. And won't. I want to plan this one for my birthday weekend.

27. Get up at 6 instead of 6:30, so we have more than an hour to get ready in the morning, so I can actually make a real breakfast for the kids instead of having them grab cereal (again). 7/13 -  I don't know how much it counts, because I have work at 7am now, but I've been getting up at 5-5:30, now I just have to keep that going once I switch back to nights!

28. Join a CSA    7/13 - Not going to do this. My garden is producing nicely, and I like the rhythm of a weekly trip to the farmers market.

29. Order a half a cow for the freezer

30. Go hiking at at least 3 new places.

And because I thought of one more

31. Increase my running time.




So there it is. Remember my quote from this week? Yeah, I procrastinate! One month left . . .