Johnny Tremain

Awhile ago...I'm not even sure how long it has been...I wrote a bucket list. It was a short term goal list for things I'd like to do in the next 6 months to a year.

As of last week, I lost 31.4 pounds so I get to cross that off. Though now I need to start a new goal and add losing another 20 to that. (You may think I'm being crazy, but I really do still have that much weight to lose!)

I think I've run a 10K, though I have the check the exact mileage. Four the last four weeks I have ran down to Dale and Elaine's house from my house. It is a 4.75 mile run. After the first week, I was disappointed that it wasn't 5 so I added some more mileage and made it 5.4 miles. That's pretty close to 10K, I think.

Now, I really need to work on Jeffrey's snapfish album. I worked on it a bit this summer while Grandma Gayle was here, but haven't touched it since. I just got a coupon in the mail for 35% off albums until November 2. Oh, how I'd love to find time to get it done and take advantage of the reduced price.

Today, I finished reading Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes. The first of three classics that I'm going to read. I loved the book. I chose to read it because I'm starting a Literature Circle in my 7th grade Language Arts class and it will be one of the choices. I decided it would be a good idea for me to have read all of the books that I offer to the kids for choices. :)

My favorite passage was at the end of the book:

..."He could smell the turned earth and gummy buds. And sweet wood somewhere burning. His nostrils trembled. Almost could they recapture the gunpowder of yesterday. So fair a day now drawing to its close. Green with spring, dreaming of the future yet wet with blood.

This was his land and these his people.

The cow that lowed, the man who milked, the chickens that cam running and the woman who called them, the fragrance streaming from the plowed land and the plowman. These he possessed. The skillful hands of the unseen gunsmith were his hands. The old woman throwing stones at the crows who cawed and derided her was his old woman--and they his crows. The wood smoke rising from the home-hearths rose from his heart.

He felt nothing could hurt him on this day. Not Rab's death nor the surgeon's knife. he felt free, light, unreal, and utterly alone...Tomorrow--next day--it would be different, but today is today."

twenty-nine

I'm a part of the negotiating team at work...we just finished mediation (and settled) at 2:30 am this morning.



We had to remember, "When you can't control the wind, adjust your sails."



So true in so many aspects of life...because there are just so many variables that we can't control.

twenty-eight

Always remember to...Be patient, take a deep breath and then react.

I try really hard not to yell at my kids. I don't like yelling and I don't think it helps. Really, I think it just hurt their feelings, which is not the outcome I want. Yet on some days I am so overwhelmed that I have to try really hard to keep my patience and not yell. Today was one of those days. I took a deep breath, put on my "fake it" voice and reacted. I was yelling inside, but being patient on the outside.

Memories to Write About

1 - Getting a kiss rock from grandpa spitzer

2 - Phoenix: apartment, friends, scorpion, eva, santa, moving home, myla

3 - Derek giving me his homerun baseball

4 - staying overnight, night after night, with dawn

5 - Listening to cars drivng up and down main in wilton after basketball games

6 - Cheering with the cheerleaders when I was little

7 - watching the bears win the superbowl while I lived in phoenix

8 - arguing with my grandma spitzer about taking naps

9 - going to Moorhead with Sonja to see auntie bon

10 - myla: monsters in the ceiling, cookies, toe soup

11 - being at quentin and joyces with collette and listening to 80's music on earphones that I thought were the coolest things ever...give me a sec and i'll remember the song, something with a yo yo i think

12 - going to disneyland with sammy gayle and samper duane in the rain

13 - watching all the semis drive down the highway and wondering if any of them were my samper duane and if he knew where i lived so that he would stop and see me if he had to drive anywhere close

that's a good start, i'm sure i'll add more later.

Bucket List

I haven't actually seen the movie Bucket List but get the idea. Here's my bucket list, in no particular order, of things to do in the next year. I'm giving myself the freedom to add as I wish and will only cross them off when they are fully finished.

1 - Finish Jeff's baby book

2 - Get caught up on Jeff's snapfish album

3 - Start Macy's baby book

4 - Make a list of stories from my childhood to write about

5 - Run a full 10K

6 - Lose 30 pounds

7 - Take a family vacation

8 - Learn more about using my camera

9 - Read at least 3 classics

10 - Do more art projects with my children

twenty-seven

always remember to...write down things that are important to you.

I started blogging when Jeff was little so that I could always remember the cute things he did. I tend to vaguely remember stories, but never clearly. Words help. Pictures help. I love to write and I love to take pictures. I read a lot of other blogs to enjoy hearing others stories and to stay inspired. Today, I read this blog entry and was inspired to write down stories I remember from when I was little. So today, I decided that I would work on doing the same. I'm putting it on my "bucket list" of things to do in the next year. (I decided earlier this week I was going to make a bucket list, but haven't got to it yet. Maybe I should just do it now.)

twenty-six

While reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks, I found this:

Always Remember..."she was struck by the simple truth that sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people."