My Bucket List

Many of my Twitter and Bloggy friends have recently begun posting their Bucket Lists. I’ve been thinking about this ever since watching the movie by the same name (I heart you, Jack). I put a lot of thought into what I really wanted to do and what I would realistically be able to do. If I were to, say, win the Lottery, obviously this list would change. A lot. So, in no particular order:

1. Meet the love of my life. (8/30/1996)

2. Help and/or witness my daughter Bipolar Disorder become 100% stable.

3. Take a cruise to Puerto Rico with LeDaddy. I would love for my children to see the native land of their ancestors. To bad me no hablo espaniola.

4. Watch ‘Gone With the Wind’ with my daughter if she ever has the patience to sit still for 4 hours straight? Ok, maybe we can watch it in increments? May 2011, sporadically.

5. Move to New Jersey because seriously life in Florida has gotten stale.

6. Finish my AS degree so I can say I have a degree instead of saying I’m certifiable certified!

7. Get a degree in Psychology, so I can better understand my daughter (who has Bipolar Disorder), help other parents who are raising children with social/emotional/behavior issues more, and finally be able to determine if I’m crazy!

8. Write a book series. I have this story running circles in my head! It is keeping me up at night and that is not cool. I need love my beauty sleep.

9. Get said book series published, otherwise it will haunt me.

10. Get the dental work that I need, because I need it!!

11. Quit smoking 5/3/10 Woo hoo! No more cancer sticks for me bucko!

12. Open my own preschool with a program for children with behavioral/emotional/social disorders and issues.

13. Finish all my children’s scrapbooks. Birth through preschool, elementary years, high school years, etc.

14. Finish my children’s mother’s memories books.

15. Start an organization to support parents of children with Bipolar Disorder and their families. June 2010

16. Grow a garden that can stock my kitchen! Fruits, and herbs, and veggies, oh my!

17. Meet my family on my father’s side. Seriously, I have sisters, SISTERS! (I grew up only knowing my brothers, I didn’t even know I had sisters until I was a teenager and I had no contact with them until this year!!)

18. Visit Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Perhaps during the Rv trip, maybe soon. I would like to take the kids to see the Grand Canyon, if they could survive the trip. Lol

19. I want to trek to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Can you still do that?

20. I am trying to teach myself to knit and to crochet. I would really like to master these things before, well, you know.

21. I want to master the Spanish language. After 15 years with my husband (who is Puerto Rican and fluent in espaniol) it’s pretty pathetic that I’ve only mastered the very basics.

22. I want to Zumba. Seriously, I hear great stuff about this! Is it exercise, is it a dance?

23. I want to complete my family tree. I would love to see how far back I can get and what I can learn about my geneology.

24. I want to design my own dream house, have it built and live in it!

25. I want to learn enough about html, css and Photoshop to make my blog into the awesomeness I see in my head.

26. I would like to cut my hair and donate it to Locks of Love. (I’m at 36 inches now)

27. I want to take cake decorating classes. I would love to make all the cakes for my family! (This role was previously held by Nana who abandoned our cake needs got a great  transfer, bought an adorable house and moved to South Carolina).

28. Complete the #B90Day Challenge in October. Reading the Bible every day for the next 90 days to completion. 10/2010

29. Travel to Italy. The food, the art, the historical beauty, what’s not to love?

30. Learn to drive a stick. I always say I’m not coordinated to do this. My husband swears by them and begs me almost daily to learn…So, now, I guess I have to!

31. I want to get my National CDA. I have it for Florida, and I’m working on my A.S. degree, but, still…I want it. (I hoard education; it’s a problem I’m learning to deal with. Heehee)

32. Learn to play the piano, though I’d settle for a keyboard. This skill would be especially helpful in my preschool classroom….

33. When I do finish my A.S., I would like to have maintained my 4.0 throughout, but I’ll settle for 3.5.

34. I want to learn how to make my own laundry soap.

35. I want to complete clear my credit report. I want to have an awesome credit rating.

36. Write one short story every month for twelve months straight.

37. Get my family on a stable budget and put money away into savings.

38. I need to visit my Father’s grave. I never got to meet him, I’ve heard wonderful things about him and I feel like I have a lot to say to him.

39. I want to learn to scuba dive and then explore the Great Barrier Reef.

40. I want to participate in a Scrabble competition.

41. I want to mentor a teen mom. Show her it’s not the end of life and she’s not to young to be a GREAT mom.

42. I want to adopt a child. I want to bring that child into my family and know that there is one less unhappy child in the world. One less unsafe child. One less hungry child.

43. I want to find a Church that my entire family loves and then go, well, religiously. We’re gonna table this for now.

44. Attend all my children’s high school AND college graduations.

45 Get all my photos put into scrap books.

46. I would like the reflection of my words, actions, plans and knowledge to be that of a true Advocate of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder.

47. I want to build snowmen with my children! They’ve only seen snow once and then they were too little to appreciate it.

48. I want to start my own home business. I want to design and make tools for parents of children with social/emotional/behavior issues. (i.ei behavior charts, independence journals.)

49. I would love to spend a weekend alone with my hubby at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast.

50. Read all of Jane Austen’s books.

51. Learn to find peace through meditation.

52. Watch all the Underworld movies so I can stop feeling so lost and confused because I’ve only seen Underworld Evolution (the second one I think).

53. Have a big costume party for my birthday (which is a week before Halloween).

54. Learn sign language. I picked up bits and pieces over the years but it’s a skill I would like to have and be able to share with the preschoolers I teach.

55. I want to make a difference in someone’s life. 10/24/79 Thanks, Mom!

56. Go on a shopping spree and change my entire wardrobe.

57. I want to attend a blogger conference.

58. I want to tour the White House and….

59. Meet whoever is the current President.

60. Write one of those Christmas round robin letter thingies. Just once, to try it.

61. Learn where all the fancy silverware go and when you’re supposed to use them.

61. Get to the point where I am using Flylady’s program, in its entirety, and consistency.

62. Meet at least 5 of my bloggy friends in real life. More would be awesome, these are some awesome people.

63. Help my daughter plan her dream wedding.

64. Find my long lost sister, Angela. My other sisters (who I haven’t officially met yet) have lost track of her.

65. I want to sing Karaoke. I’d like to do a whole set of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn songs.

66. Get all my pics sorted and uploaded.

67. I’d like to speak publicly about pediatric bipolar disorders. I want to tell non-believers the facts and let other parent’s know they are not alone.

68. Find out what a financial portfolio is, then get one.

69. Finish all the book series that I’m reading. I would not be able to rest in peace unless I know that Elena and Damon live happily ever after, if Rose figures out how to change Dimitri back into a Moroi, if Zoey’s soul get unshattered, if she ends up with Eric or Stark, will the Four Wild Powers be able to stop the Apopcolypse? (Finished Vampire Academy 3/10)

70. I want to get my parent support group up to 200 members.

71. I want to get my group site set up exactly the way I envision it.

72. I want to help every parent in my group who is new to pediatric bipolar disorder get set up with another parent who is further along in the journey.

73. I want to set up and stick to a chat schedule for my group.

74. I want to finish moving all my resources from my all group platform to my new one. 2/2010

75. I have a craft drawer full of projects at different periods of completion, I would like to get them all finished.

76. Eat a meal with LeDaddy at a swanky upscale restaurant (this will give me a chance to put to use that snazzy silverware knowledge I picked up!).

77. Get a complete makeover (change everything, from your hair style, hair color, image, clothes) and get a different look.

78. I want to be an Ambassador for Kids Are Heroes, and I want to do it well; to the best of my ability.

79. Read books to the blind, once a month.

80. See a show on Broadway, on its opening night.

81. Help plant trees in my community on Arbor Day.

82. Recycle. I don’t yet, and I feel guilty about it! (Can we still be friends?) Been doing this since 11/2010

83. Eat a traditional Japanese meal. 4th Grade we had an exchange student from Japan who was studying to be a teacher. In Japan.

84. Help my kids plan, and complete their “Pajama Project”.

85. Spend one week in an Amish community, totally living their lifestyle. (Dear Blackberry, I know this will be painful for both of us, but it’s only ONE week.)

86. Work in a book store. Not a big one like B&N (whom I do love), but a small, cozy, privately owned one.

87. Help my little brother get his self in order professionally, and get noticed by someone BIG.

88. Volunteer with the Red Cross during a disaster relief. Not that I’m hoping for a disaster. But if there is one? I’m so want to be there.

89. Give a loan through Kiva.com to help an entrepreneur in a developing company get their business going.

90. Go Geocaching and/or Letterboxing with the kids.

91. Vote in the Presidential Election. (11/2008)

92. Get better about keeping in touch with friends and family. Seriously, I have to get over my anti-socialism.

93. Plan, organize, collect donations and send care packages to soldiers with little or no family.

94. Get a pen pal in another country and keep up with them. Is this feasable? I mean, what with blogs and Twitter…

95. Sponsor a child through The Children’s Network.

96. Collect soda can tabs for Ronald McDonald House.

97. Learn quilting and then make quilts and donate them to a children’s hospital.

98. Learn horseback riding with my daughter.

99. Join a book club. (6/10)

100. Meet Oprah, preferably on her set on the day she films, oh I don’t Know, Oprah’s Favorite Things, maybe? But for reals, just to meet her would be awesome.