30 Days of Lists: Little Joys

30 Days of Lists: Trends I Can't Stand

30 Days of Lists: Places I Lived

Yesterdy Was...

30 Days of Lists: Day 21

Everything I bought during the week of September 21st...

30 Days of Lists: Day 18:

Favorite Names: For People:

• Ceilidh
• Megan
• Kelly
• Chele
• Allie
• Mara
• Elizabeth
• Katherine
• Luna
• Kevin
• Michael
• Justin
• Brian
• Hudson
• Robert
• Rick
• Devon
• River

For Pets:

• Smokey
• Mocha
• Piper
• Amicus
• Olympia
• Lucky
• Cocoa
• Brandy
• Mystic
• Loki
• Titan

30 Days of Lists: Day 17

Excuses:

• Prior engagement.
• Lack of funds.
• Not feeling well.
• Too early or too late.
• Not kid friendly.

All of these are legitimate reasons to say No, but they become excuses when they are exaggerated or easily, painlessly overcome, but the motivation to do so is lacking because I Don't Wanna....

Things I Use Excuses to Avoid:

• Parties (Hate 'em!)
• Things that involve long or unfamiliar drives to get to them.
• Eating at places that won't have vegetarian options.
• Things that involve huge crowds or are otherwise claustrophobia inducing or triggering.

30 Days of Lists: Day 16

I reserve the right to add to this one, frequently...

Things I Want to Learn:

• To play the banjo, mandolin, piano, recorder, bag pipes, saxophone, and Irish tin whistle. Guitar, dulcimer and fiddle, too.
• To speak German, French, Kanienkeha (Mohawk) and Latin.
• To sing like a pro.
• To compose music to go with the lyrics I write.
• To finish [writing] a novel.
• To knit and crochet.
• Glassblowing and stained glass.
• Throwing on the [potter's] wheel well.
• To drive stick shift so I can drive a race car.
• To scuba dive.
• Canning and preserving.
• Effective gardening.
• To save money.
• Sailing.
• Bookbinding.
• Quilting.

30 Days of Lists: Day 15

I Know I'm Young at Heart When:

• I get a big hug from my family.
• I make art.
• I make a sandcastle at the beach.
• I swim.
• I look up at the clouds with Mikro, looking for shapes.
• I make a wish.
• I take a nature walk.
• I stand by the river, and dream of where the tides might take me.
• I sing.
• I play with my son.
• We do messy art projects.

30 Days of Lists: Day 14

I Know I'm Getting Older When:

• I stiffen up from sitting to long.
• My knees creak
• I look at my shockingly white streaked hair in the mirror.
• I hold off on going to the bathroom to avoid climbing the stairs
• I hear what teenagers are calling music these days and grumble.
• I would rather take a nap than watch TV.
• I have to take off my glasses (for distance) to see close up.
• I realize my son is getting to be a Big Kid, not a baby anymore.
• Someone reminds me how long it's been since... (high school/college/law school/we met/etc.)
• Too many aches and pains:
  • Neck
  • Back
  • Hips
  • Ankles
  • Knees
  • Feet
  • Elbows
  • Shoulders
  • Head.
• I can't straighten up completely.

30 Days of Lists: Day 13

Guests at the Ultimate Dinner Party (in no particular order):

• Jesus
• Gandhi
• Georgia O'Keefe
• William Shakespeare
• Emily Carr
• T.E. Lawrence
• My Gramma
• Pete Seeger
• Buddha
• Mary Oliver
• Francis of Assisi
• Rachel Carson
• Maya Angelou
• Jane Goodall
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Ben Franklin
• Jean Craighead George
• Deganawidah
• Vincent van Gogh
• Farley Mowat
• John Adams
• E.O. Wilson
• Henry Hudson
• Woody Guthrie
• Martin Luther
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Tom Porter
• J.R.R. Tolkein
• Jake Swamp
• Ray Fadden
• Roy Chapman Andrews
• George Lucas
• Homer

30 Days of Lists: Day 12

Fictional Places I'd Like to Live:

• Aboard the Starship Enterprise.
• Margaritaville!
• Camelot
• In a Yellow Submarine!

30 Days of Lists: Day 11

Favorite Scents:

• Rain + Hay + Horse Manure
• Cinnamon
• Burnt sugar cookies
• Clean little boy
• A breeze off the river or ocean.
• A hint of my Gramma's perfume (Chantilly Lace)
• Vanilla
• Citrus fruit
• Baked Ziti cooking
• Roses in the garden
• A bonfire or campfire.

The Nose Knows: Most of these are triggers for GOOD memories.

30 Days of Lists: Day 10

I am a gimpy, middle-aged hippy, not Super Woman, and things are better when I remember that. Overdoing it just leads to more downtime as my wretched spine gets even with me for daring to pretend to be normal... Better to respect the limits of pain.

I Am At My Best When:

• I get enough sleep (ha!)
• I take my Vitamin D
• I have had my coffee
• I've made art recently -- it keeps me semi-sane...
• Things are good between me and the people I care about... Kev, Mikro, my family, friends, etc...
• I have made time to go be by my river...
• I'm journaling or blogging or doing something to hold on to my life before I forget it...
• I am not overscheduled
• I respect my limits.

30 Days of Lists: Day 9

Today You Can Find Me:

• Cuddling with my sweetie.
• Drinking iced coffee.
• Sculpting a dragon in clay.
• Watching Mikro sculpt a dragon and moai.
• Releasing insect specimens.
• Driving myself crazy worrying about money.
• Watching Kev work on his modelling project- super detailed robotic Terminator skull.
• Getting a massage. My husband is my physical therapist. He has magic fingers that keep me functional. (Limited, but functional...)

30 Days of Lists: Day 8

Out My Front Door:

• My car, the Blue Beast.
• The overgrown, weedy sidewalk (oops!)
• Front yard & fence
• Bird feeders galore & water dish
• Patio table
• Bucket o' garden tools
• Porch swing
• Rose bushes gone crazy wild
• Flowers sticking out of the fence
• Birds, squirrels
• Amazon packages on the stoop

30 Days of Lists: Day 7

Midnight Snacks:

• Evil addictive pizza flavored Combos
• M&Ms
• Cold Pizza
• Cheese & crackers
• Pears
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Glass of almond milk (chocolate)
• Salty sunflower seeds
• Granola bars
• Pomegranates
• Chocolate flavored yogurt
• Pie (pumpkin, nlueberry, coconut custard)

30 Days of Lists: Day 6

Reasons to Quit Procrastinating:

• It creates chaos and makes me miserable.
• I end up doing "whatever" any way, just under more time pressure and more self-induced stress.
• It makes other people mad at me.
• It solves nothing.
• I don't really enjoy the time I spend avoiding "whatever" because I feel too guilty to let myself have fun.

30 Days of Lists: Day 5

Reasons to Start Walking More:

• Getting into better shape. Driving everywhere is expensive and has cut my endurance down.
• Seeing more. More nature, more beauty, less of the back end of the car in front of me...
• Cussing less --- Less driving means less anxiety ridden swearing and profane song composition at the wheel.
• I miss picking up acorns, leaves, feathers, etc. and really being able to see the sky...

30 Days of Lists: Day 4

Day 4's topic was things you do when you need a time out.

What it says: When I need to decompress, I go sit by my river. There is nothing like listening to the sound of the running water, watching the shore birds, feeling the sun on my face, and letting all my cares just ... drift away... And on the rocks, there are other destressors listed:

• Music
• Painting
• Pottery
• Tea
• Drawing
• Calling my mom
• Bird watching
• Reading
• Poetry
• Coffee
• Take a nap
• Laughing with my sweet son
• A big hug from my husband
• Taking a walk
• Going out with friends
• Research obsessively
• Unfortunately, also spending money...

30 Days of Lists: Day 3

My friends and family would describe me as:

• Intense
• Creative
• A good listener
• Caring, Compassionate
• A dreamer with her head in the clouds
• A screwball comic
• Addicted to coffee
• Smart, Geeky
• Gimpy
• Sloppy
• A total bookworm
• Silly
• Sometimes over dramatic to an operatic degree
• Klutzy
• Potty mouth.

30 Days of Lists: Day 2

Goals for the month:

• To enjoy my family.
• To work on being more organized.
• To get myself doing something "just for me."
• To do something creative.
• To document my life so I don't forget it.
• To get off to a good start for our homeschool year.
• To slow down enough to hear myself think.

30 Days of Lists: Day 1

I have not blogged here in ages, since most of my life is tied up in homeschooling my very gifted 9 year old and I rarely get to paint. But I recently came across a fun art journaling project, and I have been meaning to find something creative to do that's just for me, so I'm reviving the blog to post my daily pages for 30 Days of Lists here. I found this wonderful project rather late in the game, but for ease of correlating my entries to the Daily List topics, I'm going to back date my catch up posts to when they should have appeared. So today is actually September 20th, but I'm posting the first Daily List on September 1st, as I would have if I had signed up at the beginning...

Here is My Day 1 List. The topic is "I am a "lister" because..."

What that chicken scratch says: Ever since the accident, I have had short term memory problems. What I don't write down flies right out of my head. Lists are sanity saving for me. They help me not freak out over not being able to remember. Also because:

• I like crossing things off.
• Helps me not procrastinate.
• Gives me a game plan.