#10 - Take a family portrait every 6 months

My baby is 15 months old and we have only had one family portrait made. I don't really want to go to WalMart or Sears and I can't really afford a professional photographer. So we wait until we have an occasion to all be dressed nicely and have someone take our picture informally.





I found out a few weeks ago that a guy at church was offering to do free family photos on Easter. Awesome. I made the girls' Easter dresses and was stoked about them... I coached Bill all morning to practice smiling... I was so excited. We were going to get a new, even better family portrait. I just knew it.

OK. So I'm not going to blow this up to put on the wall. The old one will suffice for another 6 months or so.

My husband swears he is smiling. Do you see even a hint of a smile? No. You do not. He's a liar. He even looks like this in our wedding pictures. Completely miserable. One day, our kids are going to look at all our family pictures and wonder, "Why didn't Daddy ever look happy? Was he that miserable to be with us?" That's OK, because I look happy at least. Not that you can really see me that well...

Next, let's look at Zoe. Do you notice her bare feet? Yes, I got them all dressed up for Easter and forgot to put shoes on the baby. I was so embarrassed.

And my darling, demon possessed Olivia... She was happy and smiling until the moment we mentioned taking a picture. Then she shrivelled up and we're pretty lucky that I managed to keep her dress down because she was flailing about for a while.

One day I will have a nice family portrait. I might have to hire actors to stand in for my family, but I will have a nice family portrait.

#77 - Do the MS Walk every year

This past Saturday was the Multiple Sclerosis Walk. I was very proud of myself. I raised $100. I earned a t-shirt even. Too bad MS Walk t-shirts are always, and I do mean always, ugly.

I forgot my camera AND my phone, so I was unable to take any pictures. I didn't think that would be an issue until the Stormtrooper walked by me. Yes, a Stormtrooper. Full get-up. I'm not really sure why this guy felt the need to be a Stormtrooper for the MS Walk, but he apparently did.

I didn't have a team or even a buddy to walk with. It made the time before the walk drag on for what seemed like hours. I'm not outgoing, so it's not like I was going to walk up to some strangers or Stormtroopers and strike up a conversation. By the time the walk actually started, I was bored out of my skull.

I'm not sure if it has something to do with having 3 small kids and lack of sleep and all that jazz or if I'm just going crazy as I get older, but at one point, as I'm walking towards the Clinton Presidential Library (which looks like a mobile home hanging over the river. For real... google it) staring at the back of a Stormtrooper, Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It came on the MP3 player and I almost, ALMOST, started singing out loud at the top of my lungs. Why should I care if people think I'm crazy? I'm walking behind a STORMTROOPER for Pete's sake.

Here, I saved you a Google.

#76 - Do the Heart Walk every year

This past Saturday, April 4, 2009, I participated in the Heart Walk. My sister and I had a team of 7 people - us, two of my cousins, and three of my sister's coworkers. We raised over $800 for the American Heart Association!

My sister and I before the walk... aren't we just too cute?



My sister and I were walking to honor our dad, who has had bypass surgery and countless heart caths and stent placements. My cousins were walking in memory of their mother, who passed way due to heart disease on March 23rd. It was an emotional day, especially for them. We were surrounded by survivors - adults and children. It's easy sometimes to forget that heart disease isn't just an adult, poor-lifestyle kind of thing. There were teams devoted to these kids who were born with heart problems. It was very touching to see so many people doing something to bring awareness and raise funds to help everyone with heart disease.

We plan on reviving our team next year, and hopefully adding to it. I think my sister said our goal will be 10 members and $1000 raised. This year it was just 5 members and $500, which we blew out of the water.

Next Saturday I have the MS Walk, in honor of my mother who has struggled with Multiple Sclerosis for about 20 years now. I'm doing that one alone, but I've raised $50 so far and have a few people who have promised to donate that haven't yet. And I have added another walk, but it's not on the list. A group from my church is doing the Alzheimer's Memory Walk and asked me to join them. At first I wasn't going to, because it would make three weekends in a row that I'd be doing charity walks and people are getting a little tired of me begging for donations. But my grandmother, who passed away 3 years ago, suffered from Alzheimer's, so it's just as important to me as the Heart Walk and MS Walks. It's sad to say, but there are probably other walks that I'm not aware of that I could do due to personal connections like that. You name a disease, someone in my family has it or has had it.

I'm a slacker!

Well, March was not a very productive month for me. I think making "do this once a month" items on my list weren't the best idea. Oh well, I will press on.

I have a lot of things coming up pertaining to my list. The American Heart Association Heart Walk is this coming Saturday. My sister and I (and a few other people she works with) are walking. The next weekend is the MS Walk. My church is doing family portraits on Easter Sunday.

I'm going to pick something to work on this week that I know I can finish. And I have a few ideas for my remaining 3 items I need to finish my list. I intend for April to be a much more productive month for me. I at least need to make sure I'm checking on this list once a week - I think I skipped last week. Slacker!!

#64 - Record all my dreams in a journal

I type much faster than I write, so this morning I typed out my dream really quickly. I started a new blog for it. I have some really awesome dreams, so you may want to keep an eye over there. I'll probaby let you know over here if I put something up over there, but you can be a follower if you want. Whatever makes your little heart happy. There's a link to the right for my dream journal ----->

Weekly Roundup

I told myself I'd update my list every Monday, but this week has been straight from hell and I'm just now making the time to do it.

As of yesterday, I have lost 13lbs, getting me ever closer to meeting #48. I'm really improving my elliptical skills. My sister and I run in to each other every so often at the gym. She wants me to get back into sparkpeople.com. We'll see.

My weekly letter went out to my grandfather.

I added #98 (I only have 3 blank spots left now) - to buy at least 10 Nancy Drew books for the girls. I was inspired by this last week when I was at the bookstore buying a worthless "learn how to help your kids sleep" book. They had all the Nancy Drew books for $3. Nancy Drew was the first "real" books I ever read. I know I was way to young to be reading books that big, but I have been an avid reader my whole life. My mom said before I ever went to school, I taught myself how to read. She said my Sunday School teacher asked her one day if she knew that I could read. She had no clue. She said not only could I read the Bible, but I understood what I was reading. So when I saw all these Nancy Drew books, I had to grab some. I think I got the first 7. There are probably 50 of them, but even at $3, it adds up quick. I'll probably reread them myself.

And finally... I'm at a loss about what to do about one thing on my list that I'm pretty sure will not happen... #94 - visit A&A in Houma. I won't get into it, but as things stand right now, it will not happen. I don't know if I should replace it or what. Part of me wants to keep it there in hopes that things will change but part of me thinks it is time to let go.

Postcrossing.com

One of the items on my list is to send out one postcard a month using postcrossing.com. Last week I received my first postcard!

It came all the way from China. It was the sender's first postcard too. =)

But that's not all... I received another postcard this week! I don't know exactly how it all works. I know your address isn't given out until you send out a postcard and the receiver logs it in. But I guess after that it's pretty random. This week's postcard came from Finland.

Isn't it cute? The stamp was really cool... I had to scan it too. LOL

The sender made me kind of jealous... she was about to go skiing. I've never been skiing, and would probably do myself some serious injury, but it sounds more exciting than going to work. =)