A bucket list...

Until this blog challenge, I had never put much thought into a bucket list. I know that I want to travel with my family. I want to take long RV trips across the country in the summer time and take Ethan to Disneyland, but I'm not sure those are bucket list type items.

So, for now, I will compile a list of things that I have done thus far in my life that I never thought I would have had the opportunity to do or the experience of doing and see if that sparks my though process into things I want to do:

1. Graduated from college and went on to graduate school.
2. Communicated through sign language with Chimpanzee's
3. Interpreted sign language
4. traveled to many different countries.
5. Been a vocal coach for musical theatre
6. Crewed for a hot air balloon (payment in rides!)
7. Certified in Kindermusik and started a successful business.
8. Raced in triathlons
9. Been the acting president of a board of directors
10. Pay of $23,000 worth of consumer debt in about 16 months.

and now that I'm thinking about things I have done, I have come up with a few that I would like to do, not only before I die, but sooner rather than later:

1. See the Aurora Borealis (and Alaska)
2. Explore the US National Parks
3. Get a small cute tattoo
4. Write a memoir
5. Collect stories from my grandparents and parents.
6. Meet my goal weight
7. Find financial peace and stability by being wise with money
8. Make a difference in the life of just one person.
9. Be an early riser
10. Sail the seas with my love.

There. i did it. :) There's 10 anyway....aren't bucket lists supposed to be like 100 things to do before you die or something? Well...here's 10 and I'm hoping to do them in the next 1 to 5 years...well...except the last one. That's our goal for retirement. :) Hopefully I won't die before then. And...when these 10 are done...I'll find another 10 and have another 10 that I will have done that weren't even on this bucket list. :) Fun. :)

The songs of my life....

So, I have a lot of trouble with today's blog challenge. I'm supposed to talk about songs I listen to for the times in life when I'm sad, happy, hyped, discouraged...whatever. Part of the problem is that I really don't listen to a lot of music. :) Well...that's not true...I listen to more music than the average Joe, but it's all for work. When I am home or away from work somewhere else, I don't usually choose to listen to music. And when I do want to hear something, it's usually something specific. I don't care for background music. I find the concept of "ignorance is bliss" is the best thing to describe me and my love/hate relationship with music.

My massage therapist is my best friend. She found me a CD to play during my massage that has no melodies. It's just tones and chimes in different orders with no patterns and no vocals. In my life, there is not really any such thing as background music. I hear the muzak at the grocery store and identify the songs that play in the elevator.

So, when I am in the mood to listen to music, I am usually very particular. Sometimes I go through phases of music. Like when my brother Ross introduced me to Maroon Five. Listened to them every day for weeks. :) I love Jack Johnson, Colbie Caillat, and the like. Most of all, I think I listen to musical theatre and opera. Again...specific. :)

Here's one of my favorites right now:


This one is pretty great to run to:


Here is one of my all-time favorites to watch:


I also run to this one:


I like the story behind this Dixie Chicks song and if you haven't watched their documentary, you should. :)

I have been made fun of many times for my playlist on my mp3 player. I have Taylor Swift, Dashboard Confessional, AFI, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Bocelli, Jack Johnson, The Beatles, Aerosmith, Dixie Chicks, Renee Fleming, Reba McEntire, and a TON of musical theatre.

I think the most important part of what I listen to is that I always have somethings specific in mind and I don't listen passively. I've always had a hard time answering this question.

What am I proud of?

So, yesterday's blog challenge was something I've felt proud of in the past few days. I guess the easy answer is that I've been proud of my students. I feel proud of them often. I am proud of those I have taught that have worked hard and had their hard work pay off in their lives and their jobs. I'm proud of Erin Wunz, my current EOU senior. Not only is she making great progress on her voice and her senior recital, but she is doing it while playing "Christine" in the Phantom of the Opera and being active in her church, an active participant in choir, having a job, and operating a voice studio. I am not sure that she knows how proud of her I am, but I feel very happy when I see how far she will go and how much she wants it.

I am proud of my husband. He has been working overtime almost every day for the past few weeks. He's out the door by 6 and home around 5:30 to be a WONDERFUL father to our kiddo. He plays games with him, wrestles with him, and entertains his silly "I made you say 'what'" games.

In general, I am proud of those around me. Proud of the students who work hard. Proud of the wonderful parents of La Grande in my Kindermusik classes and the wonderful work they do to raise their children. I am proud of my son who makes good choices most of the time and works hard to be a great kid.

Short term goals...

So...today's blog is coming to you after what finally felt like a successful rehearsal of Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins". We worked for 3 hours and the cast really worked hard and we got a lot of stuff done tonight. It finally feels like it might come together. Hopefully we can pull that pace for the next 4 weeks and be right on schedule to peak at opening. :)

Today's challenge is to list a few short term goals for this month. I found this thought to be a little daunting until I realized that I already have some...they just aren't written down.

1. finish out this blog challenge by truly blogging every day. I chose this goal because I truly love to blog and there are times that I NEED to blog in order to process through my thoughts and feelings, but I have gotten out of the habit.

2. Stay on-budget and still have a GREAT time on our ski trip and get to do whatever we want to, but with cash! After paying off $23,000 in consumer debt, we are sitting in a MUCH better position these days, HOWEVER, it still takes WORK to stay on track and in-budget and live within our means.

3. Do a little house cleaning every day so it's not so daunting on the weekends. I am a bad housekeeper. I am. I always had a messy room and I don't mean "lived in". I mean MESSY! and now I have a house with 2 other people in it and it's always messy. I spend my entire weekend cleaning. I don't want to do that anymore. I am going to try for this month to see if I can do a little bit every day and find a balance.

4. Get the computer room cleaned out and ready to be gutted. Our house project is never ending (at least it feels like it) and this room is next on the list. Ethan will be moved in here once it's complete and then we'll start working on the living room and one side of the house.

5. spend my evenings home in quality time with my family. Since I pick up Ethan at 3 and have rehearsal most days at 6, I only get until about 5:30 in the evening with him most nights. I have tried and will continue to try to make that time count with puzzles, reading, legos, and other one-on-one time. Oh...and date night once per week is a must! :) We've been doing pretty good at that so far and this week we are headed to an art opening, dinner, and EOU's production of "All My Sons" on Friday. Should be some good quality time with the hubster. :)

and for kicks, I will add:
6. hand-write and mail 2 letters to friends and/or loved ones. We forget about this in our day and age. We are instant. Email. Text. Chat. Facebook. There is NOTHING I love more than getting ACTUAL mail in my mailbox. Although...it rarely happens. I will work to make someone's day by sending them a hand-written snail mail letter because who doesn't like getting mail? :)

...and some leave footprints in our hearts forever.

Today's blog challenge is to post a picture of someone or something that has had a large impact on me. I am going to choose my mother. I was an "only child" until the age of 4 when my dorky brother was born (love you, Ross! :). My mom and I hung out all the time. According to her entries in my journal from those days, we did a lot of wonderful things together and were the best of friends.

I think everyone goes through a stage at some point in their lives where they don't like their mom. So did I. I thought my mom was crazy and stupid and that there was NO POSSIBLE WAY that she could understand where I was coming from. We had some pretty big arguments those days and I think what I did to hurt her the most was stay away. I did a lot of things to stay distant from my mother when I was growing up. Not to say we didn't have GREAT times as well...we did! I have many fond memories of time with my mom and times where she surprised me with how she reacted to my behavior....like when she caught me kissing my boyfriend in the hall at my high school where she had come to pick me up unannounced. :) It was a wonderful talk from a place of understanding and it was times like those that I realized that she was a person too.

I talk to my mother every day. Some people don't understand that and think maybe we are TOO close, but she lives 7 hours away and I love her more than she could possibly know. Both of us sometimes make decisions that make the other one come out and say how we feel, but we are open and loving and communicate wonderfully.

I don't know who I would be or where I would be without my mother. She raised 9 children plus whatever foster kids and friends happened to be visiting. She did it with assigned laundry days and laundry buddies, color codes (including our socks!), massive amounts of bagged cereal and toilet paper, and love. We had family dinners and family night. Family trips and family scripture time. All of this was on her own with a husband who was un-supportive and negative. She is a ROCKSTAR! She always has been, I just had to look with different eyes to see it.

I've often thought of writing down some of my childhood memories for her. I am sure she experienced our childhood much differently than we did. :)

Thanks mom! for everything!

Sidenote on being out of debt...

I am enjoying my saturday morning and listening to Dave Ramsey's broadcasts from the previous week. Something he said just struck me and I wanted to transcribe it because it's just how I feel!

Dave speaking about his experience being in debt with collectors calling and the repo man taking his car...

"I will NEVER be in that situation again"

"There is nothing that I want bad enough. There is no dream that I want big enough. There is no nightmare that you can introduce to my life that is scary enough. You're not big enough, bad enough, or angry enough to make me afraid enough to borrow money again...I'm DONE! And that's the benefit of having gone through financial hell..."

after getting calls from creditors with threats and bank foreclosure notices:
"...and then I would lay there until 4:00 in the morning wide awake half mad and half scared. I'm never going back there again. You don't have a car that I want that bad... There's not a boat I want that bad. Not a house I want that bad. There's not a business idea I want that bad..there's not anything I want that bad. I want financial peace."

I love how he puts things. :)

Having spent a number of years in my 20's laying awake at 4 in the morning having those same feelings about our money situation and having spent the last 18 months getting out of the $23,000 debt mess we were in, I can honestly say....I WILL NEVER BE THERE AGAIN!!!

Just thought I'd share. :)

Super Superhero....

So, before I could take today's blog challenge, I had to look up the definition of a superhero. Did you know that donald duck is considered by some a superhero? Here I thought the list was limited to awesome men/women/mutants that could do amazing things. Not true. The duck made the list. :)

I didn't really have a superhero that I fell in love with growing up. If you ask my mom, she'll tell you about the time I showed off my new Wonder Woman underwear to the missionaries who had come over for dinner when I was around 5, but I think Wonder Woman might have been my mom's superhero.

So, I came back to the only superheros I heard ALL about growing up with my brothers. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They are, in fact, on the superhero list (although so is the duck....). My brother's LOVED the TMNT! They played with the figurines, watched the movies, dressed up like them, and always made me be April. While I am not very fond of April (I have no patience for silly humans in Superhero stories...they're annoying), I did like the turtles! I like that they live on pizza (not so much with the anchovies), don't shoot guns, get along well as siblings (for the most part), and always get the bad guy. I love them for the respect and love they have and show for their leader and father figure, Splinter. This respect for their elder and their mentor is really missing in a lot of other superhero stories. The others are more like "lone rangers". Superman didn't have a mentor. Neither did Batman or Spiderman. They tended to took things into their own hands. The turtles actually showed love and respect to their mentor every day. I liked that part a lot!

My favorite turtle used to be Raphael. I mostly liked him as a kid because he had the red eye mask and red was my color code. We bonded over that. But, he's a little too dark and brooding at times. He is hot tempered and quick to his emotions. Much like me. But the one I like the most is Donatello. He's the one with the staff for a weapon and the blue eye mask.

Donatello is the thinker. He is smart and known as the brains of the TMNT. He can fight like nobody's business, but if given the option, he'd much rather talk about a peaceful solution than fight. :) He's quite a Mr. Fix-it and likes to invent things and ponder. I even vaguely remember that I'm pretty sure he listens to classical music. :) No wonder I like him. :)

Donatello is by far my favorite of the TMNT and they are my favorite superheros. Growing up and still today....