My Bucket List

1. See a Ballet
2. Go to New York and see a broadway production
3. Have a picnic in Central Park
4. Go canoeing/rafting in a river that runs through the mountains
5. Visit the Mayan temple ruins
6. See a real castle
7. Go on a safari
8. Ride the biggest roller coaster in the world
9. Go to a Thanksgiving parade in New York
10. Find my soul mate and get married
11. Vacation in Hawaii
12. Go on a cruise in the Mediterranean
13. Visit the Egyptian ruins
14. Ride the London Eye
15. Write a book and get it published
16. Sleep in a teepee
17. Get a tattoo
18. Drive a Shelby Mustang (oh Eleanor!)
19. Visit the Louvre
20. Kiss the love of my life a top the Eiffel tower
21. Visit the Toronto Zoo
22. Learn how to swim and go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reefs
23. Learn how to play the piano (properly)
24. Visit Quebec during the winter carnival
25. Go to PEI and tour Green Gables
26. Skate on the St. Lawrence Sea way
27. Ride a sail boat on the ocean
28. Spend a night (or a week) on a massive yacht
29. Go on a horseback ride in the mountains
30. Learn more about astrology and spend more time stargazing and pointing out the constellations to my kids
31. Take a helicopter ride over something amazing
32. Take a wine tour
33. Stay in a theme room
34. See Stone Henge
35. Walk along the Great Wall of China
36. Visit Easter Island (Is that where the Easter bunny is from?)
37. Learn a Martial Art
38. Have my portrait painted
39. Go skinny dipping in a lake with a water fall
40. Take a train ride across the mountains
41. Take an ice explorer bus over the Colombian Ice Fields
42. Learn to ballroom dance
43. Learn to belly dance
44. Buy something ridiculously expensive just because I can. (Like Manola Blahnik shoes)
45. Set foot in each of the seven continents
46. Attend high tea at a posh hotel.
47. Go whale watching
48. Swim with dolpins or seals in the ocean
49. Sleep outdoors under the stars with no tent
50. Go shopping in an evening gown
51. Build a giant sand castle on a big beach
52. Get my fortune told by a real gypsy
53. Make love on a beach
54. Watch the sun set over the ocean while on a boat in the middle of nowhere
55. Mud wrestle
56. Take an evening class to learn a new skill, like pottery, or cooking, or something like that
57. Find a job I love
58. Swim in the dead sea
59. Ride in a gondola in Venice
60. Go to a viewing of the Rocky Horror Picture show where they actually throw rice
61. Get a cooking lesson from a celebrity chef (like Gordon Ramsey!)
62. Visit Legoland
63. Join the mile high club
64. Go to a Drive in Movie
65. Spend a night in a tree house
66. Buy a round of drinks for everyone in a pub
67. Read a novel like Moby Dick or the Odyssey
68. Shop on Rodeo drive
69. Make love on a bed of rose petals
70. Have a proper spa mud bath.
71. Have my handwriting analyzed
72. Own a rather large diamond
73. Have a caricature done
74. Be proposed to in the most romantic possible way. And say yes of course.
75. Visit a wax museum
76. Climb a mountain, from the bottom to the top. No trams.
77. Put my hand in the mouth of truth
78. Ride a tandem bike
79. Fly first class
80. Go to the opera all dressed up
81. Bathe in hot springs
82. Get a hot stone massage
83. Float down the Grand Canyon
84. See Machu Picchu (Incan Ruins)
85. Ride a camel into the desert
86. Tell my kids I love them everyday
87. Make a random strangers day. Maybe by buying coffee for the person behind me in a drive through line up. And do this often.
88. Go to France and learn how to cook French food
89. Go to Ireland to see Sheep with dots painted on them.
90. Drink in a real Irish Pub
91. See Big Ben
92. Visit Pompeii
93. Read all the Harry Potter books (I am behind the times on this one!)
94. Vacation in Bora Bora
95. Have lunch with someone that has made a difference in the world
96. See tulips and windmills in Holland
97. Join an archeological dig
98. Have something named after me.
99. Live my life for me and no longer compromise who I am.
100. Kill my friend Kari for daring me to get to 100

What's on your bucket list?

Even Fly Lady Can't Help Me Now!

Anybody know an arsonist? Just kidding... but seriously, the kids and I moved on the weekend. Back to our townhouse. The kitchen cabinets look magnificent. My little brother did a really good job. A coat of fresh paint really made the living room look a lot nicer too. Now, if only I could see the living room and kitchen. There are so many half unpacked boxes piled around my house right now that I feel hopeless! It's never ending!

Oh, and did I mention that my bathroom isn't done yet? Tonight we are visiting my mom's house. She is feeding us dinner (because I can't cook in that mess) and letting us borrow the shower. I sure hope it will be done soon. Sigh...

On a positive note, the kids are so glad to be back at their old school and daycare with their old friends. They had such a good day yesterday.

And another thing! Shaw hires a bunch of dougheads! I called for reconnection of services yesterday and supposedly everything was good to go... so last night I expect to have phone, cable, and internet. Nothing worked. The technical support dude got the internet working but after an hour and a half on the phone with me could not figure out why the phone and cable did not work. They he clued in that they only put the reconnection order in for the internet. sigh... so he had to put in a new order and I should have phone and cable today. An hour and a half wasted on the phone when I could have been unpacking because they are dough heads.

I know it will all come together... I just wish I could wave my magic wand and be done with it though!

The fool that I am

My friend is raising money for the entry fee for a fashion show she has been invited to show her line at. It's a huge deal and I am so proud of her. The exposure is priceless! So, being the BFF that I am, I volunteered to host a make up lesson party where people pay her (she is a professional) to show them how to apply make up and go from day to night. Great idea! Right? Yes, for her! I just had this panic attack as I realized this is only about 3 weeks away, I am just moving back to my townhouse this weekend, the bathroom is not yet done, and now I have to host a party? Eeek! I hope my guests are blind! I better sign up for fly lady!

Oh, and I realized, while reading another blog today, that Christmas is only 10 weeks away!!!!! Where did this year go? What the heck? Who do I call to postpone Christmas by about.... 6 months?

I forgot my funny story!

My children have apparently decided I am already an old spinster. (At 27? hardly!) My son (for whatever reason) decided that he was going to share the following information with me on the way to daycare this morning. "Mom, I am going to live with you until I am 23" I honestly don't remember his reasonings as, once again, his sister stole the show. "Yah, well I am going to live with you forever!" I asked her "don't you want to get married one day and live on your own?" She says, "Yes, but we will live with you still. I don't want you to be all alone, so I will live with you forever." Awwwww... what a sweetie... but seriously!!! Is it really so bad that even my kids think I will be alone forever?!?! All I said was "Hopefully by the time you are old enough to get married I will have found a husband and you won't have to worry about me, ok?"

I am not an old spinster! I just wanted to clarify that. In case, you know, it was starting to show. LOL

WFMW - It's good to know people

On Tuesday!

I am writing this post on Tuesday, if you would like to know why, please read last week's WFMW posted Here.

A lot of things don't work for me, but one thing that does is having friends I can call on when I need help. As a single mom, I don't have a handy husband to fix everything. In comes my friends. One friend (you know who you are) is a handy dandy furnace and hot water installer and had the necessary skills to hook up my new bathtub! While he was at it he also installed shut off valves for the sink and tub. What does it cost me? Free babysitting. It kind of reminds me of the olden days when you would trade a chicken for a check up at the Doctor's. I am going to babysit his lovely daughter for a few evenings in trade for labor. Another friend came and installed my drywall and did the mudding and taping. I might babysit for him too, but he has 3 rambunctious boys and I am not sure I have the patience for that! Then, yet another friend came and helped me move all my furniture on Saturday. I owe him pizza and beer. Maybe I am lucky I don't have a husband. He surely would have gotten irritated at his honey-do list by now. OH! And of course I wouldn't be anywhere without my Daddy. He runs me around to hardware stores in his truck when something won't fit in my little car. What would a girl do without her Daddy? So, in summary, what works for me is having friends work for me!!!

P.S. Remind me not to "gut" any rooms in my house in the near future or those friends might become "people I used to know". ;0)

WFMW Doesn't WFM!

Ok, so I get excited about Wednesday's because that's when it is Works For Me Wednesday at http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ I get tips on child care, cooking, cleaning, and everything else! Reading this blog and following the links to other blogs is actually what inspired me to start my own blog. So! Every Wednesday I decided I would join and post my own links there. Only I suck at it. Last week I didn't post my link properly, so it got deleted. This week, I didn't write my post quickly enough so I didn't get to join again! Argh!!! Why can't she cut it off at 10:00 CST instead of 7:00? Then I could write my blog and post it in time! Or... I could start writing it on Tuesday's so I can post on Wednesday... hrmmmm... interesting. I need to find a way for WFMW to WFM!!! sigh...

For posts from people who have their lives together and remember to post on time, please visit http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2008/10/works-for-me--1.html

OH! The bathtub installation worked!!!! Wooohooo! Drywall is going up on Friday night, furniture is getting moved on Saturday, and the rest will be done between now and next weekend! I see the light!!! I can't wait to move into my pretty new (Ok, reallly old but renovated) townhouse! It's mine! All mine! Mwahahahahahhaahah!

Tuesday Ramblings

I finally have a comical story about my son, T. I arrived to pick the kids up at daycare last night and E was quick to tell me she had already done her homework so that she could ride her bike while I made dinner. I asked T if he had done his as well. He said no, but he didn't have homework because he forgot to exchange his home reading book. I looked at him and said that J was probably going to make him read something else and write in his journal and that he needs to remember to exchange his book. We get home and as we are walking into the house J was coming out, T looked at J and told him he had done his homework at daycare! I called him on his lie and he got sent to his room. But, if I hadn't been there, it was kind of ingenious. Should I admit that? My kids are creative if anything else!

I am going to the townhouse to install the bathtub tonight. It better freaking work this time! LOL. I am planning to move the furniture on Saturday, then all that will be left is clothes and "stuff". Moving day is coming! And so is thanksgiving! mmmm turkey.... I can't wait until Sunday.

I am trying to decide what to write about for tomorrow's works for me wednesday.....

Oh, so... speaking of daycares, the owner of the kids daycare was a total cow to me yesterday! I couldn't believe it! I understand fees are due on the 1st, so on October 1st I went into the daycare and asked how much I owed, because they were supposed to pro-rate my fees for a half month. The one daycare lady said she would talk to the owner and have her put a note on the kids locker for me the next day. So Thursday I go to pick them up and the note has the full fees on it. So on Friday I went in to talk to the owner/director lady and she said she would re-calculate them because she forgot to pro-rate them. Monday comes along and she calls me at work and informs me I owe $480 (which is fine) but that since I waited so long to pay that I can no longer pay by cheque, I have to pay by cash and I have to bring it to her that night when I pick up the kids. I explained I work in the boonies with no bank machine around me, and would try my hardest to have time to detour to a bank machine on the way home from work. She tells me that I need to guarantee I will. So, I gave in and was like "alright, fine, whatever you want" and she goes, "well is that going to be ok?" and I said "I guess it's going to have to be, isn't it?" GRRRRR.... I was ready to pay on the 1st and this is the flack I get because she hadn't done the calculations yet? Anyway, that was my vent about stupid people for the day. :0)

Works For Me Wednesday - Organizing for quicker lunch making

There is a blog I follow called Rocks in my dryer that hosts a blog carnival called Works for Me Wednesdays. Bloggers post links to their own blog and tell about tips that work for them! Today's is a themed WFMW about kitchen organization. One of the things that I find tedious in the kitchen is making the kid's lunches every night. I am a working single mom, so unfortunately my kids get a lot of pre-packaged foods in their lunches like granola bars, apple sauce, pudding, fruit snacks, etc. One of the things I noticed was that my pantry was filling up with all these boxes of lunch snacks that only contained 6-10 items in them! So, my solution was that I bought a rubbermaid bin that fits on one of the shelves, and when I get home from grocery shopping I empty all the boxes into the bin. Then when I am making lunches, I just grab the bin and put it on the counter and grab what I need out of it. It sure cuts down on the time I spend searching for that box of granola bars that I thought I bought last week! Now everything is in one place. This is one organizational solution that WORKS FOR ME!

For more great tips, visit: http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/