I want to do EVERYTHING!

This bothers my husband. I truly want to do everything. My mind is consistently reeling with ideas and possibilities. Things I want to experience and try. Things I want to make and create. Pretty much every week I come up with a new business idea that I think would be amazing. I start to plan it out in my head, only to get distracted with a completely different business idea the next week. 


The same goes for crafting. An example being a cake decorating class that I took several years ago. I took one class, and invested in all the tools needed to bake and create delicious and aesthetically pleasing treats (I've only used these tools a handful of times). Or the watercolor painting class where I also bought all the materials needed to paint (I haven't painted a single thing upon completion of the course). 


It also goes for ways I want to enrich myself. Like the Sign Language class that I took, envisioning myself becoming fluent in Sign Language (I never continued past Sign Language One). Or the business class I took and invested 12 weeks and 300 dollars on (and still haven't decided on a business I'd like to do- or actually a business that I could make money on instead of just do as a hobby). 


With summer ahead of me and garage sales and random people to give me ideas, my list of "I Want To" things continues to grow. I'd like to try oil painting. I want to learn how to make and create stained glass. I want to create beautiful mosaics. I want to learn how to make jewelry (even though I don't wear it). I want to use the Quilting Bible that my aunt bought for me one Christmas when I was ready and gung-ho on learning how to quilt, quickly envisioning all the cute things I would make. I also want to know where some words originated from, so I just looked up gung-ho and discovered: Gung ho (Vietnamese) is a slang term in American English used to mean "enthusiastic" or "dedicated" originally used in Marine slang. I regularly look up quilting classes and sewing classes through Joann Fabric to see what is being offered. 


Every few months I look up MATC's Adult Continuing Education courses to see what I'd like to do. I want to learn how to use scary tools that can cut off your fingers so I can make bird houses, bird feeders, bookshelves, and basically anything that you can create with wood. I want to make the bird treats and suet for our feeders. I want to whittle wood and create ice sculptures. I want to have an amazing garden that grows delicious, organic fruit by the buckets. I want to start and finish my wedding scrapbook and then move on to my teaching scrapbook, and then scrapbook for others!


I want to get chickens, goats, and ducks for the yard. I want to foster raccoons and other wildlife to give them a second chance. I want to cook new recipes on a weekly basis (which rarely happens- I often resort to the easy vegetable dishes that I love, but that Dusty is tired of seeing). I want to get a huge fish tank set up and have happy fish swimming around.

I want to have a girls' night where I actually see my girlfriends, make new friends, and get to laugh just by being me. I want to find a church that I can call home. I want to spend time with my sister and niece. I want to visit my friends who live in other states. I want to visit my Compassion children. I want to get my school lessons/units prepared before the school year begins. I want to work out everyday. I want to paint the rooms in my house and organize the basement... I want to keep thinking of things that I want to do.  


I want, I want, I want. Who has time to get bored?

Dear Betty Crocker

I love your boxed brownies and cakes. I always have a box in my cupboards "just in case." Tonight was one of those nights. With a craving for something light and fluffy, I went to my pantry and was delighted to see a box of Angel Food Cake Mix just waiting for me to whip up and bake. With a smile I set it on the counter imagining what it would soon taste like and quickly noticed the Box Top on the container. After looking a little closer, I noticed the Box Top expiration date was 2007. Knowing that Box Tops typically expire one to three years after buying an item, I found the cake mix's expiration date: November 2006. Did this deter me? No. I opened it up and smelled only Angel Food Cake goodness. I looked for bugs and saw none. I called my mom and sister who both agreed "what harm could it be to try... you really only add water" so I pressed onward. I mixed, poured, and licked the batter bowl. So far, so good. The next testament to your delightful desserts will be whether or not it rises and produces the same results six years after the expiration date. And for someone who has a problem with sweets, apparently just having a boxed mix of something delicious in the cupboards is enough to put me at ease and not feel the immediate need to bake it and eat it. It might also be time for me to go through my dry goods and check all the expiration dates.

Only 15 more minutes to go... the smell is already drifting through the house. =)

Nature's Music

Now that school is over (even though it ended Tuesday at 10:00am, I was at school until after 8pm cleaning that day and had to go back yesterday to finish it all up: packing up my classroom and protecting my items for when it is used for Summer School. I also had to bring back the 40 gallon tank which houses Turtle, my African Sideneck, and my 20 gallon fish tank) I can finally start working on my Summer To-Do List, which is unfortunately, quite long.

I started with some simple exercise. Thankfully, I just have to go down the road to get in a very pleasant nature walk. From my house to the dead-end nearby and back is a wonderful 3 mile trek. With some great hills and plenty of shading, you can't go wrong. This walk used to be my running trail and it would sure be nice to get back to that point sometime in the future, but this summer is for enjoyment, leisure, and a comfortable amount of productivity.

Often I notice people running/walking outside listening to their music as they go. Music as a sort of escape or distraction. I've done that plenty of times, but just about always come back to the conclusion that I like to have my ears free to catch the things that are happening around me. In the past, I've seen grouse, deer, rabbits, pheasants, snakes, squirrels, birds, random dogs and cats, all on my mini adventures. Of course, that's not including the llama farm that I go past, or the horses, cows, donkeys, chickens, and roosters that I see or hear in the yards of the neighbors along the way.

And yes, you can see some of these things while you go along with music, but I've found that I "see" a lot more without the music. Yesterday, as I took my first walk of the summer, I heard rustling in the grass ahead of me so I watched and waited... and out came two very young squirrels chasing each other through the tall grasses on the side of the road. Something I would have missed if I had been listening to music.

I continued my way and heard a funny noise that I thought might be a deer calling out. I didn't see anything, but kept an eye out. As I came to the dead end and headed back, I eventually saw a doe in the middle of the road. We locked eyes and then it took off. As soon as it was back in the woods, it started calling out again - I'm guessing a call of warning. But I listened and loved every second of it - something else I would have missed if I had been listening to music.

Focusing on my own thoughts and the nature around me is truly relaxing. I love seeing the blue birds fly above me and listen to the song birds that accompany me on my way. My goal this summer is to get a walk in everyday. Not just around my house, but anywhere... and, to prevent using my mp3 player the entire time. I'd like to see what I can truly "see" on each of these adventures. Maybe I should map out all the parks with trails that are around my area and start with some of those...

Happy Summer to everyone! I hope you get the opportunity to get out and enjoy nature as well.