41 Before 41 (With Explanations)

Now that Dave's birthday is over, I'm looking ahead to mine at the beginning of May. I never made a "40 Before 40" list so I thought I'd do a "41 Before 41." Some of these will turn into interesting blog posts and some of them you will just have to take my word for. Ha! Also some of these things seem pretty simple but haven't happened yet (for one reason or another) and lists really motivate me. Putting it out there for the entire interwebs to read should REALLY motivate me! So without further ado, here is my list.

1) Don't drink Coke for a week.
     (This is going to be a tough one. I LOVE Coke. At one point I had suggested to Dave that I should attempt to go a week without yelling at our kids at all and he joked, "Don't do it the same week you give up Coke!" He's so funny.)
2) Write a letter to our sponsored child.
     (We have been sponsoring a child through World Vision for two years and we've never written him a letter. We suck and it's time to change that.)
3) Buy a house.
     (Self explanatory.)
4) Read through all the Today's Parents.
     (We have ended our subscription to this magazine but they are still sending them to us. And we haven't read them since last March. So I'm going to read them and recycle them and then get them to stop sending them to us. Probably. I like free.)
5) Complete a Beth Moore study.
     (I am currently doing one so I just have to keep up with it. I have loved hearing Beth Moore ever since I saw my first video series of her a few years ago. She's hilarious. And wise.)
6) Fly an airplane.
     (Dave is likely going to give me this experience for my birthday. I can't wait!!!)
7) Sew a second dress for Rachel.
     (I finished one. I can finish two. Especially since I have all the materials for it.)
8) Get Sam toilet trained. (day trained only)
9) Finish sorting through old letters in my desk drawer.
     (I had an entire box of letters starting from when I was 16 which I sorted through in Edmonton. Except for about ten which I moved here, shoved into my desk drawer, and haven't looked at since. It's time to change that.)
10) Print pictures -- again!
     (If I don't stay on top of this the task becomes overwhelming. And now I have 70 folders of pictures which I need to go through.)
11) Make it to a Zumba class.
     (I have been trying to get to one for seven months. This is looooong overdue. (BTW, the classes are at horrible times for me which is why this one is difficult.))
12) Have church small group kids over for supper in family groups.
     (This is something Dave and I talked about so we just need to make it happen. I feel like we just visit with the adults at small group and I want to get to know the kids too.)
13) Invite two families from church over for a meal -- not families in my group of friends.
14) Make a meal for "Meals for Encouragement."
     (This is our church's way of sharing meals. It's so easy to make a meal, why haven't I done it yet???)
15) Have a date night with Dave every two weeks. This will take some (a lot!) of planning.
16) Blog weekly about Hymn of the Week.
17) Register with the stem cell and marrow network.
     (I wrote away for information in September. I just need to do two quick things and send it back. Again, why hasn't this happened yet?!?!)
18) Write weekly e-mails to my New Mom's friends in Edmonton.
     (I want to do a better job of staying in touch with my Edmonton friends. This might be a good way to make it work.)
19) Write updates to my virtual sisters' group every two weeks.
     (I am part of this group and horrible at writing updates. I just need to do it!!!)
20) Do one Pinterest project which I've pinned.
21) Cook one Pinterest recipe which I've pinned.
22) Try to give blood again.
     (I have tried to give blood before but my hemoglobin is usually too low. That's no excuse and I should really try again.)
23) Teach Rachel five animal sounds.
     (She doesn't know any right now. We'll see how this goes.)
24) Surprise Sam and say "Yes!" to something he wants.
     (I feel like I'm often saying "No" to him.)
25) Work on my quilt again.
     (I started making a quilt about fourteen years ago. By hand, because I'm stubborn that way. I got all the piecing done and then got stuck at the quilting it part. I don't intend to finish it before 41, because let's be realistic, but I do want to look at it again and work on it.)
26) See Cars: The Movie.
     (No, I've never seen this movie.)
27) Finish watching the first season of Modern Family with Dave.
28) Go two weeks without eating pizza.
     (We eat pizza a lot. And we usually order in. This is a money saving technique too!)
29) Read 5 books from the pile on my dresser.
     (I have a stack of things on my dresser to do, I want to get rid of some of it.)
30) Frame Sam and Rachel's whale watching certificates, with pictures.
     (Again, this will get another thing off my dresser!)
31) Learn how to use the printer.
     (In my defense, the printer isn't hooked up the majority of the time and it's at Dave's desk so I need to learn how to hook it up to his computer and then load the paper. I'm a technologically advanced woman; I can do this. And it means that I can print things out on my own instead of always having to depend on Dave. Win-win.)
32) Get my grandma's sewing machine to a repair shop.
     32 a) Learn how to use it.
33) Donate a can of food to the food bank EVERY time I go grocery shopping.
34) Bake bread.
     (I can bake bread, I just never do. Why?)
35) Perform five random acts of kindness.
     (Suggestions welcome. How to do this anonymously???)
36) Dust Sam's shelves.
     (Again, this is kind of dumb but every time I'm in his room I notice the ever-growing layer of dust on his shelves. Why have they not been dusted since we moved in last May? It's ridiculous!)
37) Read the Bible everyday.
     (I have a website I started following last year during Lent. I want to make this a habit.)
38) Give up Facebook for Lent.
     (I did this last year and it felt so good. It totally changed how I use Facebook and I think it would be good to do again this year.)
39) Don't yell at the kids, or lose my temper with them, for a week.
     (This is my major failing as a parent. I get frustrated and impatient and I yell. If I don't yell for a week that should help change my habits right?)
40) Go shopping at Target in Canada.
     (Target is coming to Canada and I am soooooooooo excited about it, as are a lot of my friends. I cannot wait to shop at a Target here. Whooo hooo!!!!)
41) Complete everything on this list.
     (I know, I know. That's kind of a cop-out. I'm having a hard time thinking of number 41. How about you help a sister-blogger out and make some suggestions as to one last thing I could do??? Thank you!)