40 Things

This is big time dorky, but I'm going to do it anyway. Please close your eyes if you can't handle a big dose of dork.

My 40th birthday will be here in less than 4 months, and a friend suggested that I make one of those 40-things-to-do-before-turning-40 lists. The suggestion was actually made right after I turned 39, but even if I'd made the list way back then, I would have just spent the past eight months not doing anything about it.

I'll try to stick to things that are actually possible, and relatively affordable. Also, I'm going to keep Clara and Trevi mostly out of this. They are absolutely wonderful, of course, but when you think about it, kids are the reason you have so many things on your list, right?

I can tell you right now that most of the listworthy things that come to mind will have to wait until summer vacation. Luckily, my birthday is right at the very end of it....

1. Take a piano lesson.
2. Take a ballroom dancing lesson.
3. Get dressed up in the fancy green skirt I bought in Manhattan, and go out somewhere fancyish.
4. Bake a peach pie from scratch. (and eat it) It must be peach.
5. Go out to a movie with Chad (in an actual cinema).
6. Reread a favorite old novel, like A Prayer For Owen Meany or Cat's Eye
7. Read a classic novel that I've never read.
8. Relearn how to play euchre, then teach Chad and a couple of friends.
9. Get my toes done.
10. Knit Christmas stockings for the four of us.
11. Spend an entire Saturday in May without doing work of any kind.
12. Finish painting the house.
13. Go to a concert.
14. Go to a play or a musical.

This is actually more difficult than I thought it would be. Truth is, some of the things I want to put down are organizational things that will make me really happy, but sound a bit pathetic. Then again, it's my list, so if these things float my boat, I should just include them:

15. Clean out my closet.
16. Get rid of the junk under the bed (and improve my feng shui in the process).
17. Clean up iphoto.
18. Pass along about 4,000 books to other people.
19. Put up a shelf in the bedroom for my box collection.
20. Organize the arts and crafts supplies.
21. Put up some curtains.

I really do love getting things put where they belong. No joke. Total fulfillment.

22. Create plate wall #2.
23. Use the PF Chang's gift card that's been sitting in my wallet forever.
24. Use all of the other gift cards in my wallet, for that matter.
25. Go to a drive in.
26. Go rollerskating.
27. Go ice skating.
28. Have people over for brunch.
29. Go out for brunch.
30. Rent a canoe or kayak for the day, and go for a paddle.
31. Hit the local wineries.
32. Set up the dart board, and play.

Wow. 40 is a very large number.

33. Make mango daiquiris.
34. Take a hike.
35. Play Scrabble.
36. Rent the DVDs of Joan of Arcadia and watch all of the episodes.
37. Paint a canvas with some sort of geometric design.
38. Spend a large chunk of an afternoon in a hammock.
39. Get new running shoes, and start running again.
40. Buy myself something completely frivolous for my birthday.

Well, that ought to do it. I'm going to get started right this minute on #6.