Carrie Bartkowiak v. 5.0

I started reading Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles tonight, and I realize I’m not going to be able to zip through this one. I’m only on page 28 and he’s already got me doing my second exercise.

In this one, you create an I Want list.
30 things you want to do, 30 things you want to have, 30 things you want to be before you die. 

Here goes.

30 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:

1. Publish my book.
2. Write and publish more books, both fiction and non-fiction.
3. Go back to college, a la carte, studying anything I’m interested in with no pressure to “get a degree”.
4. Foster (or adopt) children.
5. Get a pilot’s license.
6. Be a permanent non-smoker. And be happy about it.
7. Work with (or speak to) groups of children and young adults.
8. Travel to Ireland, Scotland, travel around the world and maybe even see the 7 wonders of the world. (Seeing the pyramids… wow. Can you imagine?)
9. Inspire and encourage others.
10. Feel pretty again.
11. Get more kids and parents interested in homeschooling.
12. Create a community. Or lots of ‘em.
13. Have time to work with my (polymer) clay.
14. Turn out to the world 3 healthy, happy, confident boys who have a love of learning, aren’t afraid to say no or do what’s right, and who are passionate about life.
15. Make a difference.
16. Take some cooking classes.
17. Start or join a book club.
18. Inspire, encourage, and support my husband to enjoy life, not be so angry/worried/fearful, and to live with joy and happiness.
19. Learn to play the guitar.
20. Get this country back on track.  (Now if that ain’t a tall order…)
21. Take a cruise to somewhere beautiful and warm where the ocean is crystal blue and the streets are overflowing with colors and sounds and culture.
22. Go to Mardis Gras.
23. Get my motorcycle license.
24. Go on lots of motorcycle rides with my Dad.
25. Take lots and lots of beautiful photographs - enough to fill a couple of coffee table books that can be passed down through the family.
26. Learn how to make “altered” books. (Like scrapbooking old hardcover books.)
27. Ride horses.
28. Visit every State in the country - with the boys. I want to especially see the Grand Canyon, the red cliffs of Arizona, the great redwood trees, Mount Rushmore, be far enough north that I can see the Aurora Borealis, and so much more that I can’t remember offhand.  Much of it on the back of a motorcycle.
29. Swim with dolphins. Really swim out in the water *with* them, not stand in a pool and stick my hand out as they swim by.
30. Take the boys camping and fishing more.  A lot.  Just go be in nature.

30 Things I Want To Have Before I Die:

1. A motorcycle of my own.
2. A ‘69 Mach 1 Mustang.
3. A big country farmhouse with a wrap-around porch, surrounded by lots of trees, and the kind of kitchen you could fit an entire greek wedding into and nobody feels cramped.  With big comfortable window seats.  And lots of animals. And juicy ripe vegetables that you pick from the garden minutes before dinner.  And more than one bathroom, with water pressure that stays put even when you’re running the washing machine or someone’s flushing the toilet. Oh, a gas stove, too, of course. And great old hardwood floors.  It would be great if it also had a wonderful swimming and fishing hole on the property.
4. Chickens.
5. Enough money to live comfortably, do whatever we’d like to do the moment we’d like to do it, and still enough left over that we can really support some good charities.
6. Cable or satellite tv with a DVR and all the good channels like HGTV, Discover, the History Channel… all that good stuff. Keep the Showtime and movie channel crap; I don’t want those.
7. A bathtub that I can actually stretch out in (I’m 5′9″), and has enough room around it that I can set down my drink, my book, a few candles, and a comfortably seated hubby to talk to. Or even big enough for him to get in with me and put his drink and book up on the side, too.
8. A really productive garden, with lots of tomatoes and herbs and zucchini and summer squash.
9. Fruit trees/vines. Lots of ‘em.
10. Regular dates with my hubby.
11. A group of strong, close friends that like to get together and just hang out without having to have something to “do” to entertain them. (I used to have this. *sniffle*)
12. A house next to my Mom and Dad. Or on the same property. This “pack everyone in the car and go see Grandma and PapPap” is much less appealing than standing on the porch and yelling for the boys to quit bugging Grandma and PapPap and come eat supper.
13. My own workshop.
14. God, am I only at 14?  Oh yeah.  Teeth pretty enough that I’m not embarrassed to smile again.
15. An entire bookshelf of MY books. As in *I* wrote them.
16. Children that pick up after themselves. And like doing it. (If you’re gonna dream… dream big!)

Yeesh… never thought it would be hard to come up with 30 of either of these things. It got tough at 10 for each of ‘em. How in the world do people ever come up with those massive “100 things to do before I die” lists? Egads.
I’m going to have to come back and finish this later, it’s 4:17am and I’m tired.  I think I’ll have the boys start working on this, too.

What do you think? I wanna know! Please leave a comment :)
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