33 Things - Revised

***Because I care way too much about what other people think, I've taken it upon myself to revise my list a bit.  According to my pal Jerry, Oprah should not have made my list since I saw her before I turned 33.  Well, my goal WAS to see her AGAIN but because I got this feedback a week ago and still can't let it go, I'm revising.  Maybe next year my list will include not listening to certain people.**

Well, folks, I’ve been 33 now for two full weeks. And I must say, it really doesn’t feel any different than 32. Or 31 for that matter.  Maybe that's because I have been so busy with life I haven't had time to reflect on how old I really am.

However, I decided that since this might be the last cool birthday I have (admit it, turning 33 on 3-3 IS pretty neat) I should make it count. So, thanks to the idea of a “Bucket List” from my friends Mandee and Cecilia, here’s the 33 things I will attempt to accomplish by my next birthday.

33 Bucket List

1. Spend one day with Addi the week she starts kindergarten, getting a mani/pedi, lunch, and having some mommy/daughter time.

2. Meet up with my great friends I made while prego with Sam – Also known as my birth board friends.

3. Run a race with jay.

4. Get a new pet for our family.

5. Go to Disney with the kids.

6. Run a ½ marathon.

7. Go to a parade.

8. Drink a dirty martini.

9. Support a charity.

10. Plant a garden.

11. Go on a weekend trip with just Jay and I.

12. Buy a new swimsuit.

13. Take a personal day and only do things for myself.

14. Cook an entire meal for my family, and serve it all fancy like a restaurant.

15. Detail and wash my car by hand. By MY hand.

16. Go see Oprah. Learn to sew.

17. Do something selfless for someone else.

18. Take my cat to the vet.

19. Have a date with just Sam and I.

20. Play in a sprinkler.

21. Have a cookout.

22. Actually read one of the Charles Dickens books I claimed to read for Oprah.

23. Paint a room in my house.

24. Join a gym.

25. Teach the girls how to swim.

26. Clean out my jewelry box.

27. Go on a spontaneous road trip with the family.

28. Clean out my Facebook friend list and delete the bad apples.

29. Bake an apple pie from scratch.

30. Buy a fancy purse without apology.

31. Go to a movie alone.

32. Clean out all four bedroom closets in my house.

33. Blog as I hit these milestones.

A little espaniol

Sam is learning to count in Spanish. In fact most times when she counts on her own she just does it in Spanish. At least up to eleven.  It's really cute.  And it makes me feel like she's actually learning instead of crying all day because she misses me.

Today while talking to my mom I asked Sam to count for grandma. The conversation went like this.

Sam: Uno.  Dos.

Me: what's next?

Sam: tres!!

Me: next...?

Sam: Tuesday!

Close.

I might be a millionaire yet

I’m not really a gadget kind of girl. I don’t have an iPad, my music player is an off-brand and I sported a duct-taped-together laptop for 18 months. But I do love a good find when it comes to organization or keeping our house clean. Boxes, baskets, sticky hooks… I could spend hours at Ikea and I’ve given serious thought to buying stock in Magic Erasers. I’ve also always wanted to come up with one of these ideas and retire early in the Caribbean, but never seem to come up with the idea soon enough.

Addi, it seems, might be a gadget girl. She can operate our laptop and is easily swayed by commercialism. Case in point – her Touch N Brush and Snuggie. She's basically destined to have QVC on speed-dial by junior high.  I just need her to use her keen eye for something other than spending all my money and all will be right in the world.

A few days ago, we were eating popsicles. The old-fashioned, 250 for $5 kind that you freeze. We usually avoid these because the girls complain that their hands get cold and I spend most of the time pushing the ice up for them. Not that fun for mom.

All of the sudden, Addison darted upstairs with me yelling, “You better not drip that on the carpet!! What are you doing??!?”

She finally made her way downstairs with this hooked on her popsicle and instantly, I saw how smart she really is.

Do you know what that is? Here it is again, used in the fashion it was originally intended.

I was shocked that she 1. knew we had this and 2. thought of using it for something other than toothpaste. She was happy because she didn’t have to keep pushing the ice up and her hands didn’t get sticky like normal. And I instantly started thinking of ways to market this to moms everywhere.  St. Barts, here I come.

Four vs. Five

Every song that comes on the radio, Addi yells, “I know this song!” then sings along in her own mixed up way. And really, she does a pretty good job of knowing the lyrics.

Yesterday we were listening to Tim McGraw’s newest song. It’s main line is “It felt good on my lips.”

About halfway through the song, Addi said, “Hey Mom, you know when I kissed Dylan that one time? It felt good on MY lips.”

I said, “OK, but we don’t want to be kissing boys now, do we?”

She said, “Oh, Mom, that was way back when I was four. I didn’t know what I was doing back then. Now that I’m five, I don’t kiss boys.”

Good to know.

Voices

We are a country music loving family. When I get sick of cartoons on Saturday mornings I turn on the country top 20 and we watch videos together, with Addi proclaiming every girl as “Taylor Swift” and insisting I replay her favorite videos over and over. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it’s a heck of a lot better than Spongebob.

One of the top 20 songs is “Voices” by Chris Young. The premise of the song is that he hears voices in his head, like his grandma telling him to be nice to girls, his dad telling him to work hard but don’t work your life away… all in all, a very nice song. And Addi, of course, loves it.

However, this morning she had her own version of “Voices” she wanted to tell me all about. This conversation took place about five minutes after I made her mad.

Addi: “Mom. You know what the voices in my head told me to tell you just now?”
Me: “What.”
Addi: “Mom, you are stupid.”

[pause]

Addi: “But don’t worry Mom. I’m not listening to them.  I won't say that.”

Then, we drove the rest of the way to school in silence. Got to love Tuesday morning car rides.