I Need Your Help......

I am a list-maker, planner, goal-setter extraordinaire. I don't claim to check off all the items on the list, meet all the goals, or keep the plans intact from beginning to end, but I like to start with a list/plan/goal at the very least.

Case in point: I set a cycling goal for the year back in January. I neglected to get serious about it, however, until October. Now I'm killing myself (not literally, of course, but you get the idea) to meet the goal. And it's still doable, but I'm going to have to change my attitude about cold-weather cycling.

Or maybe just edit my goal. Now there's an idea.

But here is what this particular drivel blog post is really about:

Next year I will be 50 years old, and while I would like not to dwell on that insidious number at all, I have decided that I would like to try 50 NEW things next year to celebrate my 50 years on this earth.

I would like some help from you picking out those 50 things. It doesn't matter if you are one of the faithful ones who read my blog every day (thank you, thank you, thank you), if you read it only occasionally (what's up with THAT? I'm not important to you?), or if this is your first visit here ever (please don't be too afraid to come back).

I don't have any rules, and this isn't any contest, because unlike SOME PEOPLE, I don't have sponsors who send me a gazillion dollars every month to bribe my readers reward my readers for coming back time and time again.

The 50 things do, however, need to be reasonable.

The first one of you who says "cook a meal" or "clean your house" will be sent immediately to time out. You will be joined there shortly by Hubby, who will say the exact same thing(s) when I tell him of my 50-year thing. (Is it a goal? Project? Proof of insanity?)

This isn't exactly a bucket list, mainly because that one's already been beat to death.

The 50 things don't have to be adventurous, death-defying acts. I have, after all, already jumped out of an airplane 66 times and lived to tell about it. To whoever just whispered, "You might try jumping WITHOUT a parachute," I HEARD THAT, and it hurts my feelings.

It would be okay to put bungee-jumping on the list, because it's something I've always wanted to do, but to be perfectly honest I may have lost my nerve.

It has to be something I have some control over, so it would be a waste to put "win the lottery" as one of the 50 things. If I do win the lottery, I expect to double the list. At least.

It can't be something I would have to quit my job to do, like hike the Appalachian Trail or ride all the way across the country on my bicycle, completely self-supported and all alone. Although I wouldn't mind giving either of those a try, I cannot retire until the following year. Perhaps hiking PART of the Appalachian Trail would be okay, since it ends (begins?) in Georgia.

It can't be something that I can't control, like getting a book published. Although that has been a dream of mine since I was 12 years old (and I hope my writing has improved somewhat in that time), just because my sisters and I think it's a fabulous book doesn't mean anyone else will. You might say I should at least FINISH the book, and that would be reasonable. I don't want the list to become homework, though.

I want the list to be things I haven't done before, so it can't be something like crochet an afghan. Not even using a pattern I've never used before. I rarely use the same pattern twice, so that's cheating. It might be reasonable to say "knit an afghan," because I've never tried knitting.

It can't be something completely ridiculous like "wear a Florida Gators t-shirt," because plain and simple, that ain't gonna happen.

The list can't have anything to do with body piercings or tattoos.

It could mention shaving my legs, but let's not waste one of the 50 precious things on such mundane things. 

It needs to be something I haven't done before, so killing off an imaginary friend is out. Been there, done that.

Ditto skinny dipping. With a huge man wearing a life jacket. Please just shoot me now.

For reasons obvious to anyone who has read this blog, the list should NOT include anything to do with knocking out a wall in our house. We are running out of walls, and frankly I don't know that my marriage could survive another renovation project.

I would prefer that items on the list not turn into lifetime commitments, like getting another cat. Or a gerbil. Or a ferret. Or a snake. Or any other animal.

Ditto adopting a baby.

It is fine to suggest exotic travel destinations, but keep in mind the fact that I don't have an unlimited budget, and it is difficult to get Hubby out of his comfort zone (read: recliner) for more than two nights at a time. I am also limited to travel that can be accomplished within the constraints of the school year calendar and not interfere with bike rides, trips to the casino, gymnastics competitions, football games, baseball games, and Sisters' Saturdays.

Don't bother suggesting expensive things like "buy a Rolls-Royce." I don't do cars anyway, and unless you can guarantee that I WILL win the lottery, I can't accomplish that on my own. 

So I need your help. What would you suggest for one of the 50 new things I should do/accomplish next year? Please please please please leave me a comment with a suggestion (or two or three or ten or fifty). I will post the list in a future blog and not make you read through all the comments. Don't worry that someone else might have already suggested it; just throw it out there. Don't worry if it's something I've already done. I have an excellent editor who will simply leave it off the list and send you a rejection slip explain the circumstances under which I have already done that particular thing.

I can't wait to see what you come up with. Now get busy!