A Few Things On The "To Do" List

I am not writing about New Years resolutions. I am one that fears if I set out to "resolute" I will surely falter. So, I just choose a one word focus for the year and keep my "first things first," building relationships with five amazing guys...That's Daddy God, D, B, C and J. Apart from that, there are a few other "for fun" things I'd like to explore in 2009.

Take a photography class. I know that there are many good, free online tutorials, but I am one who needs a bit of one-on-one, hands on attention. Why is it that our local community college offers this in the dead of winter, on February nights? I need to see if there is a class later in the thawed season. This is something I have wanted to do since I bought my Canon two years ago. I have been heartsick that I cannot get the quality of shots I once did with a Canon film camera, one that cost about 1/5 of what the digital cost. It's a lighting crisis. What I see in the frame is a gorgeous shot, what I get on the screen makes me want to SCREAM.

Buy a laptop and learn to do more with photo editing and digital scrap booking. The new lens that D bought me for Christmas may not be as useful to me right now as a laptop. He hasn't re-listed it on Ebay yet, I'd love to keep both, but I don't think that would be wise. In the grand shuffle of our house, I would love to say good bye to all the messy wires and bulky monitors, although I detest typing on a laptop. Maybe I'll still blog from B's computer? I am not a technical being, but I have taught myself a lot in the past two years. I will just keep learning until I can do all the things I rely on D to do for me. (BTW, he has washed his hands of the whole blog thing, he says I know more about it than he does. Now that's a first. Well, two firsts, really. That I know a little bit more than him about something. And that he would admit it. Love you, D!)

Learn to bake bread. I am not a baker. Ha. I detest the variables that always seem to work against me. I think every baking supply I own has expired, so I guess that's the place to start. I know so many amazing women who grind their own grains, bake loaf after loaf and I feel like such a failure next to them. I can whip up some Jiffy cornbread muffins, but even those turn out so dry. In this house, most baking falls on the real baker, he was born with the name, I just married into it.

Plant a few veggies and herbs in the summer. Did my sister just have a heart attack? We gardened and canned a lot when we were kids and I swore I would never have one. But, times change. I get so tired of paying for plastic, tasteless tomatoes. I bet I spend $10-15/month on bad tomatoes. I have some different ideas for how to grow them so that the little bunnies around here don't feast on my hard work. We'll see if it happens.

Plan some fun getaways for my boys. I think that D has a total of 8 vacation days this year. (I know, that's pretty pathetic, but he's changed companies four times since we got married and each time that good old vacation bank starts over.) We prefer taking long weekend trips, so I guess we can make four adventures out of that bank. In the spring, we want to venture to DC. Also on the agenda is a certain young lady's graduation in Charleston, SC and I think we'll make that a mini vacation. We need to figure out a time for our annual trek to Virginia Beach, maybe hit Great Wolf Lodge one more time. And we must camp at least twice in the summer. It looks like our time will fill up fast!