organizing, planning, writing lists, and setting goals.

There are few things I am good at. I cant wow an audience or dazzle the masses but there are four things that I am a natural at. They are: organizing, planning, writing lists, and setting goals. I guess its my way of creating a sense of control in a world that refuses to be controlled. However, it is not just a control issue. I need something to look forward to. And setting goals and planning in the form of lists and such gives me just that. It becomes fun and yes, even exciting for me.

Ex.) I have a residency blog for Stew and I. I do research on programs, different cities we might live in, test scores and whatever else I can get busy trying to organize information on, make lists about, plan for and set goals around. Yes, that is a little freakish. On our residency blog I an currently obsessed with the idea of us doing residency in San Fransisco. Mostly because their residency website gives me the most info to plan with but also because they treat their residents like real human beings ( Four weeks paid vacation, paternity leave, full medical benefits for our entire family, $10,000 extra money to help you afford life there,.... and in their pictures they really look happy) . Ending up there is really probably not going to happen (its one of the top schools in the nation, living there $$$$) but in the mean time I am enjoying the planning. To get to the point, my silly residency blog is a prime example.

Anyways, I found myself feeling a little down today so I spontaneously began to plan. I have been really absentminded lately and with three kids' destructive powers I have been losing things left and right . I therefore feel the need to safe guard these precious lists by posting them on my blog. So, with no further ado here are my lists.

Family fun I want to do this year:
- Weekend trip to Aunt Sue and Uncle Shaun's house and spending the day at Apple Hill picking apples and taking in Autumn. Then baking Apple goodies of course!
- Going to Virginia City to ride the steam engine, take the little trolley tour, and "step back in time"
- Go camping in our back yard again before it gets too cold
- Explore the canyon up from our house- really just ventured up there the other day and it was so beautiful in a Nevada way. We need to go hiking up there one of these days.
- Go to the pumpkin patch and corn maze
- Spend a Sunday afternoon walking the gardens at San Rafael and have a picnic dinner in the shade of the Fall foliage
- Do the Polar Express this winter
- Take the kids sledding
- build a real snowman

Projects we need to do with our house:
- refi
- get our patio done
- fix our nasty lawn - spider and weed central!
- finish our terraced sitting area
- put in our rock flower thingy in the front

Personal Projects:
- make my Christmas gifts - learn how to sew. Ahhhh!
- scrapbook my brag book pages for grandma
- learn how to digi scrap
- take our Christmas pictures
- finally lose those last few pounds - almost there. yay!
- finish the B.O.M.
- pull off our last primary quarterly activity

That should keep me busy for awhile. :O)