6.17.2011

1000 pieces

I had more pressing things to get done this morning. Laundry, dishes, smog check, feed the chickens, bubble wash the biodiesel, pay some bills, sweep the porch. You know, same ol', same ol'.

But I certainly didn't have anything better to do this morning than finish a puzzle with Aidan. I guess you could say I accomplished 1000 things on my to-do list.

Earlier this week, as I was painting Aidan's bedroom, the kids begged me to take them to the water park. I responded, "There's enough time in the day to accomplish what we need to do and what we want to do."

Wishful thinking on my part. We made it to the water park the day after I finished painting. I can't accomplish everything in one day, but I'm going to make it a priority this summer to do the things we want to do.

Here's my list:

Listen to loud music
Fall asleep on the hammock
Eat fruit for dinner once a week
Snorkel down the river
Pick fruit with friends
Read adventure books with the kids
Ride my bike to the library
Design and sew clothes with Avery
Practice yoga outside
Draw and paint
Get a movie projector and watch movies in the backyard
Make a quilt
Always have a jigsaw puzzle in progress
Camp at the beach

By making my list public, I hope I'll be more inclined to make my list happen. I've got all summer to check it off - and add to it.

What's on your summer list?

21 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 17, 2011

    i love getting lost in a puzzle - thinking that nothing is more important than finding the next piece.

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  2. AnonymousJune 17, 2011

    Hello Molly--I have enjoyed reading your blog for some time and am finding that today is the day I will make my first comment. The summer to-do list has become quite popular around our house. My three girls each made their own and to my delight the ideas included:

    Going camping
    Go to the beach and build a sand castle
    Volunteer at the preschool
    Take a babysitting class through the Red Cross
    READ, READ, READ
    Go swimming
    Go to the zoo
    Go to San Francisco
    Go fishing with Grandpa

    The list goes on, but it is one of the reasons I love summer. We live in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and summer is amazing here. I have really enjoyed reading your stories and insights over the past few years (yes, I've been lurking that long!) I think you are a tremendous photographer and I highly regard the way you are living your life and raising your children. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh what a sweet summer post. I can't help thinking about all thing I want to do with my family. I was just thinking how much I miss puzzles and how we love them. Love the projector idea to watch movies in the backyard. Hmm... a projector might be going on my wish list.
    Summer things I jotted down latley that I wanted to do this summer
    go to the beach
    collect more shells and sea glass
    make pasta
    take care of our first garden
    read
    sew
    embroider
    crochet
    I have more but I'll stop here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this. It's accountability at it's finest!

    Make strawberry freezer jam with some of BC's finest

    Finish an alphabet pillow for Oliver

    Redecorate Oliver's bedroom with the Smokey the Bear posters that just arrived at our door

    Make our masterbedroom feel like WE are represented

    Celebrate family heartily, everyday, not matter who's in a bad mood...

    ReplyDelete
  5. i think i need to get out a puzzle now....then for the rare minutes we're actually in our home we can be making progress on something visual as a family unit.

    once summer camp is done (first campers come sunday!!!!!) then i will revisit and make my whole list....some things i'm sure will appear:

    ~make homemade pesto.
    ~go to at least one showing of a movie on the beach.
    ~camp lakeside.
    ~get on the slackline e v e r y d a y.

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  6. zoo
    hiking
    pool
    beach
    fishing

    to name a few

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  7. AnonymousJune 18, 2011

    I love it!!!
    ~live
    ~love
    ~laugh.... too cheesy? I am planning to fill it with all good things. Ignore the heat and enjoy! ~m

    ReplyDelete
  8. Molly I love your list, sounds fun and really enjoy visiting this space of yours. I enjoy seasonal lists and find that i have a much better chance of making it happen if i share out loud too.

    Here are a few of ours;
    ~camping at beach
    ~finishing my summer quilt (started last summer oops)
    ~visiting a local tomato farm and canning my sauce
    ~spending time outside everyday to appreciate and enjoy the sunshine and fresh warm air

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  9. so funny! i just made my summer list. this is the first time I did this but i have all these plans and everyday more was being added to my mental list until finally i felt i had to write it down

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  10. Summer is such a tough time here in the hot desert. I am planning to camp more, visit California and Oregon, and strengthen our homeschooling community.

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  11. We have camping at the beach too and my little one wants to make a quilt himself! Mosaic for the garden and lots of lovely rest feature in there too....with a month left to go till the holidays start here we have some time left to plan and I am sure our list will be a lot longer by July! Enjoy yours, it all sounds lovely xx

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  12. Moving house - 300 miles away. I'd rather have your list, really!

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  13. lovely.
    summer lists.
    we made one last year.
    totally forgot about it because it has NOT even felt remotely like SUMMER. rain and cloudy.
    no sunshine. for days at a time.

    but, I will make a list today.
    thanks for the prompt.

    I love visiting you.

    ReplyDelete
  14. her via RW,
    and she is right... inspiration indeed !

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  15. Oh my goodness...I built that exact same puzzle..I recogized it right away with the "Ghiaradelli" on it. I loved that puzzle! I have actually had the itch to build a puzzle lately and I do believe I just might get one out of the closet tomorrow. I have a couple of them stashed away that I either bought or was given to me. I go in spurts with puzzles..it's one of those every once in a while things..but once I've finished one, I've just gotta go buy another! So fun! I like your summer "to do" list. What's funny is, I have made a summer "to do" list every summer for the past, probably, 5 years...and for sum (summer, get it) reason, I did not make one this year. I have asked myself why? what does that mean? not sure...but one of the things I always put on my list is to read. So far I am proud to say I am on my 3rd book.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am looking forward to helping you pick fruit with friends! Called the farm today and got a recording, but it seems that the cherries are still going strong!

    You've inspired me to put out a puzzle tomorrow.

    Mr. T has started a list for the two of us. One of his items is hiking and looking for rocks.

    And I'd like to get back to taking more photos (like your fabulous one above.)

    Got any good adventure books to recommend?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I haven't thought about making an actual list but maybe I will. If I do, these things will be on it:

    -good books (that's a given)
    -camping
    -tie dying t-shirts with the boys
    -lots of Lego
    -riding our bikes

    ReplyDelete
  18. Nice list -- hammock, fruit, library, beach -- these are good things.

    I'd like to spend more time living closer to the land. More green, more trees, more cows, goats, & chickens, more large bodies of water...

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  19. Okay Molly, we had been scrawling our list on the back of an envelope over here, but this was the nudge I needed to type it up and post it! Somehow I think that makes us more accountable, don't you think?

    ReplyDelete
  20. alrightly then. We'll hold you accountable (but not THAT accountable) to that list. Outside yoga, such a simple idea that has never, ever occurred to me. I love how you have "make a quilt" tossed in there so casually, as if it's equal in effort to, say, sleeping in a hammock.
    my list is long but it includes winning the (pesticide-free) war against the cabbage loopers in my garden.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Many days at the Beach
    Knit 3 Cardigans for Fall
    Enjoy visits from my family and friends
    Spend more time up on our roof deck

    ReplyDelete

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