Tonight Hannah Beth was looking through my photo albums and pulled out the big thick “four year book” my mom made me when I graduated high school. Since I was homeschooled, she made me a gigantic scrapbook encompassing all four years in one.
In other words, it’s a scrapbook full of pictures of me in various stages of weird and embarrassing attire. Oh, and many different lengths and styles of strange hair.
But that’s what a yearbook is for, right?
The first few pages contain The List I made the summer before ninth grade. My parents had me write out everything I hoped to accomplish during my high school years. What were my goals? Ideas? My mom told me to jot down anything and everything–no matter how “out there.”
So I did.
And I took the “no matter how out there” part quite literally.
So tonight we decided to take inventory of how I did. What I accomplished, and what I, uh, didn’t.
For your reading pleasure, I now bring you The List, exactly as it appears in the book. Under the fancy scrolling letters of L.I.S.T. and a friend’s email address, of course.
- Flower arranging–wreaths, etc. Um, nope.
- Cake decorating A little… but it fizzled out once my family told me that baking a couple cakes a week was getting to be a bit much.
- Sewing–things such as skirts, shirts (blouses with buttons down the front, etc.), apron, real dresses, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. And LOTS of other stuff. How’s that for fashion sense? This is precisely why we went shopping this weekend.
- Basket weaving Tried at a women’s retreat once. Didn’t have enough hands or arms on me.
- Canning!!! Hey, I did do this one. Strawberry jam, peaches, pickles, apple pie filling.
- Gardening (vegetable gardening) I think we already covered this one, ahem.
- Herb gardening and learning how to use them to make medicines, in cooking, etc. I was convinced I could become a botanist. I’m not.
- Making Soap-LYE soap. Ha. Yeah. Can’t you just see me over a pot, stirring lye for soap.
- Regular cooking, Wednesday nights Did do this one, too. I think my husband now appreciates it.
- Learning how to grow things (plants, citrus trees :) etc.) from their own seeds. (Drying the seeds, etc.) Other than the fact that I don’t grow things that are already living, let alone from their own seeds, what’s the deal with the citrus trees? I grew up in the desert. “Hey, look at my lemon tree in the back yard!”
- Typing (not exactly a homemaking skill, but something I’d like to do). Well, does this one need explaining? Clearly, I learned to type. And type fast. Just look at this post.
- Quilting!!! Thanks to my home ec course, I actually made a baby quilt. It was pink. I now have two boys.
- Make cheese (just once, to try, since we don’t have a cow) Hannah Beth says I should stick that there cow next to the lemon tree on my parents’ half acre desert lot.
- Singing course Does having a singer for a husband count?
- Hardanger (or however you spell it) Maybe a spelling course would have been more beneficial?
- Advanced cross stitching Can do that, believe it or not
- Needlepoint Good intentions and all that
- Make all sorts of interesting breads :) Cakes too :) Bread machines make good friends. So does the bread aisle at the grocery store.
- I know this will never happen, Daddy probably wouldn’t say yes, but as long as I’m writing down things I’d like to do, I might as well say it. I’d like to keep chickens. :) I could take care of them (although Zach would probably want to help) and all that stuff. I also think goats would be fun, but…….. :)
Okay. At this point, we are laughing so hard we feel we might wet our pants. Can’t you see it? In the desert DIRT, the chickens clucking away around the mooing cow, while the goats eat the lemon tree and I look on sweetly while arranging flowers in a basket I made, with the aroma of an “interesting cake” wafting through the air. I’d, of course, be adorned in a blouse with buttons down the front that I’d made myself.
Oh good heavens.
- Languages: (prepare yourself, here) Spanish; German; French; Greek; Hebrew; Russian; Hmar, of course, but I don’t think I could get a course for that. Number of foreign languages I speak? ZERO. Smart, ain’t I?
- Different types of science–I don’t know what they’re called, but I know I want to do them.
- Government
- Biology
- World History
- Wordsmith Craftsman
I actually DID do all of those school subjects. Think maybe my parents actually had some common sense where I, uh, lacked it?
- Resource skills or reference materials. Whatever they’re called? I want to be able to, when I want to know something, know the best way to find it. (HUH???) I want to know how to do research efficiently and do it so that it’s fun and so I’ll remember it. Ohhh, I was talking about GOOGLE!
- Learn how to do framing. Just pretty much for fun. I’ve always wanted to do that. What? Have fun, or frame??
- Checkbooks, grocery shopping, etc. etc. etc. {Learning how to manage finances} Well, um, considering that I’d overdrawn my checking account only a few months after I got it and my dad had to bail me out, it would seem this one caused me a few problems. AHEM.
- Learn to knit… socks, sweaters, etc. I can make a dishcloth. Fancy, eh?
- Make paper w/Zach, once. I’ve heard of people doing it. Just thought it would be fun. I’ve still only heard of people making paper. I wonder if it’s fun?
- Bible studying. Doing an IN-DEPTH study of a certain book(s) with Daddy? Sounds like fun. Done. Several times over.
- Scrapbooking. Um, no. I don’t scrapbook. I blog.
And that’s it.
Not ambitious or anything, right?
Gotta run–time to milk the cow and pick some lemons.
Erin says:
Classic! I wish I had a copy of a list like this from when I was younger to laugh over.
I have made paper though, – kind of; I use to make recycled paper from newspaper to write letters on. Basically you cut it up into pieces, then soak it and blend it then put the pulp through a sieve and let it dry. Then I decided it was way too much effort and email is so much easier :).
(Oh, and love the new look, so pretty)
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 1:13 am
Mishel says:
LOL…oh, THE List! I mean, L.I.S.T. : )
You crack me up. And for the record, it’s a 3/4 acre lot. See? You could have had more than one lemon tree and possibly a few more chickens!
I can’t believe you posted The List. I’m still laughing!
Love you!
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 2:10 am
Lal says:
of all the languages, Hmar? I am a Hmar from Northeast India.
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 3:22 am
Kate says:
Teee hee hee! Your list sounds similar to mine -if I had written it down!
Nothing wrong with dreaming big! :)
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 6:59 am
Carrie at dumptrucksandteacups says:
This list is so, so funny. Thanks for the laugh… I find myself laughing even more because my list would be so similar.
The ambitious homeschoolers…
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 9:59 am
Rhonda says:
This is so funny. My sister had one of my notebooks from when I took Business Law in high school. As I looked through it, I laughed so hard at the way I viewed life as a teenager! My sister, too! Thanks for the great laugh!
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 10:28 am
redheadcsm says:
Waat a hoot! I have to admire your 14 year old aspirations, even if many of them were never more than aspirations. Did you think your parents were planning to ship you off to Pennsylvania or Ohio to be homeschooled by an Amish family?
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 10:41 am
Debbie says:
That was great!
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 10:55 am
Jennifer says:
Hi, I’m the crazy girl who emailed you about Courtship…This was too funny. It shows how differently you look at life when you are in middle school! I wish I’d made a list. Too funny!
~Jennifer
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Breanne Vasquez says:
My – you were ambitious! That is great though. My list probably would have been tostay out later. I wish I had a list like that??
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Chantel says:
*Grin* Now this is one book I simply must see one day! ;-P
So so glad you’re having fun with Hannah
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Nicole says:
ROFL!!!
Oh Ash, I remember your “list.” =)
I remember us at that age and yes, we did dream big. =) Thanks for sharing it here on your blog with, um, the additional comments. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.
And I absolutely L.O.V.E your new bloggie look!
Love,
Nicole
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Leah says:
LOL!! This was absolutely hilarious!! ;)
I had made a list when I was 13 years old of the qualities I wanted in my husband someday… LOL, then I sealed it and wrote on the envelope that I couldn’t open it back up until I was 19 and 1/2. Ha. (Of course, at that age, I thought I’d be atleast courting by now…) Well, about a month or two ago, I opened it up and just about choked in laughter about some of the stuff I wrote! :D Hehe.
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Steve n Vickie says:
Its funny how we see things as youngsters. Glad you accomplished some of your goals.
Only two of your languages aren’t ones I would have chosen(Russian and Hmar???).
Bet you’ld never guess I’d actually made cheese once (when I was in Bolivia)
Your list was a hoot. Lol.
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Traci says:
Hi, I’m Traci and your blog is beautiful!
I had a list.. still have a list. And I’ve decided that my list has now been extended to the time when my nest is empty. **Daydreaming about learning to quilt with my granddaughters** Sigh.
[Reply]
July 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Tiffany says:
I loved the list! How funny I remember all those times so well.
[Reply]
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Tiffany says:
Come by my blog I tagged you for a meme.
[Reply]
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
Jennifer says:
Wow! I would have never had a list like that at that age! I did a similar list in the 6th grade, and I wrote things such as play the guitar and go skidiving. Things I don’t really have an interest in now. Some of your items on your list actually sound like fun!
[Reply]
July 25th, 2008 at 4:28 pm