Sand Pail List [Updated August 04, 2018]

Since I couldn't come up with things to fill an entire bucket...

1. meet Amy
2. meet Melissa
3. run a 5k
4. do multiple wide-grip pull ups
5. dead lift twice my body weight
6. squat 1.5 times my body weight
7. get a tattoo
8. finish The Dark Tower series
9. buy a Kindle
10. own a VW Beetle
11. super secret list entry
12. organize my massive recipe collection (I actually lost it all)
13. see the northern lights
14. watch a NASCAR race at Talladega, Atlanta & Daytona (and the Brisol night race)
15. play "The Entertainer" on the keyboard
16. inspire someone to do something good Melissa insists that I mark this one off. I disagree that I was all that inspiring, but thank you <3
17. read all of Anne Rice's books (I've only read 4 so far)
18. dance in the rain
19. have sex on a boat
20. speak in front of a very large crowd
21. meet a celebrity
22. see Cirque du Soleil
23. become a Turbo Kick instructor
24. cook with tofu
25. try eggplant again, and like it
26. complete NaNoWriMo
27. complete Script Frenzy
28. run an entire 8k - I've completed one, but not running the whole thing
29. meet Chalene Johnson
30. be debt free
31. own a business
32. give up artificial sweeteners
33. complete a triathlon 
34. complete a half-marathon
35. complete a marathon 
36. participate in multiple obstacle course races (Spartan Sprint 3/10/12, Storm The Beach 4/21/12)
37. drive up the Pacific coast
38. see a space vehicle launch or land
39. observe the International Space Station though binoculars or telescope
40. complete the 300 workout
41. see a show in Vegas
42. see a show on Broadway
43. learn the Thriller dance
44. learn the Single Ladies dance, specifically this version
45. attend a science lecture
46. finish my doctorate - or start & complete a different one
47. hike the Appalachian trail (thanks, Amanda)
48. ride in a hot air balloon
49. attend a state fair
50. go ziplining
51. complete a century ride
52. climb the Washington Monument
53. hunt my own dinner
54. not finish last on the Saturday Fitness Beatdown
55. participate in a Flash Mob (the fun kind, not the violent kind)
56. be president an organization/board
57. enter the Crossfit Games
58. be serenaded by someone who can actually sing (Bitchy, I know, but that dying moose thing my [ex]husband does is not singing!)
59. go zorbing
60. host a haunted house/Halloween party
61. Zumba
62. ride in a helicopter
63. try the Duggar Family Tater Tot Casserole recipe
64. intentionally left private - sorry :p [Hahaha, now I can't remember what this was]
65. get through Titanic without crying
66. kiss a girl
67. learn to crochet
68. learn to knit
69. learn to play the cello
70. learn to weave
71. play Nearer My God To Thee on the violin & the cello
72. make Ben Starr's Pumpkin Carrot Cake
73. drive in a demolition derby
74. see Shinedown in concert with Cat or Shelly
75. learn to ride a motorcycle
76. ask a guy on a date (I have never asked a guy out - I'm too chicken shit)
77. get in back shape and maintain for a minimum of 2 years
78. join a roller derby league
79. have a paper/story/article published
80. do a handstand push up 
81. build a computer from parts
82. be in a parade (I did this on St. Patrick's Day, 2013. I was a zombie.)
83. complete Crossfit Fran
84. do Jessica's Dark Horse exercise routine
85. slide into home base
86. do donuts in an empty parking lot

Camp NaNoWriMo starts July 1

I did NaNoWriMo in 2011 and had a blast. I recently discovered that they do two other events in April & July. So I'm doing Camp NaNoWrimo next month. My friend Ali posted something on Facebook that I think is going to help me long term with my writing.

I have no intention of writing for anyone but myself. I still have my 2011 NaNoWriMo "novel" that I've done nothing with since I finished it. I don't know if I will ever go back and edit it. It kind of sucked. But it doesn't matter if it sucks. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to just write.

But I'm really excited about my current idea. I was originally thinking about the November project. I came up with characters but didn't know what to do with them. Last week, when I decided to go ahead with the July camp, I desperately tried to come up with a plot. I had nothing at all. I had a friend over watching movies the other night, and we were talking about friends...the kind of friends you would do anything for. Growing up, I didn't really have that, and as an adult, I was always jealous of people who did. 

Then it hit me. If you did have friends like that, how far would you go to be there when they needed you? I don't want to divulge much at this point, but I think I have a great idea for a story about eight friends who come together when one of them really needs them. So far, I've worked out the "why" of the reunion and I'm fairly certain how it will end. There will be flashbacks to their childhood through college, to show how they became friends, and why the bonds are so strong. 

I'm pretty fucking excited about this. 50,000 words is the goal for the month. My schedule is tight, with work, work, work, but when I'm home, I will be concentrating on the writing. I'll be carrying around a notebook and pen for the next month and a half so that I never lose a thought, a phrase, a scene. And when I'm done, maybe I will post it :)

Flat Stanley Goes to The Boston Museum of Science

On April 5, 2013, Flat Stanley went to the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. He left from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

He had a delicious pancake breakfast at Denny's Restaurant.

On the way to Boston, he stopped by the Lego Store.

And rode the carousel in the mall.

In Boston, Flat Stanley saw how tall he is (about 10 inches).

He visited an African Pygmy Hedgehog.

And posed with some human skeletons.

The one on the left is an adult male. The one on the right is an adult female. One way you can tell is because the male skeleton is taller than the female skeleton. 

There's a leopard gecko in there! They clean their eyes with their tongues!

A three-toed box turtle came out to see what Flat Stanley was up to. They really do have three toes on each back foot.

Flat Stanley visited with an eastern corn snake. 

In the hand-on lab, Flat Stanley made a spinning top in the shape of a heart.

It didn't spin very well because the weight of the paper wasn't evenly spread out. :(

Flat Stanley took a boat for a drive.

And took a nap in a giant shell.

This is a vertebra from a large whale. The vertebra form the spinal column and help protect the spine.

Flat Stanley studied bones. 

Flat Stanley was in two cities at once!!!

Boston

and Cambridge.

There was a giant marble run in the museum.

This lava rock formed 400 years ago when a volcano in Italy erupted.

Flat Stanley climbed a baby Giant Sequoia tree. A Giant Sequoia can grow to be as tall as a 26 story building, and as wide as a city block! Some of them are over 2,000 years old.

Flat Stanley investigated a special kind of fossil, called petrified wood. Wood turns to stone when the living materials are replaced by minerals.

Flat Stanley spent some time studying different types of rocks and minerals.

"Help me! I'm being chased by a giant fly!"

These are hieroglyphics. They are drawings on a wall that tell a story. Egyptians were the first to use any form of writing!

There are dangerous animals lying around in caves!

Flat Stanley's favorite part of the museum! The dinosaurs!

Flat Stanley peeked into an exhibit.

Then he took a drive on Mars.

And he returned safely to Earth in a space capsule.

Flat Stanley relaxed to some live orchestra music.

Flat Stanley also saw a presentation on electricity but it was so amazing, he forgot to record it. He saw lightning make music! This is a recording of one of the shows the Boston Museum of Science puts on.

Here is an example of lightning making music.

Back on the Outer Banks, Nags Head Elementary School was putting on their spring musical - FLAT STANLEY! Here is the star of the musical with Flat Stanley.

And then Flat Stanley was on his way back to Eastern Wayne Elementary School in Goldsboro, North Carolina!