The Popcorn Bowl: Summer To-Do List

It's July what? How the hell did that happen? I had big plans! The kids were going to be tennis pros by now and the stone wall around the herb garden was going to be three feet tall and I was going to whittle or weave or whatever it's called a willow fence around the berry bushes even though I have never whittled or weaved anything in my life.

Every summer I have grand dreams about all of the things the boys and I are going to do and accomplish in those two short months and every summer...not so much. As the husband will gladly tell you, I am not the most organized person in the world, but I love lists. It is so gratifying to check off the tasks you accomplish. Unfortunately, my summer To-Do List is always way too ambitious and there are very few checks. I should probably just shorten the list to two items:
1) Sleep until 8am
2) Have the boys play Xbox

But, I keep pushing that rock up the hill hoping that we will all be playing the ukelele and speaking fluent Spanish come September. Here are ten of the items on this Summer's To-Do List. Perhaps if I put them out there for everyone to see I will get some of them done.

1)This year I am absolutely positively going to learn to play the guitar. Never mind the fact that I have owned the guitar for close to twenty years.

2) We are going to watch documentaries with differing viewpoints on the same subject and then discuss how facts are not always black and white. I am feeling good about this one since I love to stuff my opinion down people's throats and who better to subject to my lectures than my children?

3) Spinning Pepper's molting fur into yarn and knitting a scarf out of it. You are probably asking yourself, "Is she kidding?" and the answer would be, "not intentionally." It seems like a plausible thing to do. His fur is coming out in big soft clumps much like that of an angora rabbit. Why not a dog fur scarf? Oh that's right, I suck at knitting and don't know how to spin wool.

4) Science Friday. Given my love of NPR and this NPR program, how could I resist devoting a day to science experiments with the kids? So far we have done one Friday out of three, but in my defense, I was working the first Friday of their summer vacation and last Friday we were away for the weekend.

5) Succession planting so I get the most out of my garden. Tomorrow I am definitely planting those cabbage seeds. I swear!

✔6) Geocaching. I did this one! What's not to love? Outdoor treasure hunting and the kids learn how to read longitude and latitude coordinates. I should probably get Science Friday credit for this one also. Now they will never get lost in the woods they never venture into.

7) Teach Scrappy Doo how to ride a two wheel bike. If it ever stops raining here, this may be accomplished.