ONE HUNDRED THINGS - THE FINAL FRONTIER: 76 - 100

FINALLY! This last bit was pretty hard.

76. be a contestant on The Price is Right; I can hear it now, "Angela Bussey, COME ON DOWN!"

77. get my real estate license and live my own version of House Hunters every day

78. meet Johnny Depp

79. be the $10,000 winner on America's Funniest Videos, mostly so I can know what it's like to have 100 pounds of confetti dumped on me

80. participate in the world's largest contemporaneous performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller dance on October 25, 2008 in honor of the 25th anniversary of MJ's first getting, shall we say, spooky (you can too! ThrillTheWorld.com) mmwwaahahaaha, mwwwaaaahhahaahaa

81. perfect a Thrillah laugh to use in movie theaters when it's very dark

82. did you know that Scoopie is an outie? did you even know dogs could be an innie or an outie? I didn't. Aaron showed me. Knowing that is about as useful as me trying to think of item #82 for this list.

83. Onward!

84. attend Pete Silverthorne's college graduation where he will receive High Honors for Smartness, Likability and Height and be granted the Magic Wand of Science and Exploration because he figured out how to clean dirt particles so no one would ever have to vacuum again. ever.

85. eat only hot dogs for an entire week; I would allow myself to change up the condiments. (I know, right? Whew! on that one. Good thing I slipped in that caveat. I mean how hard would it be to eat only hot dogs for an entire week if you couldn't change up the condiments?!)

86. change every lightbulb in my house to a Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb; partially to save energy, but mostly so my lights wouldn't burn out for like, 100 years. If I were to sell the house, I would make that a feature. "House boasts tall ceilings, double-sided fireplace and CFLs in every light fixture!"

87. find the car keys I lost 3 weeks ago; not only did I lose the car key on that key ring, but also my very important Gym swipee card thingy that I used almost six times a year AND more importantly my Library swipee card thingy that allowed me to NOT have to carry around that dreadfully cumbersome wallet sized library card. Ugh! (note: since I wrote this my keys have been found, but I am not deleting this valuable list item; I will however mark it as complete! And I will take a picture of me with my keys this evening.)

88. join Facebook so I can play Scrabulous with Jess (note: since I wrote this, I have also accomplished this item. This last 25 took me waaaay too long to think up.)

89. learn all the Presidents of the United States and something about each one; here is what I know so far: 1. George Washington, was the first Prezzy 2. John Adams, said nations and people are forged in the fires of adversity 3. Thomas Jefferson, more than a decade before becoming President he drafted the Declaration of Independence 4. James Madison?? This is where I fall off the Presidential wagon

90. learn about astrology and the signs of the Zodiac and characteristics of each, I'm a Virgo.

92. shop for prom dresses with my nieces

93. live in NYC; I would love to live in Manhattan; I would walk in Central Park every day and visit museums on the discount admission days and window shop on 5th Avenue and sit in Battery Park during lunch to people watch and spend Sundays browsing shops in Greenwich and enjoy the night energy in Times Square and be swept away by musicals on Broadway and buy sussies for my peeps on Canal Street.

94. have a New Year's Eve kiss in Times Square

95. stay in a hostel (if you suddenly have the urge to remind me about the movie Hostel, please be advised that I may involuntarily vomit on you so that you'll stop talking about it)

96. own a bookstore in downtown Austin so all the people who work nearby can walk to the bookstore and browse the new paperbacks, pick up a gift, flip through a magazine, make-out behind the shelves, pick-up a light read for their upcoming vacation, stick their nose in a book and get high on the new-book smell

97. sing "You Are My Sunshine" during Mardi Gras in New Orleans

98. knit a dragon for Pete, a ladybug for Aubrey, and something for Little Girl Robertson - note: this will probably take me my entire life

99. go to sunny Mexico for my 30th birthday. . . dream BIG, people, dream big. . .

100. lay across a grand piano in a fancy gown and swoon a melancholy love song note: the credit for this one lies squarely with Audrey

VOILA! Those are 100 things I might like to do before I kick the bucket, bite the dust, depart from this Earth, meet my maker, breathe my last breath, am as dead as a doornail, dance in the clouds, turn to dust, get six-feet under.

Also, if you noticed that there are really only 99 items on this list, you are very astute. And you deserve three gold stars for reading all the way to the end. The End.

ONE HUNDRED THINGS - PART TRES: 51-75

I was less inspired for 51-75, so this portion of the list has ended up with several things that: a) I may have already done but can't quite remember b) I've sort of done c) I've definitely done but would like to do again in a different way d) I don't really want to do, but they are worth putting on the list in case #50 happens.

51. know enough about one subject that I could write a Wikipedia article about it; snail racing, for instance

52. mix and serve a Mexican Martini that rivals Trudy's, only mine would come standard with a bottomless bowl of olives

53. ride a camel; I may have already done this in my life, it was either an elephant or a camel, but obviously I don't remember the experience clearly, so I'm going to put it on the list

54. ride in a hot air balloon; again something I've sort-of already done; when I was small, I got to get in a hot air balloon and go up probably 20 feet off the ground, the ropes weren't even untethered from the stakes in the ground; I think it was something a Real Estate agency was doing to promote the houses for sale in our neighborhood, "Come on out and visit our open houses, and your kids can ride in a hot air balloon!"

55. own a gas-electric hybrid vehicle

56. own a fantastic piece of furniture that will become a family heirloom

57. sing in the church choir, I sang in the church choir in high school, but I don't think I was very committed and it was at a church that was never really my home church, I just went there to be with my friends, 'cause I was cool like that

58. ski at least one Black Diamond run every time I go skiing; I have skied a Black Diamond, but not in a while; I mostly chicken out and stick to the easier slopes; I think maybe it's time to buck up and earn the right to check the "Expert" box on my ski rental paperwork

59. ride on a float in a parade; maybe I've done this, I have a vague memory of riding on a float with my Bluebirds troop.

60. pick a month and post on my blog every day that month; maybe I'll join NaBloPoMo.

61. read the Bible in its entirety, possibly in chronological sequence, not cover to cover. Wow, I wonder if the Bible is the only book that is not necessarily meant to be read that way?

62. learn to upholster furniture so Aaron and I can pick up even more trash from dumpsters and curbs and turn them into family heirlooms

63. have a custom designed California Closet with nooks and crannies and drawers and shelves and cabinets and cubbies and a chaise in the center where I can lounge and sip champagne while I decide what to wear to the grocery store

64. have a snocone in Alaska

65. Hula Dance and drink pina coladas from a real-life coconut at a real-life Luau on the real-life island of Hawaii

66. have a succulent garden on a window ledge in my house

67. sit in a circle with a bunch of people and sing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall and really take one down and pass it around each time

68. go on a mission trip to Central America

69. toss a rose onto an Olympic Ice Skating rink

70. throw a tomato at a comedian who is making bad jokes

71. own all three Pirates of the Carribean movies on DVD; so far I only own The Curse of the Black Pearl, if you were wondering which ones I still need; by the way, do you say Car-a-be-an or Ca-rib-ean? I say Car-a-be-an when I'm talking about the movies; but Ca-rib-ean when I'm talking about my island home with large windows dressed in long white linen drapes billowing in the sea breeze

72. ride on the back of a fire truck while the sirens are whirring

73. drive a car through a red wood tree

74. find directions to Sesame Street

75. finish this list

ONE HUNDRED THINGS - PART II: 26-50

continued from Part I: 1-25 . . .

26. watch cliff divers in Acapulco

27. raise rodeo bulls, mean ones that all the cowboys are afraid to ride

28. work at Our Lady's Cup (if you don't know what this is, don't feel bad, only about 8-10 people in the world know)

29. zip on a zip line wearing a helmet-mounted video camera so I can relive the experience anytime

30. SCUBA dive

31. spit over the rail at Niagara Falls

32. take a road trip through New England in the Fall and gather leaves for pressing

33. see a ghost, hopefully a friendly one

34. be in a tornado, I know, it's weird, but I've had dreams (the REM kind) about being in a tornado since I was little, and I always wake up just before it actually hits; so I think I'm supposed to experience one for real. Plus I want to be cool like Helen Hunt in Twister.

35. speak French fluently

36. be at a taping of one of 'Oprah's Favorite Things' episodes and get some mad loot

37. Talk more, listen less. (I'm kidding; but wouldn't that be funny if I wasn't?)

38. be a professional Fortune Cookie writer

39. float in the Dead Sea (and gather some Dead Sea salt to bring home for future exfoliation)

40. win a Halloween costume contest (I'm open to suggestions)

41. teach a Bible class

42. be a Pilates instructor

43. visit all of the Smithsonian museums

44. take photographs of me doing each thing on this list so when I'm old I can have a shelf o' pictures showing what a full life I had (remember at the end of Titanic where you see pictures of young Rose fulfilling all the dreams she and Jack shared?)

45. go on a cruise (preferably one that doesn't sink, e.g. Titanic)

46. sing Perform the Star Spangled Banner at the opening of a sporting event

47. learn to meditate

48. throw a perfect 300 bowling game, even if it is on the Wii

49. bench press my current body weight; I might try to do this tonight so I can start marking stuff off this list; I will take a picture (see #44)

50. see every Cirque du Soleil show, and possibly be invited to perform as an extra, and then I could be interviewed on the Today Show as Cirque's biggest fan who was invited to perform and experience the thrill of showbiz and what that was like for a simple East Texas girl, and ohmygosh, then Oprah would want to interview me for her "Living Your Dreams" episode and her research crew would get their hands on this list and Oprah would surprise me and offer to send a camera crew following me around the world while I fulfill everything on this list, all expenses paid, plus she'll PAY ME, AND then I would write a bestselling book about the experience and THEN the book would be turned into a movie film and I would be asked to star as myself and I would win an Oscar for Best Actress and meet Johnny Depp at the E! After Party and they all lived happily ever after in the Land of Cupcakes where blueberry pancakes grow on bacon and doggies speak English. the end. thankyouverymuch.

ONE HUNDRED THINGS

I can already tell this is going to be a little bit tough. I was recently challenged to write down 100 things I want to do before I die - a "bucket list" if you will. It's going to take me a while to think of 100 things, so I'll post them in parts of 25 so as not to keep you in suspense. Or maybe so as to bore you only in small doses.

If you care and are still reading, here we go, in no particular order:

1. get my elementary education teacher certification (I can rhyme, I'm qualified)

2. visit Australia (Sadie kind of seems Australian to me sometimes, she has that laid back "no worries mate" attitude)

3. serve on the board of a non-profit organization

4. plant a vegetable garden and actually reap what I sow

5. plant a tree and watch it grow (not literally sit and watch it, just notice how it's grown over the years)

6. read all of John Steinbeck's books (not his personal collection, but the books he wrote)

7. be a mom be a damn good mom

8. have a signature recipe like AuntGi's Sliced Bananas or Grilled Cheese á la AMB

9. read Gone With the Wind cover to cover (as opposed to reading it the other way books are meant to be read)

10. own a horse, and ride it occasionally

11. frolic in the Pacific Ocean

12. go skinny dipping, not necessarily in the Pacific Ocean

13. learn to knit so I can make scarves for my friends and afghans for babies

14. learn to hand embroider so I can spice up those dish towels

15. learn to sew for no good reason

16. own a children's bookstore

17. create a painting that I will hang in my home

18. rescue another dog. . .or seven. . .teen

19. celebrate my 50^th wedding anniversary with Aaron (as opposed to celebrating it with Johnny Depp)

20. throw a surprise party

21. host Thanksgiving at my house, not necessarily cook the meal, but I would make some killer pine cone turkey centerpieces and everyone would wear Pilgrim and Indian costumes

22. take my nieces on a special trip

23. visit San Francisco and find out if Rice-A-Roni really is a treat there

24. design and build a green home, not one Kermit would blend with, one that is energy efficient, eco-friendly and sustainable. I guess technically Kermit might blend with that, I don't know his preferences. Who am I to judge?

25. have lasik eye surgery so I don't have to yell "I can't SEE! I can't open my eyes or my contacts will come out!" when I'm tubing behind the boat

Stay tuned. . .