I'm half way there! - the long version

Esther did this little meme which she got from Minnesota Mom and I couldn't help but join in. The things I have done in my life are in bold, the things in italics are things that I could have done in Europe, but because of long lines or cost, chose not to. Edited to add: I'm having trouble telling the difference between bold and not bold so I'm going to add an * to the ones I've done.

UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive! I share the stories behind my crazy life under each activity.

I have a tendency to get long winded so I'm holding back from telling the story of each item in bold, but maybe I'll go back and edit this sometime. My kids might get a laugh out of hearing how my friends and I almost drove right past the Grand Canyon because we didn't see it at first. Who misses a gigantic hole in the ground?! Or the time my friend Rhonda and I went to a drive-in movie and fell asleep (it was a double feature). We woke up at 2am in a deserted drive-in.


1. Started your own blog*
MckMama introduced me to blogging back in the Fall of 2006. I started my first blog on January 24th, 2007. I now have 5 of them.
2. Slept under the stars*
In 1995 I worked on a trail crew in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana. We were stationed 26 miles from the nearest road where we constructed a re-route of a damaged trail. On our way out of the wilderness we somehow missed our campsite so we had to keep hiking to the next one. We climbed an 8,000ft 'hill' and hiked 15 miles before we collapsed on top of our tents at our revised desination. I saw 5 shooting stars before I drifted off to sleep. Click here to read more about The Bob and see a picture of the Chinese Wall (part of the Continential Divide) we climbed one day.
3. Played in a band*
I started off playing the saxophone in sixth grade, but switched to the clarinet by seventh because it was too expensive to rent the sax and my mom still had her old clarinet that I could use. I tried the trumpet in high school, but soon learned I didn't have the lung capacity for it.

Our band director was a jerk, but by mid high school I'd already invested 5 years and didn't want to miss out on the first ever band trip that we finally took our senior year. I avoided much of our director's yelling and profuse sweating by only taking band second semester my jr and sr years. (I got out of marching during football games that way too.)

4. Visited Hawaii*
The girl that lived across the hall from me my freshman year of college had a great aunt that lived in Honolulu. Using her buddy passes from Northwest Airlines, four of us spent a week in the Aloha state for only $500.
5. Watched a meteor shower
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain.*
Besides the ones in Montana, I hiked a few on the 30+ mile Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo*
I sang the opening solo for church once.
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris*
While I was studying in Vienna (jr. year of college) we took a train around Europe on our 10 day vacation. Paris was on our list. You can see some of my Europe pictures in this post.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (It was a lake)*
Lake Kabetogama, MN to be exact. A huge wall cloud came through. I have the pictures to prove it.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch*
I'm a self taught photographer (except for the help from my mom when I was a kid). I also make wheel thrown pottery.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables*
We tried our hand at container gardening once. What we did harvest tasted great, but it wasn't much.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
The line at the Louvre is LONG and the Musee de Orsay with all the Monets was more to our liking.
20. Slept on an overnight train*
We took a sleeper train from Santiago, Chile to the Lake District with 63 college students. All I remember is the velvet curtains. In Europe we saved money by traveling at night. We'd get to our destination without wasting daylight hours or having to pay for a hotel or hostel. The guy who punches the tickets messed up on the Vienna to Paris leg so we ended up getting a FREE ride to Paris.
21. Had a pillow fight*
I have two younger sisters and enjoyed many sleep-overs with my girlfriend. Enough said.
22. Hitch hiked*
I've done this twice. Once, when I was 16 and my truck's gas gauge was broken, I ran out of gas on the way to work. A couple of guys picked me up on the side of the road and drove me to McDonalds. Real safe huh?

The other time was in Puetro Madryn, Argentina. A taxi dropped us off out of town about 3 miles where we could watch the sea elephants, but when a storm rolled in we were either going to get soaked or needed to hitch a ride. We squeezed six people in a little hatch back.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill*
Our dog was sick once so I had to stay home so he didn't p**p all over the house.
24. Built a snow fort*
I loved doing this as a kid. One of my most fond memories of grade school is when we made forts during recess. We would use sheets of ice to make windows.
25. Held a lamb*
Our friends, the Watsons, had sheep. There was an ewe that wouldn't accept one of her twins. We got to keep in our house for a while and bottle feed it. Of course we named her Mary.
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
We took lots of pictures of them when Sarah and I spent the weekend there, but it's very pricy. We opted to ride the water taxi's around instead.
29 Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset*
I can't believe I'm admitting this, but when we were in San Sebastian, Spain I got up early to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic only to realize that isn't possible. My favorite sunrise ever was in Costa Rica - the tide was out and the pinks, reds, and oranges reflecting on the water and rocks was breathtaking.
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33 Seen Niagara Falls in person*
Our spring break band trip destination. Not as warm as Florida, but it was neat to go to Canada!
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
Again, the line was way too long. We saw a replica outside and spent our time shopping for leather and enjoying the rest of Florence.
41 Sung karaoke*
At a bar in Vienna.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight*
Except for when I was in Europe I spent all my Spring Break trips doing a Habitat For Humanity service project. Twice we drove from Illinois to Homestead, Florida and the other time we went to New Orleans. We walked along the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi in the moonlight. I made a sand angel.
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
A fellow crew member from my Montana stint was from Grenoble, France. Through letters we made plans to meet under the Eiffel tower at a specific time. When I got there, I had NO idea how BIG it is under there! She hadn't changed a bit in the three years since I saw her so eventually I spotted her. We were too busy catching up to bother spending the money to go to the top. PapaBear has been to the top before. I think he said he paid $5 for a hotdog at the cafe up there. He took one bite and then the wind blew it out of his hand.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling*
I will NEVER EVER go scuba diving. My heart rate is increasing as I type this - that's how anxious I get about it. I've been snorkling in Hanauma Bay in Oahu, off of Key Largo, and in Costa Rica. I will never do it again. I don't do well with things swimming around me in the water. I get panic attacks.
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud*
It was tradition to have water fights between the horse barn people and the cow barn people the last day of the Dane County Fair. They usually involved mud too...and maybe a little manure.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater*
See beginning of post. :)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business*
I ran an in-home daycare for almost three years and my photography business is in it's second year.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60 Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching*
One of the neatest things I've ever done! Southern Wales can be 40 FEET LONG!
63. Gotten flowers for no reason*
PapaBear is good like that.
64 Donated blood, platelets, or plasma*
My small, liberal arts college was located a mile or two from a shady part of town where a place to sell plasma was located. You could donate twice a week if you passed the mini physical each time. The finger poke (to check iron levels) hurt more than the giant needle they used to draw blood. The blood was pumped into a machine where the plasma was removed. I have scars on my arm from the few times I went. I quit going when they spent 15 moving the needle around in my arm while trying to locate one of my tiny veins. Thankfully they had a "You get poked, you get paid" policy. I can't remember how much the checks were.

Because of all the traveling I did in Central and South America I couldn't donate blood for three years. I don't have an excuse anymore.
65. Gone sky diving
66 Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp*
While we were in Poland we spent an afternoon at Auschwitz. We were more than an hour into our bus ride home before any spoke a word. It was a very powerful experience.
67 Bounced a check*
More than I care to admit.
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy*
Thanks to my mom for storing these for 2 decades so my kids can enjoy them as much as I did!
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial*
In high school I spent two weeks touring the monuments and museums in the Washington DC area with a 4-H group. I was maybe 15 at the time - too young to appreciate the history of it all.
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt*
My grandma helped me make a quilt for my dolls during a visit once.
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades*
A perk of a Habitat For Humanity trip to Florida
75. Been fired from a job*
"You are disruptive and talk too much." That's what my supervisor's supervisor said to me the day I went to see if I could be moved to a new location on the floor. I worked for a cell phone repair company. My job was to put the correct mailing labels on the boxes and then put them on the pallets for the mail trucks.
My numbers were high. I was good at my job. I was a temp though so MY hard work was paying for the profit sharing benefits for this moron that I couldn't take anymore. He spent at least half of his day away from his station, visiting other workers while I busted my behind. PapaBear warned me to just ignore him, but I didn't listen. I told moron guy off one day. The next day when he proceeded to make my life a living hell I went up the chain of command to ask for a transfer. Not once did I mention names, but the damage was done. They told me they no longer had a need for me.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone*
I broke a finger once, but it was mostly healed before I ever had it checked out. I was always jamming fingers playing basketball or volleyball so I figured that's what I'd done until it wasn't getting better as fast as it should have.
One of my front teeth is broken too - the root, to be exact, is broken in two places after an unfortunate basketball incident on February 2, 1998.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79 Seen the Grand Canyon in person*
See beginning of post.
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car*
Technically my grandparents bought it for me. A 1999 Chevy Malibu
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper*
I grew up in a town of 2000 people. Combine that with playing 3 sports a year and 10 years in 4-H and my picture was in the paper often. Nobody made a big deal out of being in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House*
During that same DC trip in high school
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
We butchered chickens and rabbits when I was a kid. I did everything but swing the ax - including pulling the hides off of the rabbits while they hang from a rope in the barn. Did you know that if you take a dead chicken that still has it's larynx and dip it in water, you can hear a chicken sound? On a dead chicken, with no head.
88. Had chickenpox*
I had a very mild case when I was 2 years old.
89. Saved someone’s life*
Two friends and I were walking along a trail beside the Wisconsin River (at night) when all of a sudden one of the girls was gone. She had slipped on the pine needles and fallen into the river. The Wisconsin Dells are known for their sandstone cliffs which can be huge. The one she fell over looked more like this. My other friend and I called out to her and thankfully she answered. We made a human chain and pulled her out of the water. We never told our parents what happened.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one*
My Grandpas and my dad
94. Had a baby*
Two of them - they are my pride and joy!
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone*
Got my first one my freshman year of college - 1995
99. Been stung by a bee*
Once while I was driving and another time when I reached in the mailbox to retrieve the mail.
100. Become a child of God * - I was in first grade. It was during Monday morning chapel.
Esther added this last one and I couldn't agree more! Read her reason in her own words:

"It took me a long time to decide to take part in this. I know, I know, I love a meme. But this one sort of bothered me. Is my self-worth determined by all these things? When I die, and I haven't experienced all 99 of these, am I less of a person? Then I was reminded of something my husband is always saying to me, "Does your salvation depend on this?"

The answer is no. Nothing depends on my salvation, other than my belief in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Acts 4:12 says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
So I had to add my own item.
100. Become a child of God"

If inquiring minds want to know - I will go back in and add a little blurb about each bolded item, just say the word, if not, I'll wait until I make my blog book - that is if Blurb ever fixes their compatibility issues with Blogger. Grrrrr!