Ten for Tuesday or The State of This Union

Ten things I did while Sam was at Grandma's this week:

1. Six loads of laundry (!)
2. Swept the whole house
3. Saw 2 movies
4. Went for a 3 mile hike with Justin
5. Slept in TWO DAYS in a row!
6. Took the cat to the vet, where we were advised he needs to have his teeth cleaned. That costs $200.
7. Watched a bunch of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares
8. Read a lot of my book club book (meeting is next Sunday), The Omnivore's Dilemna
9. Got caught up in Google reader
10. Spent some quality alone time w/Justin
    

Ten things I am going to do while Sam is at his other Grandma's next weekend:

1. Celebrate my 5 year wedding anniversary!
2. Swim in the pool at the hotel
3. Get a massage
4. See a movie
5. Sleep in some more
6. Cuddle with Justin
7. Finish my book club book before Sunday
8. Go to Book Club on Sunday
9. Work on Friday
10. Work on some future blog entries
    

Ten things I love about my husband:

1. He might not understand me, but he accepts me
2. He will go to the store in the middle of the night to get drier sheets when we run out
3. He lets me have time to myself when I need it
4. He is an awesome Dad
5. He says I love you to me as much as I say it to him
6. He is open minded
7. He encourages me
8. He mows the lawn without complaining, even when it's hot out
9. He believes in marriage as much as I do
10. He is handsome
    

Ten good things that have happened lately:

1. Sam had his speech therapy evaluation, and he is NORMAL! For receptive language, he is right at the top of normal, and in some areas he's even ahead (identifying some shapes & colors, big/small, and pointing at a very specific part of a picture). For speaking he is just barely within normal range, but still in the range. We told them about the explosion over the past couple of weeks and about what we are doing at home to help him learn. He's started saying 'pop', 'ha' for hot, 'bub' for bubble, and 'boo' for peek-a-boo. He has also said 'ca' for car. She said as long as we keep reading to him, playing the pointing game (he loves to point at pictures and have us tell him what each thing is, which is apparently a little advanced for his age), talking to him a lot and trying to get him to ask for things we are doing everything right. As long as he doesn't hit a plateau or start to regress, she thinks he will most likely catch up in the next few months. Our current theory is that he just got a little bit regressed because of all the change/stress happening in the last 6 months and now that things are settling he's back on the path. We do not need speech therapy unless we decided we want to, but I think that he's doing fine on his own. Whew. I wasn't that worried, but it's still a relief.
2. My Mom got married to a really awesome guy with some cool kids that I'm now related to.
3. We FINALLY got the paperwork done and received the certificate for the bankruptcy filing, and Justin has an appointment with the lawyer tomorrow to get them all the information and get this party started.
4. A man in a top-hat came to our door to deliver a notice that our payments on our leased car are way past due. This is actually not really a good thing, but I did think it was funny when we got home and our neighbor that we don't know said "There was a man in a top hat here looking for you". We're turning the car in tomorrow anyway.
5. I have NOT killed the plant my Mom gave me for mothers day, and it has new pink blossoms on it as we speak.
6. I have gotten more tan than I have been in years due to being outside with Sam so much. This makes me happy, because hey, we all have our superficial points, right?
7. We have gotten almost 50 yes RSVPs for my 10 year high school reunion, which means we are halfway to our goal of 100 people at the dinner (so we don't have to pay for the hall rental).
8. I discovered Punk Rock Mommy, Growing a Pair, and Redefining Perfect.
9. I've started thinking seriously about my writing again. Right now, this blog is my outlet, but it's only the beginning. I've started feeling the twinges of poetry coming up from inside again, and I haven't really written poetry in many years. At one time, I wrote all the time. I attended poetry night at a local coffee house (my next step is to start going again, although it's at a different place now I hope it will have the same atmosphere). I wrote short stories. I wrote in a journal - a lot. I forgot that this is a part of who I am and dammit, I want it back! So, I am going to start trying to make more time for that.
10. I FINALLY went back to the chiropractor and it felt oh so good. But, I am messed up again since I haven't been keeping up on it. I have never heard my neck crack so loudly. Follow up appointment tomorrow in which we go over my X-Rays (hadn't had any in a couple years).
    

Ten things I want to do before I die:

1. Sky-dive
2. Scuba dive in Australia
3. Visit Ireland & Scotland
4. Publish a book
5. Own a horse
6. Re-learn how to play the piano
7. Help my friend Violet open her own cafe, and work in it
8. See my kid(s?) graduate college
9. Go back to Italy and visit Venice and John Keats grave
10. Read the bible