Hopefully the superstitious amongst you weren’t hindered too greatly during Friday the 13th. I know that my grandfather refuses to leave his house and considers this date to be quite ominous. Then again, he was a sailor and they are a very superstitious lot.
After work yesterday my DH and I went to Bach Concerto Night. It was part of the Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival in Portland. The music was spectacular and now I’ve a strong urge to take piano lessons. Not that I have aspirations of playing concertos, but rather because I’d like to graduate from my beginning books.
Which brings an issue to light that I find alarming. Next week I’ll turn 40. The vanity issue of wrinkles, gray hair, varicose veins, etc. don’t really bother me. What disturbs me is that statistically my life is more than 1/2 over. Early on in my adult life (Junior in college) I had written a list in my journal of “things to do” before I die. Some of the tasks now seem silly and unnecessary in the overall scheme of things, like free fall skydiving, but most are still valid goals. Obviously learning to play the piano was on that list. My lack of accomplishments combined with a shorter life expectancy makes me realize that I need to shake a leg.
Along those same lines, I’ve reached the SABLE (Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy) threshhold with my yarn. So at this point I’d like to offer up some yarn and have a contest. To enter it all you need to do is leave me a comment expressing one (or more) of your life goals. I’m curious to see what others’ goals include. Comments should be left by midnight on Wednesday, July 18th. All entrants will have their names entered into a random drawing and a winner will be selected.
And speaking of contests… this past week I received not one, but two wonderful prizes from drawings held following Claudia‘s MS ride.
First, there is a book called “Modular Knits” by Iris Schreier. I’ve only had an opportunity for a quick skim through it’s pages so far and it looks like there are some very creative techniques and garment constructions with these patterns. I look forward to having time to have a more in-depth look at the patterns. Second, there is a Skein of Zen Yarn Garden sock yarn in the Passion colorway. I’m not normally a “pink” person, but this is really, really pretty. My eldest daughter has laid claim to it, but I’ve not made promises to anyone regarding its destination. I’d like to try making one of Cookie’s patterns with this. They are so amazing.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Serendipitous Opportuknitty 
I’d like to write a book.
It’s funny, when I turned 40 I had the same thoughts – now… I’m 47 and haven’t made much progress! I certainly hope you do better than I have! I have always had the goal of learning to play the piano also, but have never had the time to do it, I’m not giving up hope however. Another goal of mine is to make more time to do the things I already love to do, knitting, cross stitching, cooking – can time be a goal? lol
This question really stumped me. I’ve had many goals over the years and they are always changing. Now I think I would just like to drive to work and not swear at another driver for one whole week (day). I would also really like to get my yarn, pattern books, needles, etc. organized so I don’t buy the same book twice.
I’d like to be an art museum curator and show a collection I hsve hand picked. Maybe more of a fantasy than goal. No problem with not having playing piano on my list. Never ever.
Yup, this post really hits home for me. I’m also coming up on my 40th birthday (in May) and also feel like I have a shorter life expectancy and worry about my future quality of life. I feel that fear that I’m moving into the time of my life when it may be “too late” for a lot of things I always wanted to do and have. Top on my list is children – oh how I hope it’s not too late (whether we have our own or adopt) and a trip to Italy (I swear I will get there one day).
Goals – well, mine sort of got changed on me this year. Writing fiction has always been a goal, though I guess I subconsciously considered it a fantasy type goal. Now I have to make a serious stab at it. That’s my biggest long term goal: support myself as a writer of fiction. I have set into motion a more short term goal. Next week, I am taking a private seminar on Round Pen Communication for training my horse. The prospect of finally working with my horse (she’s still sort of a baby – only 3) really excites me. Another goal: get this bod into shape!
Here’s to goals and achieving them!
Goals:
Lose all my baby fat. (And by that, I mean losing all the fat I’ve gained since I was a baby.)
Travel to Europe. Without kids.
Write a quilt book (I started one…)
Live through the next week with three kids and husband in 200 sq. ft. without loss of life or sanity.
Learn to play the piano–I started teaching myself when Emma was taking lessons, but I didn’t get much further than her in the beginner’s book II. I’d like to play at least one song by Mozart or Bach.
Oh, and knit a pair of socks. At least one pair. 🙂
Karen O
I’ve written this three times and started over. Take piano lessons. They aren’t that expensive and if you want to learn, do it. But, and this is like mine, a big butt, lighten up. I’m 56. My only life goal now is to not die alone and unloved. Sounds simplistic and stupid, but it isn’t. Dear Heart, you are so amazing and a wonderful mom and wife and friend. You do and have done the absolutely most important things in life. You are a kind and amazingly funny soul. What else is there? I understand if you want to do things now that you won’t be able to do later. Lord, I understand that. But, please, remember, you are more than your life goals. You are Heide, wonder woman, wife, mother and most of all, to me, FRIEND.
First… That yarn would be great with a Cookie A. pattern. I’m making her twisted flower pattern right now and it rocks!
As for the goal question…I knew my answer right away. I want to go back to college and get a degree. Don’t know what I want to do but that’s ok. I’m only 29 so I have time to decide 😉 I did two semesters and was kicked out on academic suspension (I know now it was anxiety disorder that kept me away from class all the time) I want to go back to prove to myself that I can do it. And to show my kids you can do anything!
I’ve actually always thought that Friday the 13th was lucky for me. I like the “spookiness” of it and have always had good luck. I’ve also reached my SABLE, but I thought I’d enter your contest anyway! LOL!
One of my life goals is to design a truly beautiful lace shawl. That’s one that’s not too, too difficult to achieve. The second is to have my own yoga studio where I can teach prenatal yoga and relaxation yoga.
That yarn looks awfully good!
Goals… hmmmm.
Retire. Move to Montana. Work part time in Yellowstone National Park. As a kid I always thought that being a Park employee would be a dream job. But, I think that I would enjoy it more now part time (meaning no winters).
ps please email me your mailing address!
See Europe/Egypt/New Zealand/The Moon.
Okay, I know the last one isn’t very achievable, but I’ve yearned to go to the moon since I was a child.
And in a couple of days I shall be fulfilling a small part of my goals by getting to London. Wow.
My goals – well… First and foremost I’d like to be happy and satisfied with my life. Always – or at least as often as possible. And then I’d like to travel even more – most especially to all the Central- and South American countries, but basically anywhere else too 😉
I think that I would like to write a book. I’d also like to visit more places than I have yet seen and introduce Neatnik to travel.
Ha!!! Next year I will be 60, young tadpole!!!
Some wrinkles but I boast, no grey hairs. Sometimes I wonder how I have avoided that.
I feel that STABLE is an oxymoron. Sufficient and Yarn go no better in the same statement than England and Hot Summers.To all of you who want to stay somewhere in the north of England and see wonderful sights please get in touch with me. I do not do London.
Cheers Gillian
Congrats on the goodies! And happy early birthday – I turned 40 last fall and it wasn’t too bad. 🙂
Hmm – I would like to travel outside of the US more – so far I’ve only been to Canada.
Oh, you should change your comment info next time you comment on my blog – it still links to your blogspot blog!
Lordy, there are so many goals… I always wanted to write a book – a novel (my pattern book doesn’t count), have enough to be comfortable but humble and appreciative, travel to the UK and New Zealand, be relaxed, be happy, be content, be healthy, be a good teacher, grow old with my child and grandchildren around me. Did I mention this was the year of SOCKS for holidays? (hint, hint…just in case my luck runs positive)
OH! the house sold! I’m completely petrified and overwhelmed. You liked using pods? I’ll have to move into a temporary situation (bleh) for a while until I get a job.
gah! that’s quite the typo – I have two *children* not a child. What would miss sassypants say if she knew I made that kind of mistake?!
Hi Heide! One of my lifetime goals is to graduate from university. I’m close now, so the next one is to go on to postgrad. I have always wanted a tertiary education and didn’t get the opportunity straight out of school, so now it’s a case of proving to myself as much as to anyone else that “I still got what it takes!” ;o) Another one is to get a book published. I have two on the go at the moment – a co-authored local history and a fantasy fiction number I’ve been working on for a few years now on and off. One of these days…. :o)
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One of my goals has been to be a contented human being. As a result of the life I live, the people I contact, the work I do, the avocation that I spend my hours contently pursuing, I want peace and serenity. Lofty? perhaps, however, negative thoughts are banished, anger is dissuaded, and I try, try, try to always see the best in people and situations. Have a wonderful 40th and many, many more years of a happy contented life.
I want to visit the real Wuthering Heights site in Britain.
Hopefully in five years I will have my PhD. All of my goals are short term.
When I was in high school, I decided that I’d manage two of my dad’s goals: become an EMT (did that, for 10 years or so) and learn to scuba dive (did that, just long enough to finish the training, haven’t since). Many of my past goals were somewhat “fill the voidish”, so my current one? Enjoy my kids, enjoy my knitting, and stress a bit less about the things I’m .not. getting done… How’s that for a non-answer? ;*)
I would like to work with big cats at a rescue facility…
I just turned 44 and try to remember that almost half of that half was growing up. So I still have more adult life left than I’ve already had. Does that make sense?
Anyway, goals still to achieve (for myself): I would really like to do the Master Spinner program. You know, the one that takes six years. I would also like to live somewhere with some land, some serious land where you can walk a ways without seeing anybody. But we are chronically low budget, so that is a dream.
I have tried some of my past dreams out, though. I learned to ice skate (even backwards) in my 30’s and took sign language classes for a few years back then, too. I would like to have a fiber business someday.
I would like to meet some fun blogger friends in person! Like you!
My life goal is to complete one of the novels I’ve started!
I want to see Alaska and Hawaii with my kids and see the Great Wall of China with someone I love. I also plan to sail in a hot air balloon!
Hmmm, 40. The number of testing. heh. I guess my life goal is have peace inside, so elusive these days and to stop worring. And maybe do something really great, but no idea what that is….
I have things i would like to do, but not really goals. I feel like the future holds so much for me that it would be presumptuous of me to plan my life out.
Finish grad school, get a social work job, have a baby of my own.
I want to knit a magnificent lace shawl, of which i have dyed the fiber, spun the lace weight and designed the pattern my self. I would like to keep it as a family heirloom.
I really want to learn to juggle.
I want to learn to play the cello.
Being 60-80lbs lighter would be nice.
by 40 i really want to be established in my career, and be working on my Phd.
I want to retire with a small patch of land with some pet fiber bearing animals. I’ll get someone to sheer the animals and i can spin my golden years on. (in the midst of grad school, this thought is very inviting. I visit this happy place often)
btw, Wendy makes such a great point.
My one ultimate goal is to get my Ph.d…send me good karma all 🙂
Hmm. Record an audiobook. Finish the addition/remodeling we started in 2000 so I can live in a real house instead of a *temporary* construction zone. Fill the windowed room we put in with plants and keep them alive for longer than six months. Visit the Louvre and Uffizi and see Leonardo’s Last Supper in situ and the Acropolis and maybe Macchu Picchu.
Speaking of goals and life lists, have you seen this author’s blog?
http://todayslifelist.blogspot.com/
She started out to accomplish the things on her life list; once she had done that she “gave [her]self an unusual challenge: EVERY DAY [she has] to do ONE THING that [she’s] never done before…or that scares [her]…or that just sounds fun.”
Oh, I just reread my comment and sheesh did I sound selfish, and kinda maudlin. I really didn’t mean it either way. I guess I need to hit Lighten Up 101, too.
I’ve always wanted to write a novel and I’ve started many. A few weeks ago I finally decided that I’ll never get anything written that will be published so if I want to write a novel it will just be for me. I’m horrible at description so each chapter is turning out to be one or two pages long! But that’s Ok because I’m getting there. Another goal is to raise a well-balanced son who can take care of himself.
To live each day as it comes and to the fullest.
My goal is to control my spending habits and lose 30 pounds by next summer.
Since I’ve recently discovered hand-painted sock yarn and that I can’t live without bread and chocolate…
I need to pick new goals.
I want to belly dance until I can’t stand! Then I will dance from a chair!
Welcome to the club! I turned 40 in February. It was definitely, as you’re finding, a time to reflect, and then a time to look forward.
My motto for my 20s was “no regrets” — as in, “will I regret doing this later?” (especially if anyone’s taking photos) and its reverse, “will I regret NOT doing this later?”
My 30s was about career, then about having kids, and now that I’ve got a 2- and 4-year old, my early 40s will be about raising them.
After that comes my life goals: happy, healthy kids, and happy, healthy me. I want to get on an exercise program, I want to become a better writer, and I want to retire in a house overlooking some kind of water, lake or ocean.
I’d like to gain some perspective and relief from my anxiety. I have a feeling this is going to take the rest of my life.
I want to have walked on all the continents of the world, including Antarctica. I’m halfway there!
I have done a little handpainting of yarn and sold it on Ebay. I want to expand this effort
Life Goal: Become comfortable with myself. I have already jumped out of a plane, learned to knit and had a summer fling, this is the only one left.
Hmmm…the year I turned 40 had some memorable oddities! They are funny now, but, well, they sound dire. Anyhow, at 46? I’ve thought about live being half over too. What do I want to do? See my 11 year old grown and happy. Maybe go sea kayak camping (not out of the question, but it’d take some planning).
Oh… I know what I want. I want to be a master knitter. I would also like to perfect my spinning. Teach others the wonderful crafts and maybe, just maybe, have an actual studio/store space were all this takes place.
I will turn 55 on the 24th and I’ve accomplished most of my major life goals. I’ve lived all over the world, been blessed to be the last woman the love of my life ever loved, have seen my children grow up and go on to live productive, happy lives. I still have some little goals, like fire-walking, but the _big_ one that eludes me and that I hope to accomplish before I die is to really become the woman my daughter thinks I am.
She thinks there’s no problem I can’t solve…and nothing I can’t do…and she credits me with a generosity of spirit and a wisdom that I strive for but haven’t quite reached—yet.
My goal is to get all my kids thru college and get them out into the world.
My goal, to sell one of my photographs for what i really think it’s worth.
Then after that, to keep that progress up. I also am trying to work in a museum photographing art again. To buy a house. To Finaly deside if I want childern. To fish the sweater for my DH(in training). I’m only 25 so i know there’s still time for all of this, but I guess i just always though i would move down my life’s path a little quicker.
Good luck with your list.
Figure out how to eat healthfully. (I figure “get skinny” will be a natural consequence.)
Find a good life partner.
Retire comfortably.
Cultivate generous behavior.
I want to return to Japan to travel, but bring my boyfriend with me, who has never been there.
I’d like to be a better listener.
I’m almost done accomplishing my goal of learning how to knit my first pair of socks.
To own a home to call my own (no more friggin coin-operated washers/dryers!!!)
To learn to knit socks
To finish all the UFOs I have started.
To loose the flab I am gaining after I safely deliver my baby(Pray for me!)
Finish my PhD! I’ve been in school for so darn long.
Lovely goodies! I’m not a pink person either, but it’s a beautiful mixture of shades.
Marry, have children, have many cats, knit a lot. And try to brush my teeth every day. And be happy. Be happy in the little things.
I used to have concrete goals, but it’s all too possible to be unhappy and have your goals. I’d rather be diffuse and happy.
Each year, I try to pull myself together to get my financial life in order. I turned 51 last week, and finally (yes, I have one at work, but it’s small) funded an IRA. My goal is to be able to make those “catch-up” contributions allowed by law!
(I know, I can dream…)
Have a happy birthday! 40 was awesome for me…
(((hugs)))
I’d like to see my little girly grow into a confidant adult! Unlike the adult I grew into! It’s a hazy goal…not sure at all if I’m even on the path.
Happy Birthday! And SABLE? Bah! I can’t even think about such a concept! I’ll just KNIT FASTER!!!!! 🙂
My life goals…I would like to take a cruise with my entire family, once I hit the lottery that would become possible. More realistically, I would just like to vacation with my entire immediate family, not just the girls and myself but all of us.
Someday I want to record a CD of the folksongs I’ve written. I don’t care if it ever sells a single copy; I just want to have something to listen to years later so that I can say “I did that: that’s me there”.
There are other traditional life-goals, like have babies, buy my own home, maybe go back for a Phd, but recording is the one thing I want most and yet am most afraid of doing.
40 is a funny age isn’t it? I have been examining my life more closely since then and with 42 just around the corner I’ve made some, but little progress. One thing that I have always wanted to do is learn to paint – I’m not good at drawing though! Yikes! I’ve kind of substituted photography lately for the painting but I still want to paint. . . . now that I’ve moved maybe I can finally get down to taking some lessons?
I hope your birthday is as good as mine was. 40 is actually a good decade. I’ve learned that I only have to please myself and those I love. The heck with everyone else’s opinions. They aren’t the ones who count, right?
Thanks for having a contest. I am going to be 50 in November…doesn’t that make 40 sound better? My goals right now are all about knitting. I want to write 3 more patterns for my bags and submit patterns to at least 5 places.
Sharon
sdreifuss AT msn DOT com
You SO dont look 40 – you dont even look 35!!! I had a hard time with 30 – never look back now!! Hope you are doing well, have not heard from you in a long time! 🙂
Oh, I love contests. Found you from your comment on Shelly’s blog. Anyway, one of my lifelong goals was to be a mom, and that has been accomplished three times. One that hasn’t been accomplished yet is to get to Italy. Someday I hope to go to Tuscany and eat!!
One of my lifelong goals is to own a farm. Even a small one (10 acres or so) would be fine. I’m still a university student, though, so this would probably be far in the future.
Another goal is to learn to play the guitar. I’m working on learning a few things from books.
Life goal eh? Okay, here’s one…to stop working for others by the age of 50. Owning my own business or living off my investments would be acceptable…
just one?
I would like to raise kids that later in life say thanks for the good job. (did this with my mom before I had children)
Love to travel extensively outside of the US.
Learn to spin well enough to start with a fleece and finish with socks that I love.
Delurking to tell you that your post hit home. I’m 48 and hadn’t looked at my “list” of life goals in a while. The biggest is that I want to write a novel. Have the ideas, and the characters, but I usually lack for time. I guess I just have to make the time…maybe when the kids are out of the house in (hopefully) a few years. Thanks for getting me thinking about it!
I’ve heard 40 called “The old age of youth, the youth of old age.”
I’d like to visit Istanbul.
I used to want to knit a Starmore design, but with a young daughter, my goal is keep making time for knitting.
I also used to want to make that VK Map of the World sweater, but luckily my taste changed before I went to the trouble!