From miss vu Flickr photostream

(Actually, I don’t.  And I won’t know what we’re doing until we’ve done it, ’cause that’s how Miss Flexy Freestyle rolls.  I also don’t watch horror movies, but I love a good pop culture reference for a blog title.)

As I’ve explained before, I like to make lists.  Because I like to brainstorm, rather than come up with manageable, organized lists (like Kat’s at Inspired to Action), I rarely get everything checked off.  So rather than giving me a sense of accomplishment, it serves more of a “get all these great ideas that keep coming up recorded somewhere or else I may never think of them again” purpose.

About a month ago, I started keeping a list of ideas for how to spend our summer well.

From Msstercheese Flickr photo stream

Because I have one foot in and one foot out of the current technological age, I keep my list on a Note in an old iPod Touch.  I won it in a raffle and it is so old (in techno years) that I can’t download a Bible on it, take a screen shot of it, or find a cover that fits it.  But the calendar, alarms and notes work, so that’s all I need!  =)

Whenever I get an idea from something I’ve read or had a conversation about, I just text it down.  In the last month or so, I’ve come up with a random assortment of interesting shenanigans including: do more hiking, Narnia on audio books, go through kids stuff, garden, read the Count of Monte Cristo (a book club bonus pick), and create a cozy morning devotions nook with a basket of kids’ Bibles and all the fixings for tea – another great idea from Kat at Inspired to Action.

But even Girl Brainstorm needs to organize things a bit so I started to notice some category themes like:  READ, MAKE, TRAVEL, STUDY, EXERCISE, etc.

And the list has started to take more shape.  Some things that are redundant get edited.  And I may even order them by priority.  Or not.  But either way, it goes a little something like this:

by Tristan Hodges

READ:  The Count of Monte Cristo, My friend Tristan’s new book (!) Seven, The Lost Tools of Learning (article on the value of Classical Education by Dorothy Sayers), (free!) audio downloads of the Chronicles of Narnia for our family road trip, and sign the kids up for the library summer reading program.  (BTW, I also keep a Note of children’s book recommendations.)

STUDY:  The Song of Songs by Mike Bickle (with friends), Prepare for Classical Conversations tutoring, Research for public speaking class, Times tables and read aloud for the kiddos.

DO:  create morning devotions nook, make homemade beauty recipes, Learn to sew?, make fun ice creams with our newly freecycled ice cream maker(!), start garage remodel, purge kids room and decorate, finally use my pedicure gift card =), play more games as a family, and garden – build box, fill with organic material, and PLANT!

EXERCISE:  daily walks, free weights, local hikes, SB sprint triathlon (I have done one after the birth of each child), swim at Grandy and Poppa Len’s, tennis with the kids, and family bike rides.

VISIT:   Road trip to visit friends in Utah and Colorado!, BEACH, Day trips, see brother and sis-in-law’s new house in the OC, say goodbye =( to dear friends moving to Texas,  and Local stuff – whale watching (Groupon), Lake Los Carneros, Courthouse & Clock tower, Li’l Toot boat, Natural History Museum (excited about the Tinker Toy exhibit), and the Zoo.

WRITE:  a blog post a week?, my public speaking class syllabus & lesson plans, regular journaling, and next year’s homeschool plan.  

WATCH:  Argo, Lincoln, the John Adams series, Downton Abbey? (I’m so behind the times), but FAST from lame, fruitless TV.  Did I just contradict myself?

And I can of course add to the lists or create new categories as the ideas keep rolling in.  And I could make it into a beautiful laminated printout like from my Getting Chores Done While You Sleep post, but I’ll just keep it simple and refer back to this post.

And though I know it is not humanly possible to get through all this, I like to look at my options and then choose what I want to do based on what I feel like doing at the moment.  Some ideas sound great initially but don’t always stay that way, so I can delete them if  I’ve lost interest.

Welcome to the mind of a not-so-organized, creative, non-committal, absent-minded, lifelong learner and list maker.  Feel free to look around, but don’t be surprised if you trip over something…

And here are some other summer lists to get you thinking:  Summer Bucket Lists (I am not a fan of the title since I don’t plan to kick the bucket by the end of the summer.  But I’m going to assume they are referring to a sand pail…)

What fun things do you want to do this summer?

Related posts:  Check out The Boredom List and find some Free Reads for the summer!