100 Lessons

100 Lessons Learned in the Last 5 Years (2010)

It’s a long one, but it’s a good one… here we go.

1. When you have had a runny nose and chapped lips for 3 days, don’t Nair your mustache- it burns like hell! AND everyone you meet might wonder if there is a new strand of herpes that you’re trying out.

2. In figuring out what you want in life, it’s just as important to figure out what you don’t want.

3. The hardest thing I have ever had to do, still, is watch Landon scream and cry while having his chin stitched up.

4. Animals really do attack. It’s not funny when it’s you they are attacking- it’s frighting and can leave you truly traumatized.

5. If you can do these two things, you can do anything; give natural child birth and grow your hair out.

6. Just because everyone (including yourself) thinks the grass is greener doesn’t always mean it is. But if you work hard enough on the grass you already have, it can be the greenest of greens.

7. Playing Legos till 1AM with the love of you life never goes out of style.

8. Always work on a few projects at a time; you may feel overwhelmed at times, but you’ll never feel bored.

9. First, remove gas nozzle from the car THEN drive away.

10. The Internet is an amazing tool for creating anything; web pages, business cards, relationships.

11. Love at first sight isn’t just in Fairy Tales.

12. Landon can sit at a table for 3 hours in protest before he eats a single pea.

13. When your best friend suffers, you suffer, but hold the confidence that she lacks. Knowing that she’ll make it, all you can do is be there to help her if she stumbles.

14. Everything is more expensive in Australia, and when you are living over there the USD doesn’t matter, bc you aren’t making it.

15. I am a Facebook addict, and really, I don’t care what you think about it.

16. Sometimes you HAVE to swim in REALLY cold water.

17. Blood IS thicker than water, but love can turn water to blood.

18. If you stop learning and growing, you stop living.

19. Missing your friends and family can be physically painful.

20. A dishwasher is an amazing appliance.

21. Derek likes to take things apart, and that curiosity is something I hope he never loses, it’s something I adore.

22. With that being said, a working dryer is also an amazing appliance.

23. Line dried clothes are not light and fresh, they are stiff, wrinkly and if they fail to dry in a day, they smell like ass.

24. I love Derek’s “cloth sandal shoes”.

25. A child’s innocence helps to keep the fear at bay.

26. Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers is my favorite band of all time- on album and live.

27. The word “booty” is hysterical to Landon.

28. Road trips are still fun.

29. Film is amazing and underrated.

30. I have to be near water, I go crazy being too far from it.

31. The ocean heals.

32. No one really NEEDS a microwave; I hope I never own one again.

33. I now understand the phrase “running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off.” I had no idea that
they actually do that when you chop off their heads, now I do.

34. I am still a ‘Daddy’s Girl’.

35. College was not as painful as I made it out to be when I was 18; I just wasn’t ready for it.

36. I can learn almost anything with YouTube and a little self motivation.

37. Timing really is everything, so you can’t dwell on the time you lost and you have to use the time you have left.

38. It cost $289 to gama-radiate a $40 wooden drum from Ghana just so we can have it in our home without the skin on.

39. My brothers are inspiring.

40. Sometimes the perfect weekends only cost you enough money for food and gas.

41. The sweet question, “Will you make me breakfast?” is horribly annoying if asked more than once any day of the week at 5AM.

42. A tick in Australia can also mean “check”. So when your child comes home telling you he “got 2 ticks at school today” don’t freak out looking for the little parasites.

43. Grey’s Anatomy reruns still make me cry.

44. Don’t think that you can just go right into sleeping on a new contour pillow every night, if you’re like me you’ll have an ‘unexplained’ migraine for two days straight. They have to be eased into slowly.

45. Landon HATES ice packs.

46. I am on Team Edward.

47. My Mom is pretty amazing; she has taken more crap than anyone I know, and still continues to dish pure love back out. Thank you Mom.

48. I learned more about myself and art from Miami Dade in 2 years then I ever thought imaginable. Don’t knock a school just because it’s a “college” and not a “university.” I paid less for an amazing education.

 

49. I am forever grateful to all my professors- the ones that gave a damn.

50. No one can pull off a beard like my husband.

51. Spell check is a blessing and a curse, but who needs it anyway when I have Derek.

52. When Landon tells me I look beautiful I usually have to hold back tears.

53. You can’t unhurt the people you have hurt, you can only do your best to help repair the damage. That takes time.

54. When your heart is broken sometimes the “moving forward” part is harder than the “moving on” part.

55. It’s important to be there cheering on your children even if they are in last place.

56. It’s okay to stop, rewind and replay HIMYM ten times if it keeps you laughing till you cry.

57. I can cook a Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner.

58. I don’t have a doppelganger.

59. The world is made up of lights/darks and lines/shapes.

60. Sleeping squished between Landon and Derek, though uncomfortable, is perfect.

61. Watching one of your best friends grow into being a Mommy is so exciting.

62. Just because you have your stuff with you doesn’t make the house your “home”.

63. When in doubt- follow the traffic.

64. Whatever you’re going through- you’re not the first to experience it. Chances are, there is even a song about it.

65. The power that makes the body, heals the body. TRUST that.

66. Living in a small town has it’s benefits. For instance, you’ll NEVER get the guys at Blockbuster to give you an extension on movie you rented on Tuesday till Sunday with no fee and no extra charges even though they have 50 other copies of it. In addition, you wouldn’t be able to rent 4 good movies for a week at a total of $8.

67. We live in a beautiful world.

68. Sometimes your parents need you to be the parent, and tell them what may be good for them whether they want to hear it or not. And when that time comes, it’s hard and it sucks, but it’s necessary.

69. Long distance relationships can work if there is trust, respect, humor and a light at the end of the tunnel. Also, skype and texting helps.

70. Johnny Depp is an amazing actor. Yes, this makes it on the list.

71. It’s important to give people space.

72. It’s not the cold that sucks, it’s the wind.

73. Never under estimate the power of a hug.

74. If you are unsure about something, look it up, do the research and make up your own mind. You don’t have to believe something is true just because someone says it is.

75. Being a parent is hard. There is nothing beautiful about boogers or temper tantrums.

76. It’s always nice to look at your sleeping child at night, it’s kind of like a reset button on bad days.

78. Music helps with pain management.

79. Don’t dial 1800FEDEX, it’s a phone sex line. The number is 1800GOFEDEX.

80. It’s true, the squeaky wheel does get the oil, but the wheel that is just too damn squeaky gets replaced.

81. Having a “Murtaugh List” is a good idea, but make sure you’ve done everything enough times (be that 1 to 100 times) before you say you’ll never do it again.

82. Some people you never give up on, though you may step away from them doesn’t mean you’ve thrown in the towel.

83. When it comes to choosing the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with, don’t settle and make sure you’re “selfish”. You have to spend every day with that person- make sure you’ve found someone that you *want* to do that with, not someone that could just fill a void.

84. Sometimes ‘faking it till you make it’ doesn’t work, so always just try to do your best.

85. Gas appliances are so much better than electric appliances.

86. In a room that has had something extremely sad or traumatic happen in it, a fresh coat of new paint can do wonders.

87. Never stop doing what you love because you have found another thing you love, make time for both. If you don’t, you’ll end up missing an important part of who you are.

88. Drawing and painting helps to keep me balanced.

90. Don’t keep score. It’s not worth it.

91. Passion is important.

92. Forget John Mayer - stop waiting on the world to change. Get out there and change it.

93. When you are on an airplane with your baby and he won’t stop crying, remind yourself that everyone on that plane has been or will be one of two things, 1. that crying annoying baby, 2. you- the worried and embarrassed parent. It might not help your baby, it might not help the annoyed passengers, but it will help you.

94. This too shall pass.

95. If your will-power sucks, and you know you are going to give into whatever/whoever is going cause you pain/discomfort/or lower your self-esteem- throw it out, kick them out.

96. As much as I love plants, I am not good at keeping them alive. Succulent plants are the best!

97. I don’t ever want to quit coffee.

98. Traditions help to keep family close when you are so far. Skype helps too.

99. Learn from everything, it helps build character. Plus, who wants to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

100. It’s nice to reflect on things you’ve learned…