Travel to Europe.
Learn to dive.
Sing professionally.
Have a Martha Stewart home.
Write a book.
Wear a Wonderbra.

I’m a big list-maker. I love me a good list. Sometimes, when I’m feeling overwhelmed, just the act of writing everything I need to do on a list relieves my stress. Seeing my life in words – accompanied by bullets, glorious bullets – is enough for me.

So it’s no surprise that, back in high school, I made a list of the things I’d like to accomplish in my life. In case you’re wondering, the lofty goals above are just a few of the items I have not yet accomplished.

What’s funny about this list – and for the record, I actually have two, one dated 1996 and another I believe was written a couple years later – is that I can look at the things I wrote down and acknowledge just how ridiculous some of them are.

But that doesn’t stop me from still wanting to do them or expecting myself to accomplish them.

Learn to dance, travel to New York City, earn a doctorate degree, solve a mystery. These are things I still think I could – and perhaps should – do. (Yes, solve a mystery. After reading and watching, literally, hundreds of suspense novels and cop/detective shows, a small – delusional – part of me believes I could do it. I mean, really, with the help of a good crime lab, who couldn’t?)

I know. It’s ridiculous. But it’s who I am.

And it’s who I’m not. At least for now. When I look at those lists, or even my 2009 Goals (also known as resolutions, but I call them goals because “resolutions” is so cliché), I see the person I want to be, the life I want to live. I see potential and possibility.

When I look in the mirror, though, I don’t always see that potential. And it’s those times that I have to remind myself that God’s not finished with me yet.

I may have gone to my class reunion overweight and still reeling from the news that I would soon be losing my job. I may have started a family before finishing my master’s degree and establishing a career, any career. And I may have a layer of dust insulating my entire house, the tiny house that is not as nice or new as any of my friends’.

But I’m still here. I’m still breathing. And God’s still working out His plan for me.

Because I am a work in progress.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

Originally posted on March 26, 2009, at InProgress.

This is something I’ve learned – and have to keep learning! For more lessons learned, visit Musings of a Housewife.

I can’t even begin to count how many times I have made a list of all the meals my family likes to eat, broken it down into ingredients and planned to make several of those meals ahead of time. I can, however, tell you how many times I’ve made a month’s worth of meals in one day to put in my freezer, and that is zero.

What’s that saying about a paved road and some good intentions and something?

Honestly, Once a Month Cooking is overwhelming to me. I’ve done the research, I’ve collected recipes, I’ve made my lists, I’ve even bought a package of about 50 foil pans (thank you, Sam’s Club). But when it comes down to picking a day to devote to cooking, I just can’t pull the trigger.

However, cooking a bunch of food every once in a while? That I can do.

So here are the top 10 steps to giving up on perfect and cooking a lot of stuff in one day to have later down the road.

I won’t be here next week. But instead of letting this place “go dark,” as they say, I’ll be posting articles I’ve written for other blogs.

• First – no, I don’t know who “they” are or what “go dark” really means.
• Second – yes, I will stop using the quotation marks like they grow on trees.
• Third – do you think it sounds too fancy if I call guest posts “articles”?

Oh, there I go again with the quotes. I don’t know what’s come over me.

As I mentioned last week, I’m on vacation and (mostly) out of commission. I hope you’ll still stop by, but if you need to take a vacation, I’ll understand.

{Hmm…what does it mean if you take a break from Giving Up on Perfect? Does that mean you automatically become perfect during that vacation? Interesting…}

A few more things while I’m at it:

• We will not have Bible study on Monday. We’ll resume next Monday (the 6th) at 8 p.m. CST to discuss the homework from Week 3. Just a reminder – our memory verse is Philippians 4:8.
• Do you read Simple Mom? Tsh wrote a great post last week that I’ve been dying to share. It spoke so much to me, to my life – and I just know it will bless you, too. Or make you think. Or both. Check it out: The Clutter You Can’t See.
• My new favorite blog is Diary of a Southern Drama Queen. Leslie Ruth writes about her life, and I don’t know what it is – the diary? the southern? the drama queen? – but she cracks me up. And we’ve already decided to be BFFs if and when I move to Tennessee. Totally.

All right, now. You all don’t have too much fun while I’m gone. I’ll catch up with you when I get home!

Sing it with me, now: “But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

Next week, we are going on a family vacation. Mark and I fly to Orlando on Sunday, spend a few days avoiding the Mouse and soaking up the Florida humidity sunshine, then head north to join my parents, Annalyn, and my brother and sister-in-law. My great aunt and uncle live in a little town in southern Georgia, and we’ll spend a few days with them.

After we’ve had all the family togetherness we can stand – and then some, I’m sure – we’ll get on a plane with Annalyn and fly home.

[Side note: Should you be a thief reading my blog (and really, if you are, I have to ask: why?), I’ll just warn you. My very sweet friend Erin will be stopping by often to feed my cats. And we have extremely nosy protective neighbors. So, I guarantee it is not worth breaking in to find that, seriously, one of my prized possessions truly is a 20-year-old VCR.]

Sorry ‘bout that. Just needed to get the public service announcement portion of this blog post out of the way. Now, where were we?

Oh yes. Something about wants and needs and 95-degree heat.

We are so excited for this trip. As you might recall, we planned this getaway to celebrate my 30th birthday and our 10th anniversary. Granted, our original plan was Jamaica . . . and our second plan was San Diego . . . but really, anywhere with a beach and no work and, for a few days, no kiddo will be all the fun we need.

So far, the plans include a trip to Discovery Cove, Sea World (thank you, Facebook friends, for voting in my poll!) and the beach. We might check out Downtown Disney, the town of Celebration or the Space Center.

But we’re keeping our options open. After 10 years of marriage, we’re still two wild and crazy kids, so the possibilities are endless.

Umm, okay, actually – at least one of us was never wild and crazy. So we’ll probably visit the Space Center. That’s pretty much a museum, right? And, okay, we might also pass out and simply sleep for 12 hours. Who knows?

Let me say it again: we are beside ourselves excited about this trip!

But a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t stop myself from focusing on all the things I’m not going to get to do, thanks to this vacation.

First of all, I don’t get to see Dierks Bentley in a free concert downtown. Smitty and I went last year, and he put on a great show. For FREE! But Mark missed it, thanks to this thing called a job. So when I saw that Dierks was coming back this summer and doing the same free show, I thought, “Oh, good! Mark can plan ahead and take the day off!” I was all sorts of happy about this. Until I saw the date – smack dab in the middle of our vacation. Of course! Of course Dierks would come to my town when I’m in someone else’s town!

Then, Chelley informs me that she and Mel are coming down to KC for a baseball game. Oh, great! You can stay with us! Yippee! Wait for it . . . yes. You’re right. They’re coming the week we’re out of town. Because apparently, it’s important to see a certain team play the Royals. (Perhaps I should point out here that Chelley and Mel are baseball fans and I, surprisingly, am not?)

Finally, as if these two blows weren’t enough, let me tell you a little story about a man named Shaun Groves. See, Shaun is a contemporary Christian singer – or, as he calls himself, a soft rock star. And, oh yeah, he’s also a big proponent of releasing children from poverty.

These days, Shaun travels all around, both overseas to see and share the work of Compassion and around the country to give free concerts and talk about Compassion. And a few months ago, he wrote on his blog that he was looking for places to give concerts this summer.

Well, I immediately contacted our worship pastor and said, so politely, “We must. Do this.” And he, ever so politely, said, “Great idea, but it’s not going to work right now.” Because I am pushy annoying persistent, I even had the nerve to ask a second time. But that guy stood firm: it’s not a good plan for our church right now. Okay, fine, I’ll survive. Even though I’m sad.

But then. Then! I see a comment on Shaun’s blog that mentions him playing a show . . . in a couple weeks . . . in Thomasville. Whaaaa? That little town in southern Georgia that my great aunt and uncle live in? Um, yeah – it’s called Thomasville. And we’re going to be there in a couple weeks! So I scour the Internet and finally track down my answer. Here’s what I discover: Shaun Groves is playing one of his awesome free concerts / Compassion talks . . . in Thomasville, Georgia . . . on June 27.

In case this crazy long story has made you lose your mind or at least forget when and where I’m going next week, let me explain. Shaun Groves’ concert will take place 5 days before I get to Thomasville.

So close. And yet . . .

But you know what? I’m pretty sure that despite these things I’m going to miss, we are still going to have one amazing anniversary trip/family vacation.

I’ve got my flip flops, my sunscreen and two great books. I’ve got my baby packed and her bag is stocked with lots of snacks and toys for her first flight (eeek!). And I’ve got the most awesome husband I could ask for, holding my hand, ready to hit the road.

It turns out, the Rolling Stones might be right. You can’t always get what you want. But sometimes God blesses us with exactly what we need.

When Mark and I got married, we pulled together a bedroom suit of furniture from – essentially – our parents’ leftovers. We used a dresser from his parents and one from mine, the full-size mattress and box springs his parents bought him in the early 90s, a bedside table that once belonged to his grandfather, and eventually, a headboard my parents gave us for Christmas.