There’s no getting by easy on this one like saying “giving it to charity” or “saving it for my kids’ college”. You’ve got a million dollars, and you’ve got to spend it on yourself. Your list can add up to a million dollars, or each of the items on your list could be huge million dollar splurges. Your choice! Be greedy, spoil yourself!

My million dollar shopping list

1) A house - not a mansion but nothing too small…maybe something around 800K

2) A Wii, and lots of games - 1K

3) Computer stuff - a kick ass laptop, new desktop, printer, external drive, the works! - 10K

4) Become the ultimate photographer - new lenses, tripod, filters, flashes etc. - 15K

5) Trip around the word for my family - 35K

6) A new fridge and a standalone freezer - 7K

7) In-home gym equipment - 20K

8) Mountain bike and gear - 3K

9) New car - 70K

10) Entertainment - DVD’s, iPod, music, big screen TV’s - 35K

This list was a lot harder to make than I thought it would be!

Next week: 10 Things You Can Do Instead of Watching TV
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I’ve gotten to the age where I’ve caught myself thinking, “Man, this was a lot better when I was a kid…”  So tell us - how was life a little better when you were young?

1) Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Now cartoons are on all the time, but there was just something special about being excited to wake up early on a Saturday morning to watch TV.

2) My penmanship.  The only time I really write anything anymore is to sign checks.  In school I used to love taking notes in 30 different colors and I was pretty proud of my awesome handwriting.  Now?  Chickenscratch!

3) Family TV shows - right now, there just aren’t too many good ones.  But do you all remember The Cosby Show?  Family Ties? Diff’rent Strokes?

4) Playing outside - Do kids do that now?  I remember playing Barbies with the kids in the neighborhood, consolidating all our toys into one big Barbie town.  I remember staying out after dark to catch fireflies and put them in a glass jar.

5) Sports Heroes were good guys - Ryne Sandburg, Walter Payton…these weren’t sports icons who were famous because they were controversial or had a loud mouth.  They were heroes because they played their games well and were respected by not only their teammates, but opposite teams as well.  The only current good guy I can think of is Brett Favre, and he doesn’t count, because he’s old. 

6) No war.  Well, at least not a war like we’re in now.  Can you imagine that our children have only known war since they’ve been born?  To me, the biggest political scandal was the Iran-Contra affair.
7) It’s OK to hug - I remember getting hugs from teachers, I remember staying after school in the computer lab and hanging out with my teacher (when I was 10), it was OK for teachers to show affection.  Now, everyone’s scared to show emotion in school.  I know it’s safer for kids, but still, sometimes kids just need a hug.

8) Reading was fun - I was a complete bookworm.  The library was my second home, and probably purchased half of its books from my overdue fines.  Harry Potter isn’t enough - our kids need to read more!

9) “Battle of the Network Stars” and “Circus of the Stars” - Anyone remember those?  Our favorite TV stars put their egos aside and the networks put any rivalry to the backburner as they competed in a network olympics.

10) I wanted to be a kid - Sometimes I feel like kids today want to grow up too fast.  I wanted to be a kid for as long as I could - play with my dolls, live in my imagination…even now I’m fighting off adulthood as hard as I can!

Man, I sound like an old grumpy lady!

Next week: 10 Things You’d Buy If You Had a Million Dollars (and you had to spend it on yourself)

You know how it goes - you hear all the hype about a movie, you pay some hard earned cash to go out to see it, and you sit excitedly as the lights go down and the movie starts only to have the movie end and think “Hmm, that was….ok” This doesn’t have to be necessarily movies that you hated - could be movies that you liked but didn’t live up to the hype.

1) Forrest Gump - It was a great movie, don’t get me wrong - but I had seen it after everyone else had seen it, raving about how incredible it was. Maybe if I had seen it before hearing other people’s opinions, I would have liked it more. I was just expecting a lot!

2) Unbreakable - After the Sixth Sense, I expected something to have that same feeling, that same shock when you figured out what the twist was an tried to remember all the clues. Sure, it had a twist, and sure, clues were thrown about the movie, but it just wasn’t the same. It was a HUGE disappointment for me in the theater! Since then I’ve learned to appreciate and actually like the movie.

3) The Matrix Revolutions - Man, I was so excited for this movie - the movie to tie it all together, and it just ended with a “Whaaa—?”

4) X-Men - I’m a huge fan of the comic books, so truthfully, I don’t think any X-Men movie would have had a chance. Aside from the tingle of fangirl happiness seeing Jean Luc Picard as Professor X, the movie was full of “what the hell?” casting choices, like Halle Berry as Storm and James Marsden as Cyclops.

5) Shall We Dance (the American Version) - LOVED LOVED LOVED the Japanese version. I was excited to hear that there would be an American version created, though I was curious to see how the tone of the movie would be translated due to the cultural differences. There was a subtle joy in the original movie that was never quite captured in the American remake.

6) Oceans 12 - Liked the first one, the second one felt like an inside joke that the audience wasn’t a part of.

7) Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace - Costumes = Awesome, Effects = Awesome, Plot = Crap. Three words to sum it all: Jar Jar Binks.

8) Underworld - I was really hyped to see this movie, because it had some pretty great trailers. Went with a bunch of friends to see it and as we left we just had puzzled looks on our faces. It was just OK.

Hmm…I can only think of 8 right now! I could swear there were more!

Next week: 10 Things That Were Better “Way Back When”

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