As I recently mentioned a time or two, Andrea turned 25 last week. With that milestone, she swears she's having a "quarter-life crisis."

"I've not accomplished any of the things I planned to accomplish," she cried to me over the phone.

"Luckily you still have plenty of time left to do those things," I told her.

"But I'm TWENTY FIVE! I'm getting old!" she whined.

My response? "Don't give me any of that bull cuss," I roared back at her said in my sweet, understanding-mama voice. "Telling me you're too old to accomplish a few goals is insane. I'm nearly twice your age and I have lots of things I still plan to do, so don't even tell me you're too old to accomplish your goals."

My freakout kind and gentle manner shut her up ... sort of. I think she just figured I'm old and crotchety and don't know what I'm talking about, being at such an advanced age and all. That or she figured she'd caught me on one of those days when that menopause thing was lurking around the corner.

Well, just for the record, I do still have lots of goals.

For starters, here's my list of skills I've learned a teensy bit about and plan to improve immensely upon in the next 50 or so years (don't want to put too tight of a deadline on it, of course):

picture-book writing and publishing
photography
swimming
Photoshop
piano playing
gardening
bird identification
pizza dough spinning

I've dabbled a bit in all of the above. My plan is to master each and every one of those, not just check the "tried this" or "done that" box next to each.

But that's not all. No, no, no. As I reach the likely mid-point of my life, I plan to give a few new pursuits a spin as well, things I want to learn simply for my own edification -- and to dazzle the diapers and denims off all my grandchildren to come! Here's just a small sampling from that list:

juggling
bird calls
skipping stones across the lake (This one will require regular access to water -- a scarce commodity up here in the mountains -- but I'll figure that part out.)
grow a Venus fly trap ... and watch it eat a snack
peel an apple in one continuous peel
fold nifty origami animals from dollar bills and regularly leave them as tips for restaurant waitstaff

See? I have plans, baby! Master plans!

Now I just need to master a few time-management skills. That or maybe I'll simply learn to write a picture book about juggling apples as I peel them before tossing the continuous peels to my Venus fly trap in order to free up my hands for skipping stones on the lake I just swam across while identifying birds and mimicking their calls on the piano that stands in my garden filled with peonies and origami woodland animals, all of which I will photograph and perfect with Photoshop for publication in a picture book.

Then I'll nix the dough-spinning goal and just go out for pizza. Sometimes a gal -- even an old gal like myself -- must admit her limitations.

Today's question:

What skills do you plan to master in upcoming years?