Lists

A couple of days ago, when I was thoroughly fed up with them, I thought I would do a post on the necessity and the danger of making to do lists.  I didn't get around to it but then on two successive days, two of the bloggers that I follow both complained about the anxiety that lists can cause, but also that they can't live without them.  And so it is.

I have a master yearly list, a monthly list, a weekly list and a daily list.  I read somewhere that you should always be striving to do more than what you think you can accomplish in a day, otherwise it is cheating to just put on the list the things you know you can cross off at the end of the day.  So I follow that advice and most of the time it works.  I do push to go that extra mile, and even if I don't scratch off all the items at the end of the day, at least I did something on each one that pushes me forward.  My problem is that by following that advice, I put too many things on each list and as I refer to the lists during the day, week, month, year to see how I'm doing, well, I'm always way behind schedule.  And that makes me a bit crazy.

Like now.  I made a list when we arrived in Mexico that covered everything I wanted to do during the six months we are here.  We are down to the last three weeks and I don't even have half of the list completed.  The crazy part of me says that if I don't sleep for the next three weeks I can cross off a lot of those unfinished projects.  But that's insane and I know it.  (One item was pushed off to Arturo who is now painting our bathroom.  I'm going to take credit for it though because I had to work a bit to get him to do it. Or better stated, to do it using the color that I picked out. That counts).

My solution?  I've started a list of projects I want to do while we are in Chicago. I feel better now.

Here is a project that Arturo has pretty much finished.  This is the before picture - I should have taken it with the tree still there.  (I'll show you my half-finished projects before we leave on Sept. 21st.  Gives me a bit more time).

!

 And this is the now picture.  He still has some grass to plant but it looks much better!

Of course he doesn't have to make dinner everyday.  (Those of us who can't finish our to-do lists have to make excuses for ourselves!)

Have a great Labor Day weekend!
Naomi