Day 29 – Lists

I am a list-maker. I think as a teacher, I am pre-disposed to this. Many of my teacher friends are list-makers, too. Many friends at school tell me I am so organized. I don´t see it that way. I see piles of books, stacks of copies, and papers on my desk that I don´t know what to do with! At home, it´s the same. Mail, receipts I need to save, coupons, papers to grade… thankfully, I have a very tolerant husband who doesn´t mind my ¨organizational methods.¨

Lists help, though. Currently, I have a list for spring break sitting on the kitchen island. It is hand-written – not in my phone, written in an old, half-used spiral notebook from my son. It has baseballs on it and says, ¨AWESOMENESS¨ on the cover. I made the list at the beginning of spring break, when I was full of the hopes and dreams of completed projects. There is something about a hand-written list. I feel SO accomplished when I can cross off an item. It´s not quite the same with a list in my phone. Sure, I can delete an item from my list, but then I don´t see ALL the things I completed. Nope. Definitely not the same. Oh, I do use my phone for list-making – but that´s usually just a quick list. Like, if I am stopping at the store for a few things after work, I´ll just make a note in my phone. Oh, who am I kidding?! If I´m at work and need to make a small list, I´m using a Post-It!

Back to my Spring Break list. Yesterday, I decided to rewrite it. I did have several things crossed off from earlier in the week, and it was looking a bit messy. Plus, I had written some notes at the top from a phone call with the pest control service. They are sending me the info, so I don´t need to keep what I wrote. I am looking over my list. Hmmm… today is Friday. The last official day of Spring Break. What can I accomplish today? Pay lawn service. P.U. dry cleaning. Yes, can definitely do those things today. Wash bathroom floors. Stovetop. Microwave. Kitchen floor. Ugh. I really don´t enjoy cleaning. I can definitely do the microwave. Maybe Easy-Off the stovetop. Well, all that will get done – it´s amazing how much you get done when there is the possibility of house guests!

Other projects: Matt´s picture frame. Matt´s file box. Office desk. Office plans. Grade papers. Many years ago, I bought one of those multi-opening picture frames to put my son´s school pictures in at each age. All that´s in there is him at one year of age (he´s 12 now). I was going to dig out pictures and put them in the frame. Hmmm… we shall see. Matt´s file box – Pinterest project that will probably wait until summer – again. Office desk – many piles to be sorted through. Might get to that. Office plans – my husband is going to build a built-in desk and shelves for our office. I´m in charge of finding something I like, and hopefully finding plans on the web to build it. Not sure I will get to the plans part. Grade papers – I did grade math tests while my car was being serviced the other day. Still need to enter them. I also have a stack of reading assessments that I haven´t touched.

So – I rewrite my list. Again, I am hopeful most will get done. And I will feel a great sense of accomplishment when I take my pen and cross off each completed task!