View from our roof overlooking the front yard and stream--we need to mow! Click the photo for an enlarged version and you can see the lamp post and bench in the front yard by the rhododendron. That's a bunch of daffodils snaking its way through the foreground, which actually sit atop a stone wall, which you can't see from this angle. The poor maple tree to the right needs to be cut down this year...it's mostly dead, thanks in part to the horrible way the road crew trimmed back all of its branches, I'm sure.
I'm a chronic list maker. Always have and probably always will be. I have so many things on my "to-do" list that it boggles the mind (at least it boggles my mind, thus the lists), so I dutifully write a list of things down that I think I can, or should, get accomplished on any given day. Normally a few items get checked off, but a good portion of them remain on the list, reminding me that I've failed once again to do everything I wanted to do.
Yesterday's list: 1. write the tripsheet (paperwork) for the EMS call I went on with the fire department. 2. finish filling the front window boxes. 3. transplant red raspberries, two rambling roses, and some iris. 4. plant more "stuff" in the garden. A small list by my standards, and easily do-able.
My problem...I get side-tracked. Big time. I'll begin one of my tasks, then see something that needs attention, and off I go to tend to whatever grabbed my attention, then I see something else I should do before I get the last thing done, and off I flit to another chore...and on it goes. I get stuff done, just not completely done a lot of the time.
What did I actually do yesterday (Thursday)??? I got three loads of laundry done--folded and put away (including sheets which were hung out on the line to dry since it was, finally, a sunny day). Made the bed with the fresh, clean sheets. Sat on the patio and had coffee with my dear sweet husband in the a.m. after breakfast. Watered my hanging baskets which do not benefit from the rains we get since they're hanging under overhangs. Pulled weeds. Watched the peeps play and chase bugs. Transplanted 10 red raspberry plants and watered them in (***an actual list task!) Helped Hubby Dean re-roof part of the house. Mowed the lawn around my garden and in the blueberry patch. Filled my window boxes (***another list task!). Went to the fire station and wrote my tripsheet (***yay! another lister!). Helped Hubby Dean stuff envelopes...he was talked into running for Township Supervisor and now needs to send out campaign materials. Fixed lunch and supper and did some dishes. Dealt with "Pasty Butt"....huh?!
One little peep that had its nether regions pecked to a bloody pulp the other day has developed the unfortunate condition known as "Pasty Butt". So now I'm spending the better part of each day with warm, wet paper towels cleaning stuck on pooh off the bum of this little peeper, and hoping and praying that it gets better soon. I hate to see little creatures in pain or suffering, or hurt...it just makes my heart ache. Apparently Pasty Butt can be fatal...it prevents the chick from going pooh because their "vent" gets crusted over with dried on...pooh. It's like the chick is constipated, but what I'm seeing is like something that looks like yogurt oozing out and drying on its little hiner. The chick is not pleased when I have to deal with it, but it does help him/her to go pooh, which he/she did yesterday (definately constipated!) while I was in the process of cleaning him/her. This made me happy because I knew he/she could at least go. I'd read that putting a bit of molasses in their drinking water can help as that acts as a laxative. So I did that as well as add some chick vitamins to the water. I'm keeping this little chick (one of the Welsummers) in an upstairs brooder with another Welsummer chick for company, until it gets better. I'm afraid that if this little chickie survies and thrives, that it will be forever known as Pasty Butt. Poor little peeper....
I loved that you wrote about what you actually did as well as what was on your "to do" list. Isn't it almost always the case that we get much more done that's not on the list than what is ... yet, if we don't check off every list item, we somehow have failed. There is something seriously skewed in this business.
ReplyDeleteI've taken to writing one or two things on the fridge that absolutely positively cannot wait another day (or half-day, or hour) to get done... and that's it. My list is two items long. If I check off even one, I re-do the list with the next two most urgent things. It's a fun way to prioritize according to urgency AND to feel accomplished. It also puts into perspective the fact that very, very little is urgent enough to fret over if you haven't done it.
I also keep a scribble pad of lots of things I need/want to do... just so nothing gets lost, but they are in no particular order and not in a straight line--sort of all over the page, with some bolder print, some circled, some starred. I do check it out from time to time in case I forget an item that is indeed urgent---due to 1) age, 2) menopause, and probably 3) brain drain.
In any case, it's so nice to find a "to do" list soul mate. Loved the story about the chick with the sore bottom. How lovely of you to care for it so tenderly.
best,
deborah
Deborah, my list procedure is similar to yours...the "main list" of things to get done over a period of time, then The Ones that need to be done TODAY (supposedly!). And you're absolutely right...very, very little is urgent enough to fret over if it hasn't been done!
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