Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Longest To Do List

I have many bizarre loves. I love Mondays, really I swear I do. It is my most favorite day of the week and always has been. It's like a new notebook (which I also love), a blank slate, a fresh start. No matter how much last week went to hell, hooray it's Monday and we get to start over again. As I just mentioned I love new notebooks. All new projects need a new notebook, and I love new projects. I have a lot of notebooks. And of all my bizarre loves, I love To Do Lists the most. You'll never see me refer to a To Do List without capitalization, each one is a title unto itself. When I write To Do List: Monday on Sunday evening, it is a magical moment for me. 

Every so often though the To Do Lists team up with my minor OCD tendencies and reach maximum overload. It's rare. The last time I remember getting to that level my oldest daughter, Gelf A, was a newborn baby. My oldest son (Gelf E) was 4. I was entering my third year of college. I had moved into a new home (on the very day my daughter was born) and I was working part-time. I had so many running To Do Lists that I also had one titled Master To Do List just to keep track of the others. Like I said it doesn't happen often, Gelf A is 20 years old now. 

Much has changed in those 20 years. I've taken on so many more responsibilities than I had then. Forty year old me looks back at 20 year old me and thinks, "Rest while you can kiddo, you've got so much more to do.". There are 6 Gelfs now, 2 are adults so that helps. The little ones are home-schooled, and LOIs (letters of intent) need to be written now or rather they need to be written last month. Add build time machine to the list. There are chickens, geese, turkeys now and a horse coming soon. Oh and parrots & cats too. Summer produce needs to be turned into preserved foods for the winter. There's bread to be baked, broth to be simmered and someday I will dust off my sewing machine. You know, because I want to make my daughters matching sundresses this year. Oops. I meant matching ponchos for this fall. 

The To Do List is rapidly approaching maximum overload. I am rapidly approaching maximum saturation. My horse friends are going to laugh at me, but I think once my horse gets here it will help. I know there will be so many more items on the daily To Do List, but one of them will be *spend time with Ariel. It'll rock to check that item off daily. And Monday is right around the corner. To Do List: Weekly is just about ready to shred. This week I'll add "Be more spontaneous" and "Relax more" as a line items this week.

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