Her Husband's To-Do List Found on the Floor of the Garage

by Shoshauna Shy

1. check out catalytic converter
2. coil@ Home Depot
3. call re: mortgage
4. Denny about tickets
5. take care of boat hoist
6. the wife situation



I'm a list person. Love to make lists, and even better I love to mark off when I've gotten each task done. Sometimes I cross through the DONE items in a different colored pen. That way I know without question those jobs are really done and shall not need to be thought of again. Until maybe next week. Same time, different paper.

I think that's why writing, and especially blogging is so appealing. Writing allows me to open the windows of my right brain and see what's going on over there. I get tripped up when I start wondering what's the goal here, what's the outcome, what do I have to show for it?? Oddly, I don't feel that way about dancing. Don't know why. Luckily, Hubby is much more laid back and thinks that writing for the sake of writing is a worthy pursuit. And, as I rack up more years working in an ICU I know that a person can work really, really hard running on a hamster's wheel and end up going no place. Same injuries, different faces.

So thanks for the different perspectives and your thoughts on time and writing. India is on the money with her observation,"...and disciplined webbing is vital - those interpixies can lure you like the sirens of old." This may be repetition, but I heard a writer being interviewed on NPR who stated, "Blogging is crack for writers." I totally get that. It can be a bit like falling down Alice's rabbit hole and wandering through the labyrinths discovered there, and isn't everyone's brain/blog a rabbit warren of sorts? Not for nothing is her blogsite titled,"not all those who wander are lost." A very interesting byway to wander through.

I think I'll try Annie's idea--"Manage time? I attempt it a lot, but can't say I have ever done a good job of it. What I try now is to do the creative thing before I do all the other stuff that needs done, instead of leaving it until last" except flip it. I think on my days off I'll get coffee and start working on the ongoing projects that I want to get done--the list items--, then I have the afternoon to write and the evening to catch up and read. We'll see. Hell, it ain't brain surgery so I think there's a little wriggle room for tweaking.

And Debra's comment??--"Years ago, when I worked in the peds unit of a hospital, a very wise nurses' aide told me, "Honey, nobody done ever died of dirt." We have the same sentiment here in southern Ohio--"God made dirt. Dirt don't hurt." (Unless anyone reading this is from the Ohio Department of Health, in which case, that is a very, very wrong statement and made mention here only for its meager entertainment value. Dirt, in fact, does hurt and if I could keep my hands forever in a bubble of antiseptic, anti-fungal, Darth Vader-esque cleansing solution and live in a Haz-Mat suit I certainly would. Cross my heart.)

Well, now look, time's been a-ticking and there are walks to sweep and dogs to walk and clothes to fold. While I am totally okay with dust and their bunny offspring, I do like to have the clothes folded and at least put into piles. I've found they make much softer pillows on the couch that way if you need to take a little lie-down.

Comments

  1. Ummmmm...... I'm wondering about hubby's list - especially #6?

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  2. Uh duh! What a tease! You've GOT to explain number 6 on that list!

    P.S. Love your perspective on blogging and writing in general.

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  3. Yes, number six. These stories are by different authors?

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  4. I sense a poem (or blog?) on MRSA coming on! ;P Your plan sounds grand. You're not Anne Lamott in scrubs, are you?

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  5. #6 made me giggle. I love lists and blogged about it about 10 posts ago. The latest Real Simple Magazine is devoted to lists. You should check it out.

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  6. I have seen your comments over at Rudee's and wandered over here to visit. Are you a Lost fan? I haven't found many yet, so I am searching. If you are did you see last night's show?!?!?!? Holy crap..on the ending!

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  7. Hey---just what is the wife situation.

    One could certainly never describe me as anal when it comes to tidyness. Unwashed dishes left on a counter or the sink, however, make me nuts. As does laundry left unfolded in a basket.

    As to the nurses' aide: she was referring to kids who didn't want to take a bath every day. She was not only wise, she was kind and loving :-)

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  8. Who are you fooling about disorganization? Scatterbrained ICU nurses are ferreted out and chased out of the unit within months. I knows better than to believe that! I however am disorganized at home and on the ball with work. My paper is never late, though I often stretch it to the limit.

    I find allowing my creative thoughts to flow happens best for me at night. Perhaps that's why I like working the night shift. I like it better since the advent of DVR/TIVO. I write notes about thoughts I want to expand upon but then find them in the oddest places. The notes. Like on the garage floor-but I don't think I've ever listed a note like the one you posted. Very funny.

    Brenda-when I get a life, I promise to catch up to Lost.

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  9. Funny how many people are like us, list junkies. I posted about my mania two months ago, using more or less the same words and visuals as you did in your post.

    And we all have our domesticity issues. Mine's hair. I cannot stand loose hair on the floor, on hairbrushes, in the sink. It's usually mine, or the baby sitter's. It bugs me way more than grit. Or dirt, of which there is always plenty in a toddler's house. Give me a pile of dirty dishes, dusty book shelves and floors to be scrubbed. I'll iron and do the windows, but please someone vacuum the hair.

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  10. No, Shiny, what happens if you do that is you will always have more things on that list to finish and then you just have a tiny bit of time to write, if you have any at all. Trust me on this one.

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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