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.