The Done List, September 18, 2009

A few days ago, I swore off of "To Do" lists and embraced the concept of the "DONE" list. Here we have my DONE list for Friday, September 18, 2009 until I sort of lost the will to finish my DONE list.

(Ironic, that.)

5:30 AM: Supervised the Changing of the Cats, which involved some hissing and a large jolt as Thomas the Fat Cat ran off Edward, The King of the Forest. (Edward lay in wait for Thomas by the door, though, so there was kitty retribution.)

6:00 AM: Punched all of the buttons on the alarm clock but succeeded in turning it off. (Go, ME!) Got dressed.

6:05 AM: Turned on coffee, let dogs out, started with the day's lunches, fed cats, let dogs back in, fed dogs, drank one cup of coffee as fast as possible, remembered to take medicine.

6:35 AM: Woke up Ana, served her breakfast, told her funny morning stories, agreed to Thank God it's Friday, administered vitamins.

6:45 AM: Woke up Jane which took cajoling, bribery and threatening. Served her breakfast, repeated everything I needed her to know at least six times because she was reading.

7:00 AM: Urged everyone to finish breakfast and get dressed since this was an early morning. Wrote checks for Jane's After-School theater class, membership in PTA.

7:15 AM: Jane finally decided what she wanted in her thermos (Chicken Noodle Soup.) Started it heating.

7:20 AM: Brushed Ana's hair, loaded her in the car and took her to Chorus (on time).

7:30 AM: Belted out Susan Tedeschi song in car. Marveled at my powerful morning singing voice. (Oh, hush. Just hush.)

7:35 AM: Finished Jane's lunch, loaded her in the car, took her to school (on time), walked her inside, kissed her whole face.

7:50 AM: Came home, let dogs in, walked upstairs, made beds, collected laundry, started dark load, ate Ana's untouched croissant, reheated my coffee, took dogs to go put one last bag of trash in the trashcan by the curb.

8:25 AM: Trash had already been picked up so pulled trash can back up drive-way to house, looked for dogs who could be seen running amok in neighbor's yard, went into the house to grab a magazine (Sports Illustrated) to spank them with for not coming when I called, shouted for the dogs who actually came running, thus voiding efficacy of magazine. Settled for scolding them.

8:40-ish AM: Sat down to blog. Answered e-mail, made another cup of coffee. Noticed two lights out in that ugly pot rack/light in kitchen. Resolved again to find an electrician to hang pendant lights since it's not like you can use pot rack for actual POTS if you want to see the person you're talking to on the other side of the island. Realized I only had one light bulb to replace burned out lights but wasted a good ten minutes searching and trying the wrong ones. Took a deep cleansing breath so that I wouldn't come off the rails over this kind of time-wasting CRAP which is clearly the result of my disorganization. Took another breath for good measure. Ohm.

9:17 AM: Stood at back door and watched the robins playing in the sprinkler. Noticed that the leaves are turning and beginning to drift down. Scritched the puppy.

9:30 AM: Walked with my friend Donna for an hour. (This is the first time we've walked since I injured myself at an exercise class a few weeks ago, which I don't think I've mentioned. It was a serious setback and a return to constant foot pain for a good week, leading to thoughts of further surgery to fix the fusion in my foot that didn't work. Bummer. But it went away so I'm back to the Land of denial! Yea! Huzzah for Denial. EMBRACE the Denial, baby!) Donna and I had so much to say that our walk seemed to go by in about ten minutes.

10:45 AM: Rebooted laundry, showered, noticed that my towels smelled funky AGAIN and bought them down to be washed. AGAIN. (Things don't really dry in this humidity.)

11:10 AM: Ate disgusting frozen diet dinner. Noted the fact that I've been eating disgusting diet dinners since March and have yet to lose one single pound. Thought hard about a burger and fries but decided that would be giving up and I am no quitter. Much.

11:25 AM: Gynecologist appointment for annual exam. (Sparing y'all the details of this. See how thoughtful?)

1:45 PM: Picked Up Jane (on time.) (With snack in hand.) Did some knitting while waiting.

2:45 PM: Picked up Ana (on time.) Did some knitting while waiting.

So, then the afternoon and evening were filled with all kinds of normal and normal-but-ABnormal things, too tedious to detail here. (Except, I will tell you that we had some guys here taking down dead trees and they parked their chipper thingy in such a way as to make it necessary for me to back down our driveway not once but TWICE. If you've seen our driveway, you will know that it is a wonder that I did it, and that I didn't A) take out anyone's mailbox and B) didn't help take out the trees.)

All-in-all, this is a pretty good exercise. It was helpful to write down every single thing I do because, well, sometimes it doesn't feel like I get anything DONE, if you know what I mean. Of course, on the other hand, it's fairly pathetic to put "Drank Coffee" or "Took Shower" on my Done list. (Well, okay, the shower one is truly an accomplishment.)

Blogged About Done List --Done.

Comments

MadMad said…
This being a mom thing is hard, isn't it? I was already tired after the breakfast- and lunch-making and dropping off stuff. And then you still have a whole day to go! Ah well. I will say, though, that seeing it down on paper (as it were) does make it feel a whole lot more impressive. I'm gonna try that!
Anonymous said…
We have a "Changing of the Cats" at our house as well! Our anti-social black female cat (that my husband fed as a stray...duh!) comes out at night to wander the house while my son's cat goes down into the basement until morning. Why we still have this cat is beyond me as our son is now 27. I think the cat prefers our tidy accommodations.
Miri said…
I am so impressed by all you got done. And on time, too.

PLUS I'm glad for the warning about the pot rack/light thing because I have been contemplating one for above my cooktop but this would obviously make it impossible to see the people on the other side of the island.

You can add "warn Miriam of bad kitchen planning" to your "done" list.
Bullwinkle said…
I loved this.

I think I'll try it tomorrow - just to see where all the time goes. I seem to lose several hours everyday. Maybe its an alien take-over.
Karen said…
I think you got a lot Done!

And do you have a front-load washer, if so this may be the reason your towels smell funny...

http://themcmommychronicles.blogspot.com/2009/08/disgusting-problem-that-we-may-share.html
Karen said…
Oh that link may not have worked, but it is about front-load washers having mold problems, you can just Google it too.
http://themcmommychronicles.blogspot.com/2009/08/disgusting-problem-that-we-may-share.html