A morning without interruptions is a wonderful thing indeed. My brain spins - it is always full - yet that doesn't keep new thoughts from arriving like so many jumbo jets, one after the other, waiting to land and disembark, each disbursing new responsibilities like so many expectant passengers. That wonderful, uninterrupted block of time enables me to keep up with the neverending flow, diverting each new addition to its designated spot on my to-do list. For me, this means freeing up brain space to actually think and create rather than store and obsess.

I'm actually trying to develop a new to-do list habit. Over Christmas break, I pulled out my copy of Julie Morgenstern's Making Work Work, which I had previously begun reading, but never completed...which led me to one of my new year's resolutions: whenever possible, finish one thing before starting another. Getting back to the advice in Making Work Work also inspired another resolution: keep ONE to-do list, all in one place.

So, by the end of the wonderful, blessed, uninterrupted morning I had earlier this week, I had corralled my random thoughts onto ONE to-do list, which was housed in my planner, bound in (at least temporarily) by loose-leaf rings. And, I actually managed to cross off a few items, moving toward my goal for the day, which was simply to get caught up a little and create a plan for the rest of the week. I went to lunch, wheels still turning, planes still landing, list...

...on my desk. Oh well. Maybe two lists are better than one?

Vacation Postlude

My lovely, long Christmas vacation has drawn to a close. I always think I'm going to get so much more done during my time off, and I do...but in between routine medical appointments, visits to family and all the other delights the holidays have to offer, I never seem to make much of a dent in my to-do list. Then, as the end of my vacation draws closer, I become disillusioned - and grumpy - mourning both the loss of my unstructured time and the missed opportunities.

Then, I kick into high gear, attacking one project, or perhaps several, in an effort to make up for lost time. In the end, I'm still not satisfied with the progress I've made, but at least I can point to something I've accomplished.

It' s sad that I go through this same process every time. The good thing, however, is that the older I get, the more I realize that the most important things I've accomplished can't be pointed to: days spent with my husband and daughter at my parents' home with my sister and her family, a trip to the movies with my daughter and her friend, dinner alone with my husband while my daughter was at basketball practice, New Year's Eve spent with friends at one restaurant and an annual holiday luncheon with more friends at a different restaurant.

Not that I plan on discontinuing those to-do lists any time soon - my house looks better now because of them - but I am working on tackling them with a grain of salt because I am slowly realizing that they are endless, but life is not.

6 Days Plus Two Weekends Till Summer Vacation!

I'm starting to make lists. Lists of things I must do at work, lists of things I must do at home, and, best of all, lists of things I want to do this summer!

Making lists isn't new to me; in fact, it's a way of life. Lately, though, I'm feeling as though my head is too full (and not just because of the allergy-inducing aroma of grass clippings that permeates the air), and I need to empty my thoughts out onto paper.

Last weekend, in the cafe at Barnes and Noble, I pulled out a random sheet of paper and started jotting things down. My sister laughed and said, "How many of those do you have?"

Truth is, I've lost count. In fact, I decided today that I need to stash notebooks in the car and in my purse (I've already got several at school and piles of them at home) in order to
limit the number of little pieces of paper, Post-It notes and sliced open business envelopes I have floating around. My theory is that notebooks are harder to lose than all of those separate pieces of paper, which makes them a safer repository for all of the thoughts that are colliding in my head, threatening to catapult each other into oblivion.

Notebooks are multipurpose. They work for to-do lists, shopping lists and lists of ideas. Their pages are large enough for brainstorming, and small enough (if I choose the right notebook...but that obsession is another blog by itself!) to keep the lists from becoming overwhelming. Spiral-bound notebooks allow me to keep some pages and discard others, tearing out the lists of things I've accomplished with a satisfying "rrrip!" Notebooks are portable...and very, very necessary for neatly containing the messy lists of things I must remember not to forget in the six days and two weekends until summer vacation.