My To Do List - or - Look At It And Run Away List

Where are those magical little elves I read about many years ago as a child? Aren't there elves that secretly come in the night and do the accounting paperwork?

The magical elves I had for a few years (housework elves) have all grown up and moved away. They have their own little homes to keep. Do they wish for little magical elves also? Probably so.

Okay. I have to do the stuff I need to do a little at a time. I am a "gung ho, do it to burnout, keep going at it", type of person. I have a propensity to get totally involved in a project - any project - and work exclusively on that project until burnout.

I will, literally, get up early in the morning (around 6 am) to start a project and, with a single minded focus, keep at the project until after midnight. This could go on for days at a time - depending on how large the project is. Everything else goes by the wayside - well except for bathroom breaks. Cooking for my husband and myself is no where on the immediate radar screen. It is not part of the project and, therefore, gets attention only long enough to growl "Can't you fix yourself a sandwich or something?".

House cleaning is done from one end to the other. One room at a time. Furniture moved, dusted, clutter is moved to the room it belongs in or the trash, vacuum, sweep, mop, walls wiped or totally washed, windows cleaned.

I have done this in the past so often that I just absolutely HATE house work. So when I finally finish and am so tired and sore that I can hardly move that is the end of my focused mania. Nothing else gets done for the next few days. Maybe some cooking but that is it.

This time around, I have a wonky and wobbly plan. Do a little of each thing each day. I have no idea how long I will be home before our daughter gives birth in Colorado and I go to be with her for a couple weeks. I have put myself under pressure and I am really struggling to deal with this wonky plan. Not enough is getting done at any one time to make me feel I am accomplishing my duties.

Monday and Tuesday were lost days to me. There were things I had to do outside of the house that I just figured I would not start the projects on those days. Tuesday was grocery shopping day and a few errands to run. Too much of a block of time outside the house to get things done.

When I got home I had to put the groceries away and fix dinner. Totally wasted day - in my opinion.

Wednesday I got Joe's bathroom cleaned by setting the timer for 15 minutes to clean the bathtub. As my usual custom, the timer went off and I continued cleaning his bathtub instead of stopping and doing something else. Well, one hour and 20 minutes later his bathroom was all done. Shower curtain in the washer, towels and rug washed and in the dryer, floor swept and mopped, tub and walls clean, toilet cleaned from top to bottom, sink and mirror cleaned.

The next project was to make file folder labels for all the work we did from June to October. I did that and made the files and was so proud of myself for not going gung ho and doing more.

My next project was to declutter the kitchen counters and give them a good scrubbing and attack the sinks and stove. After I was done with that I started dinner.

We can't eat at the table yet because it is piled with Joe's stuff. We are terrible at "Any Flat Surface Becomes A Place For Stuff". We have gotten into that habit because we come home for a night or a couple days and all the mail and junk we no longer want in our vehicle gets piled on surfaces until we get home for an extended time. Bad habit to get into. I am so glad to be back home for a while, until I walk in the door and see all the CRAP. I just want to run away from home.

This mornings task was to get rid of all the *&@#$%(! boxes Joe has accumulated and kept for "someday I might need it" that his Ebay stuff came in. They are gone now. In the dumpster, out the door, ready for trash pick up today.

My next project was to get all the receipts and mail from June to now in appropriate files and made ready to enter in the Quickbooks software when that day comes around. I made so much progress. I got all the paper clutter put away, shredded, and tossed. I can now move on to my next project. Making labels and file folders for each of our Settlement Sheets from our dispatch offices.

My world crashed around my feet. Sitting on a file box, where I had put it, was a huge file holder stuffed with more Load Envelopes that I missed and didn't take care of yesterday. Freaking Out Now. Major Freak Out Attack. The file folders will be in a jumbled mess when I get finished with these new ones to make labels and folders for. All of my perfectly labeled 1/3 cut file folders will be disjointed and mish mashed because I did not get the Load Envelopes all taken care of at one time.

It is time to just watch some TV. Something we recorded while we were away. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition season premier I think. That ought to be long enough to make me feel even worse at not getting anything done.