Return to lists

First off, let us all take a moment to remember the best chicken ever; La Fonda. She suffered a bout of heat stroke last week and went on to chicken heaven. We were greatly saddened. She was our favorite. She would always follow you around and give you a chicken kiss until you would pet her. It was a tragedy. It has been a rough couple months for our chickens. We are down to two. I may be hanging up my chicken farmer hat after these last two. Too much sadness. I get too attached. Rest in peace, La Fonda. You will be missed.

Summer break has come and gone and I can't believe how fast it went. Why does time speed up the older you get? I wasn't ready to send the kids back to school this year which isn't usually the norm. We still had lots of groupons to use and swimming to do. All of a sudden it was August. I don't know how it happened. It was a good summer. It was relaxing but different. With kids getting older, they sort of do their separate thing. Summer school, working, driving their own cars. We added a new teenage driver this summer and had one graduate. Changes. The oldest even went on a trip to California by himself with his friends. No mom. That was a little hard to swallow but he did make it back alive and quite excited for this next chapter in life. As the mom, I have to tell you, it is hard to cut the strings loose and let them be on their own. I am doing my best but it doesn't feel right. He is a good kid and is more than ready to take flight. Ugh. 

I had a huge list of things I was going to accomplish this summer and I found the list the last week of summer. Not one thing had been done. I was going to redecorate a bathroom, patch a wall and paint upstairs, repaint the stair rails, organize every drawer downstairs, clean the pantry, scrub all the baseboards and doors with baking soda, reorganize my preschool supplies and on and on. Well, I was determined in that last week I would get every single item on that list done and guess what? I did! I couldn't believe how very productive I was. It made me start thinking of how my time is used and how I needed to improve.

I used to be a woman of lists. Lists upon lists. I followed them and delighted in crossing the items off. When I started blogging, for some reason, I started to loose the lists a bit. I don't know why. I just sort of went off the routine and went into a survival mode. Life was busy and I just decided to get done what I could get done and not worry about the list. It seemed logical. However, I have realized that without the list, I fill in the time with unstructured, unproductive waste. Don't get me wrong, we need down time and we need not overwork ourselves but man, we can sure waste our moments on earth.

After my week of accomplishing so many tasks around here, I decided that it was time to get back to my lists. By doing so, I spend a fraction of the time on the computer which was getting to be a little too much. I work out so much more. My house is much more clean and organized. I feel like I have more time. I had considered getting a bi-monthly maid to do the jobs I couldn't get to but now being back on my list system, I can get it all done and more. That just saved me a cool $150 per month. Perfect. New clothes.

Every Sunday, I write my lists for the week. I write each weekday down and write everything I need to accomplish that specific day: work out, clean toilets, paint my nails, make bread, etc. Little things to big things. I put the big jobs on my more free days like gardening and cleaning blinds. I put down every thing that needs to be done and I do my very best to accomplish every one of them. I can't get on the computer until they are done except for a quick email check or the important stuff. No blogs, no facebook until all is done. I don't really miss it. I can't believe how much I can get done and how much time I feel like I have left. There really is plenty of time in the day. We just abuse it. You have to get up early, get a jump start on it, have a routine and stick to it. You will feel so much better. You will have a clean and organized home. You can have time to exercise. You can have more time with your kids. We waste too much time with nonsense. If you don't believe me, take a day and write down what you did. It is surprising. We feel better when we work hard, serve others, take care of our home and family and improve ourselves. 

I hope you all had a great summer. I will be back to blogging but it won't be quite as often. I have lists to accomplish and goals to complete. You should see my clean drawers and freshly painted walls. I am ecstatic.