Making Lists

If I have never before mentioned my passive aggressive love relationship with lists, then I have been keeping a sordid secret from you all.

I make lists for just about everything.  Shopping, to do, to pack, to make, menu planning, baby names.  You name it, I have probably listed it.  Sometimes I make lists and check them off as I complete them.  Sometimes I do a whole bunch of stuff and then write up a list of what I actually finished just so that I can cross off everything. 

Tonight I am planning on making a list of all the things I want to accomplish this weekend.  One of the things on my list will be to make a shopping list.  It's a sick  helpful thing.  Really.  What feels better than to be able to track all the things you have accomplished?  Or to at least get down on paper all the things you need to accomplish so that they will quit rattling around in your skull and fighting your optic nerve and medulla oblongata for space...

Later, I find those lists... in tattered, Crayffiti'd, spiral notebooks.  They usually make me laugh, immediately reminding me of a frenzied packing trip before I flew out of town for work.  Or I huff, because the list silently scolds me for still being behind on laundry or dishes or scrubbing something that is dirty.  Fully checked off or not, they usually find their way to the burn barrel, to go up in smoke and pollute the atmosphere the way their content polluted my brain.** 

Here are some examples:

This is a part shopping, part to do list.  This is from when I was on the Depo shot. 
Grumpier and obviously a little scattered.  Notice all the different ink colors and arrows.
  
An example of Crayffiti.


To do/to cook.  Not my best doodles.  Maybe spring time (flowers). 
Looks like Buffy (Jason's buffalo) had just come in from the taxidermist.
  
Guessing this was spring or fall.  I usually sort through clothes then. 
No telling if the zucchini was fresh or frozen that I was trying to use.

This is a super old list.  We were developing film!  That hasn't happened for a while!
 Getting ready for a party I think.  This is from the notebook that has a lot of cake sketches in it. 
Grady's 4th birthday party.  That's the year I made his guitar cake.
Please don't judge me because nothing was crossed off... I really did get them all done.
  This is the post that never ends. The lists go on and on, my friends...







Some lists provide closure.  Some lists help me sort my madness.  I have apps for lists on my phone, yet I alway return to pen and paper.  Scratching and scribbling helps keep me sane.  Like doodling helps me stay focused.  Few can decipher my handwriting.  Sometimes, even I can't.  And it's probably better that way.




**You will see burn trash on many of my lists.  Yes, we are paper product burners... gasp.  We do not burn diapers or aerosol containers or batteries.  Although I did accidentally put a bottle of vile perfume in a bag once (on accident!) which exploded rather loudly and shot a few choice pieces of glass towards my husband.  So NOT funny to him.  And only funny to me once we realized he wasn't hurt. 

Comments

  1. Masked MomFebruary 18, 2012 at 3:29 PM

    I'm madly in love with "Crayfitti" as a word. Madly.

    I have a lot of lists--mostly in my head. I did used to be pretty organized written list-wise with a day planner with goals for the week and everything. For the last four or five years, I have persisted in buying the new day planner and have not written ONE SINGLE WORD in any of them. Ergh. Maybe if I were able to put "Hang up buffalo" on my to-do list I'd feel differently about them. ;)

    PS--My dad still burns paper trash, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicoleFebruary 22, 2012 at 9:29 PM

      Believe it or not, I Googled "Crayfitti" and nothing! It was the only word that fit. I gave up on day planners about 5 or 6 years ago. I was doing the same thing!

      Delete
  2. lisacngFebruary 22, 2012 at 6:28 AM

    I need lists too, but I've gone digital. Whatever gets you organized and gets stuff done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicoleFebruary 22, 2012 at 9:31 PM

      I have the fivefly and the OI shopping list apps on my phone. Which ones do you like? The fivefly is nice because Jason and I can sync our lists. But I still end up with paper lists too.

      Delete

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