What was interesting about the whole list thing was that my husband Jim adopted it immediately. See number 3, below? Twenty-four hours after it was published, we had a replacement cable box. Now I did go to the Brighthouse office (along for the ride, it seems), but there was no doubt Jim was on board with the cable box plan. Note: what a good idea; who knew the whole system had been upgraded while we suffered and rebooted?
Number 2: the car at least has new headliner, but we continue to discuss the detailing and the timing of same. And his car has been added to the list. As well as several matters that extend beyond detailing. And the notion of a new car seems to be under discussion.
I had a wonderful lunch with Laura–two hours and I got to see her amazing son when we picked him up from camp.
Number 5: closets cleaned. Not fun, not at all. However, Jim has cleaned out at least three more, and they really needed it. We seem to have a lot of closets. We did discuss turning a room into a closet, but then were not sure what we would do with the closets. For those of you wondering about closets, it’s Florida and we don’t have basements. But we do have garages, and now those are cleaned out also.
The stuff in number 6 was discarded. By the time it got to the envelope it was not interesting. Lesson learned.
I couldn’t part with the textbooks. Not one. I have no idea what that means.
Numbers 8 through 12 did not get on the table, and I think I know why.
The main value of the list appears to have been in motivating my list-maker husband. Anything he could participate in, motivate, cross off the list, or influence, got done. But by the time I got to number 8, I was in serious in-my-head territory and it may be that these are really too cerebral and/or creative for list inclusion.
But I have been paying more attention to lists, list-makers, and list management techniques and will be experimenting with another round. Jim says that getting something on the list is a task in itself, that half the effort is done when the note is made.
I don’t see that. Oddly, I remembered everything that was fairly concrete, and carried that list in my head. But if I had not written and published the list, I don’t know that Jim would have made sure that even part of the times got checked off, which for a list maker is apparently the best thing about the list process.
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1. Finish Christmas presents for sisters. I make these, so this requires time and a brisk pace, but also quality.
2. Get car detailed. This has its own list.
3. Replace sitting room Cable Box. Which has been tiling, sputtering, achieving a dead stop, and generally not working for at least 6 months.
4. Get together with Laura H. It’s been too long.
5. Clean out at least three closets.
6. Mail stuff that has been sitting on the table in the upstairs hall.
7. Discard MBA textbooks. Okay, most of them.
8. Assemble letter and photos for Dad. Actually mail those too.
9. Find out what is in the pantry cupboard and why we need it. Also check the dates on the packaging.
10. Learn how to Twitter and Instagram.
11. Research M.Ed. programs.
12. Outline a chapter. Or the whole book
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