Diary of a Mad Housewife: A Monday Morning List

Edited in red to end the day.

Edited in blue for a mid-day check-in.

Yesterday Michael preached a great sermon (it will be up on the Pastor's Page of the Old First website eventually) that was in part a Buddhist meditation that could have been entitled "Be Here Now." Michael didn't talk about it in those terms, but yesterday at Old First, Jesus was a Buddhist. Which, now that I think of it, our friend Joe insists on every chance he gets. And Joe is an ordained UCC minister! Perhaps you see why I love my church.

Anyway, Michael spoke of how paralyzing our daily worries and anxieties can be, how sometimes he feels himself distracted by this thing pulling him this way, and before he can really attend to it that thing is pulling him that way, until eventually he's just standing there shaking. I know that feeling all too well.

Lists are my solution. I love lists, I need lists, I thrive on lists. Come to think of it, lists are a sort of daily liturgy for me, a kind of prayer or meditation. A good day almost always starts with a list. I keep my lists in my day planner, which is just a grid-lined Moleskine notebook in which I have written the date on the outer top corners. If you want to know how I'm doing, just flip through my day planner; if there are many days in a row without a list, it's not such a good sign.

So here's my list for today (in no particular order, and imagine a hand-drawn square in front of each item, in which I will put a very satisfying check mark upon completion; also note that I will not finish all of this, but whatever does not get done today will just roll over to tomorrow):

~ morning chores check

~ breakfast for all check

~ pack three lunches check

~ clean kitchen check

~ make beds check

~ hang up clothes from day before check

~ wipe down bathroom (sink, toilet) check

~ clean house

~ clear surfaces in living/dining rooms check

~ dust check

~ tidy basement check

~ basement bathroom check

~ micah's room check

~ vacuum everywhere check

~ clean out fridge check

~ compost!

~ bake bread on first rise check

~ finish laundry almost done check

~ make chicken broth chicken is thawing check

~ what's for dinner? two kinds of homemade ravioli just one kind, but check (and yum!)

~ make grocery list (milk, ricotta, mushrooms, parm, toilet paper, cleaning supplies) check

~ stop by kids' school to sign something that needs board signature check

~ go grocery shopping -- check

~ read and/or work on poncho

~ map out the rest of the week and make a list check

~ balance checkbook

~ sort through stack of mail check

~ go through visa bill for reimbursements I need to give various folks

~ cancel cable

~ sign up for netflix

~ call verizon about landline/wi-fi

~ increase minutes and text plan on cell phones

~ edit letter for michael check

~ evening chores

~ clean kitchen check

~ tidy surfaces in living/dining rooms check

~ take down any laundry on the line not dry yet