Thursday, November 07, 2024

I drove a Hard Bargain With myself

I made myself a to do list for the weekend that was a little crazy!  It was long.  It had some LARGE tasks on it.  It had some smaller tasks. It was a full list! and I was determined to tackle it and finish everything. 

I am a list maker.  Making a to do list each weekend.  Sometimes it's just basic reminders of "go to Petco to pick up cat food'.  Sometimes it includes the basic items on my to do.  Things like "scrub the kitchen floor".  But this past week my list didn't juts include those basic things. Furthermore, my list was quite extensive.   What was on my list?  Projects!  I set up a HUGE to do list and I was determined to see it through!

If you remember, a few days ago I wrote about how I want to streamline my life.  I want to start to purge the unnecessary.  I want to whittle down my list of unfinished projects.  I want my life to be simple and less overwhelming.   So when I made my to do list, I placed some large projects unfinished projects on there.  Sure I placed some of the normal stuff that just comes up in life.  Things like backing up my files to my external hard drive.  But I also  I placed one of those big projects that was nearing completion that I could hopefully finish.  I also placed some that were large but still only midway through the process but I set my own goal of where I wanted to be at the end of the weekend. !   I honestly started the weekend thinking it would be fantastic if I finished everything.  Then midway through the weekend I altered my thoughts a bit because I was like, "There is no way I will get even half the stuff on my list done."   But then  somehow, I started crossing off one after another item on my do do list!  

The big project:   I took on the task of mom's recipes after she passed away.  Every recipe we found in her house I brought home and scanned into the computer.  I had completed almost everything a while back.  I literally had a wee bag of items...probably about 50 recipes.  They were stuff that was found in random places and not her tried and true stuff, so it kept getting pushed to the back burner.   I placed this task on my to do list for the weekend.  I knew that if I finished those last recipes that the project would be complete!    And guess what?   It is DONE!   I completed this big project!   

The second big project that was on the list was one that kinda goes hand in hands with organizing mom's recipes.  From the beginning of this project, I had the idea to put a small book together with some of her tried and true recipes.  I worked on that this weekend and made some great headway.  I actually got as far as I could with that and I am at a standstill for the time being.     

The third project?  A while back I started a writing project that I am calling Tales of the Scales. On the two do list was to sit down and re read what I have.  For me, while I do read books I tend to like to read over things like this (for more editorial purposes) on paper. So I printed it up. Reading it with a pen in hand was on my list of things to do.  This is the thing that I thought was not going to get done!  However, Jason didn't feel well on Sunday so we had a quiet afternoon at home.  I sat there with my pen in hand and read!  SO while the complete project isn't done, I completed that step of the project! On to the next step!

I also spent some time in my office, purging a bit.  I purged until the big garbage can outside was full.  I also organized.  It is once again, not a completion to the purge project.....but it is definitely a step in the right direction!

I also had on my task list to complete one more point of my my lone star quilt.   This is the only big task that I didn't manage to complete this past weekend!  I'm disappointed with myself for not completing it.  And I kicked myself a bit because I did play mindless games on my phone for about 20 minutes and I should have been working on that.  But seriously, 20 minutes wasn't going to complete it!

That is one HALF of ONE point of my lone star!  After the yellow it tapes back down through the colors until it's back to one blue piece. 
 

I was a project busting machine this week!

So lessons learned this weekend.  It's amazing how much I can get done if I set down that stinkin' phone and stop playing mindless games or mindless scrolling!     And secondly, really working and completing that one  big  task and all those smaller steps of other projects made me feel so much better.  I feel more in control.  Crossing off those things on my list was a real booster for my spirits!

So what is up next?   I have a to do list for the work week. Even though it is only Monday, I am already working on it and crossing thing off.  As the week progresses, I will certainly be creating my weekend to do list also!  One project down.........on to tackle the next one!

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