Revisions on the fly

[rikibeth]

As of last night, I didn't have a work assignment for today. So I had a ginormous to-do list. I didn't really expect to accomplish it all, and I know that some people strongly advocate not putting anything on your list that you don't expect to get done that day, because it promotes a feeling of frustration. Some days, I agree with them, and I make small, focused to-do lists so at least I can feel like I accomplished SOMETHING. However, when I'm feeling energetic, I've learned that it's better to put ALL THE THINGS on the list, because the risk of discouragement is much lower than the risk of forgetting something that might be important.

So, here's what it looked like:

Remember, remember :)

Phone Calls

Call IRS
Call UConn Health Center
Call SHE Medical
Look up participating eye doctor, dentist, call them

External Errands

Go to library
Buy disposable foil pans, sandwich ziplocks

Daily Household Stuff
Shower
Dress
Dishes
Laundry (1 dryel load, 1 delicate wet wash)
Cat box

Household Projects
Flea treat bedroom and living room
Kitchen floor
Bathroom floor
Stove top
Oven drawer
15 minutes on desk

Internet
Facebook, respond to an impending invite
LinkedIn, update ALL THE THINGS
Visit krazoom.com
Post to Archive Of Our Own
Post to Freecycle
Pay electric bill, car insurance

Personal
Tweeze eyebrows
File nails

Have I mentioned lately that I've been having trouble sleeping? I didn't manage it until 3AM last night. Then I had to get up around 6 because it was raining and SOMEONE objects to walking to school in the rain, and given that someone's mold allergies, asthma, and propensity for respiratory infections, I figured it was wiser all around to give in and drive.

So, between 6 and 8:30 I was puttering around on the Internet, in my pajamas, being social, and having breakfast. I did the online bill pay. At 8:30 I called the IRS. While I was on the phone with them(on the landline), around 9AM, the staffing agency called my cell phone. Could I go back to the place I worked at yesterday? ASAP?

Well, work is work and money is money, plus I like that location. I said "Give me 15 minutes to get off the phone with the IRS, and I have to quick throw on a uniform, and it takes half an hour to drive there -- tell them I'll be there within the hour." And I was.

So, today's Actual, Completed To-Do List looks more like this:

Drive kid to school
Eat breakfast
Pay electric bill
Pay car insurance
Call IRS
Dress
Work
Drop off time sheet at office
Go to library
Answer Facebook invite

I should point out that Facebook doesn't play nicely with something or other in my Firefox settings. Only mine. It works fine with the kid's Firefox settings. So I used Facebook at the library.

Buy sandwich ziplocks

Did this at Whole Foods because it's near the library. They didn't have foil pans. I did pick up a couple of things in the beauty & supplements aisle. I also had a LOVELY conversation with a very sweet associate there, in which I was surprised to learn that my Problem Manager from my days as a Wild Oats employee before the buyout was still the department manager, and UNsurprised to learn that she was still a problem. The associate, in turn, was gratified to learn that said manager had been making life difficult for people since the year 2000, and it wasn't just HER.

Put kid's bike in back of car

This was something I added to my original paper to-do list (that I had taken with me in the car when I went to work, so that I could maybe accomplish some errands after) when I was at the library and in brain-dump mode. I've got to take it to the bike shop tomorrow.

Shower

Which, I will just point out, includes wiping down the bathroom, in a nifty technique I learned from mama_hogswatch. I don't use my body towel for it, though. I use the hand towel. This is because I have a metric buttload of white terry hand towels, and not nearly as many body towels and they're assorted colors. Using a fresh white hand towel every day lets me build up a load of White Things That Can Be Bleached, which is convenient when I'm also washing chef coats.

And then I put on cozy pajamas (the French terry moon-and-stars ones) and sat down and wrote this post.

Tonight's dinner is so totally "pick some of the leftovers, or make a damn snack wrap."

Comments

[oddmonster.livejournal.com]

I am super-impressed with the productivity. Super impressed.

/me eyes own to-do list nervously

Wowzers.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

You know who it makes me feel like. *points to icon I swiped from you*

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

as stated.. money, is money.
and if they like you it may lead to more full time work, and in any case its a reference. right?

but it still seems like you got a lot done.

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

So, THAT'S how you got to my LJ... I was wondering.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

LOL
oh. oh yes! sorry, i forgot to post a "how did i get here" note. my bad
cold meds you see......

i am the infamous woman who sold her the cursed cheongsam and the skirt that likes to go to dinner.....

pleased to meet you!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I ought to take that skirt to dinner again next date with trowa_barton. The weather's favoring it again.

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

Ewww. I don't wipe down the bathroom with a towel I use for my body! (I MIGHT wipe down the mirror with it).

I use a cleaning cloth I made from an old towel (and a little diluted Mr. Clean or the equivalent) and wipe it down, then toss it in the laundry.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

if the white towels get bleached..... then i certainly would use a towel. double duty, ya know?

Chefs tend to get stuff VERY icky dirty indeed and then bleach the heck out of things.

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, bleach would do it. You're right about that!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

GIP

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Ohh! I must have mis-read your instructions.

Since I use a fresh hand towel each day for this program, and it doesn't touch my hands again until it's been through the wash, I don't feel too skeeved by it.

I'm a big proponent of the Towel-Like Bathrobe, though, and I've got a dedicated, shaped, microfiber hair towel, so I tend to use a body towel only for drying off my legs and in some folds (like under my boobs), and I change it once a week.

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

What is this folds under your boobs of which you speak?

*is reminded that she has no boobs*

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I fail the pencil test pretty hard. You would think that a D cup would LOOK more like something substantial, here!

[gows.livejournal.com]

*curious* So what the handtowel thing?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I so love Gmail's searchability. Here's mama_hogswatch's exact words:

I learned how to keep a bathroom clean from a book called "Is There Life
After Housework?" by Don Aslett. It's neither hard, nor is it
time-consuming.

Get a disinfectant cleaner, and dilute it in a spray bottle according to the
directions on the label. (Don't buy the stuff you're supposed to use
full-strength. It's a total waste of money). Get a cleaning cloth [1].

Ideally, do this when the bathroom is damp from bathing. I do it right after
a shower. First, use the towel you dried off with and wipe down the foggy
mirror. I don't bother with windex, because that gets it perfectly shiny.
Now spray down the surfaces you want to clean and wipe them down. Do the
commode seat and rim last. Toss the cleaning cloth in the laundry. Swish
out the bowl with a toilet brush. You can spray it with the cleaner first,
but you actually don't have to.

You're done. You're spraying and wiping, not scrubbing.

Now do that every day. It takes less than five minutes (I timed myself
today -- 03:46). Your bathroom will always look great and you can deep
clean maybe once a month if you really need to.

Your bathroom will always look lovely, and you won't feel slobby and
depressed when you go attend to personal needs.

I wipe down the bathroom every night as part of my evening routine before I
put on my nightgown. On what routine do you want to put it?

[1]While I am not the world's biggest tree-hugger, I don't use paper towels
unless I'm cleaning excrement or vomit. When I have an old, ratty towel, I
cut it into eighths, then sew along the long side to make a tube. When I
use it, I fold it in half. This gives me four clean surfaces to use for
cleaning. When those are used, I can turn it inside out, thus giving me a
total of eight surfaces for cloth. They're more absorbent than a paper towel
as well as not adding to generated waste. I consider using disposable
cleaning products mostly wasteful.