3 things

I remember a time when I could write a to do list consisting of about 30 things and manage to get every single thing on that sucker done by the end of the day. Or I would set out to clean the whole house and actually manage to clean the whole house. Those days are long gone and I have no idea when I will see them again. My guess is somewhere around retirement.

The thing is, kids are masters of time suckage. Just getting the daily stuff done is hard to accomplish sometimes. Things like feeding the dogs, watering the plants, emptying the dishwasher, getting the mail, bathing the littles, bathing myself  rarely ever ALL get done. I would say about 80% on average.

I am still up for the challenge of a to do list, however. I have discovered that if I don't make a to do list, those other important things that come up just never get done. So I came up with a way to make myself feel better about my accomplishments for the day. I know that being a full time mommy and wife are huge accomplishments and this is the job that God has given me but I have always been the kind of girl that needs to see concrete evidence of my work. I need to check things off and feel that sense of pride that comes with completing a task.

Obviously a 30 item to do list is out of the question... unless it is 30 time-outs or spankings. I could do that no problem. I have whittled my list all the way down to 3 things. Yes, 3 is the magic number for me. I pick my top 3 things to get done during the day and strive to complete all of them. This is not as easy as it sounds. Yesterday I set out to make 3 phone calls and only managed to get 2 done. I'm okay with that because my cell service was down at my house so I had to make them while driving. Most days, I can complete the 3 things I set out to do. Obviously, I can keep going and add to the list if I feel super energetic and ambitious that day. But 3 is a good place to start. Here's my list for tomorrow. It is on a magnetized sticky pad on the fridge where I can't miss it. I even get to check the box beside my tasks when I have completed them. =)