My Monday’s list of “to dos” was eight items long today, two were housekeeping items (I always clean my house before my handy-dandy housekeeper shows up), three items dealt with my writing habit (including this blog), and three were standalone items, including making a phone call, paying a bill, and doing my holiday shopping online. I figured I would have the housekeeping done lickety-split and sprinkle the rest throughout the day. It’s mid afternoon and I have done none of them, except starting this Tuesday’s blog.
The first interruption was that my sidewalk was covered with snow and ice, so I grabbed my coat and stocking cap and headed outside to start the snow shovel and ice-melt. But I noticed the garbage can was overflowing, so I picked up the plastic bag on my way out, but either the gate is swollen shut or the sidewalk has expanded, not sure which one, and I couldn’t get to the garbage can. So, I took the bag back to the house for gloves because the gate was stuck tightly, and the temperature was hovering below freezing.
On my way to get my gloves, my phone rang. It was my son, but he lives in Alaska and there’s a two-hour time difference, so I, naturally, at 8 a.m. Boise time and 6 a.m. Nome time, figured something was amiss. Thankfully, nothing was wrong, he just wanted to tell me that they had received my package. Good, because packages with a Nome address sometimes travel by dog sled. After I finished talking to him, I picked up the newspaper and began solving my puzzles and got through most (it’s Monday and they are easier at the first of the week). I missed three clues today, but I’ll check the solution tomorrow.
I looked at my list and at my kitchen counter, which was covered with dirty dishes, so thought I could start the dishwasher before I fixed the fence and de-iced my walk, but I realized that I hadn’t mailed a pile of Christmas cards. I wanted to make sure I left them in the mailbox before my very trusty mail carrier made his way through our neighborhood. The cards were ready to go, so off I went to the end of my block. On my way, I was happy to see we had a crisp sky and no inversion. I knew I would get cold quickly, so I hustled my way out.
I have an American flag outside my house (of course, I do, I’m a Marine), and it got caught on a hook and it took a couple minutes to fix it. By then, I was cold again, so I hurried back in to warm up and I nuked a cup of coffee and warmed myself while I drank it down, relooking at my missed crossword clues.
So then I was sitting at noon and my list hadn’t been started. The garbage bag was a little smelly, so I decided to set it outside and ignore my stuck gate, hoping some violator of Boise’s leash law didn’t find my garbage bag. My phone rang again, this time it was a long-time friend calling to wish me a nice holiday, but it was a ruse so that she could recite her list of aches, pains, and other maladies. With that call, I needed more coffee, but I had depleted it, so restarted the coffee maker. I looked at my list again and crossed off the two housekeeping items, dialed the phone call, but no one answered so crossed it off, too. I looked at my Idaho Power bill and it wasn’t due for two more weeks, so I nixed it. I figured I could do the online shopping during the nightly news and knew these companies would be happy to take my credit card then or I could put it on tomorrow’s list.Prioritize, Gail! Focus, girl! Blog first, so here I am writing about my absolutely nothing Monday! I hope yours brought a few more cross-offs than mine did!
Mask up!
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