To-Do Lists

I've been sharing an email conversation this week regarding to-do lists, sparked by this article about Leonardo DaVinci, ADHD and creativity. I loved the variety in the accompanying illustration by Wendy MacNaughton - everything from pick up a specific book to "Draw Milan". A friend sent me her list that ranged from considering how to be a more concientious consumer to grade papers. Here's my list:


Put away outdoor table and chairs
Put up Christmas lights
Grocery shopping
Bring framed photos of my kids to work
Send updated photos to the grandparents for Christmas
Take my car in for repairs
Get haircut for Andrew
Laundry
Think about my faith
Art journal page – Grace Like Rain
Make a plan for Christmas shopping
Finish service line projections for FY12 and FY13
Monday Scorecard (yes, I know it’s Tuesday)
Neurosurgery market analysis
Prepare agenda for Dec. 13th FCO Board meeting and send out so members will prepare ahead of time
Send FCO December Concert Press Release Info to President
See if band boosters need help on Saturday
Check home email – FIRE bands playing on Saturday? And e-pethealth registration
Knit socks
Schedule time with Andrew to work on his family life project for Sunday
Schedule riding lesson? Talk to Erin first
Pick Taurus up from garage
Map Thanksgiving
Get out the rest of the Christmas CDs
Ask Andrew to practice violin
Reschedule Friday phone call
Start work physician listing criteria
Finish painting Erin’s closet doors

And just so I don't forget - add these to the list of blogs I want to check on regularly:
http://thehappypainter22.blogspot.com/
http://www.joojoo.me/
http://aweebitwarped.blogspot.com/

And here are some quotes I've been saving up for possible art journal pages:

"Yes, and imagine a world where there were no hypothetical situations.”Jasper Fforde

“The cucumber and the tomato are both fruit; the avocado is a nut. To assist with the dietary requirements of vegetarians, on the first Tuesday of the month a chicken is officially a vegetable.”― Jasper Fforde

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently,as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”― Thich Nhat Hanh

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories,instead of theories to suit facts.”― Arthur Conan Doyle

“If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently.”Bill Watterson

“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”― L.M. Montgomery

"It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem."G.K. Chesterton

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."

"Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions."— Tom Robbins

"Never underestimate how much assistance, how much satisfaction, how much comfort, how much soul and transcendence there might be in a well-made taco and a cold bottle of beer."— Tom Robbins

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth,but most of them pick themselves upand hurry off as if nothing ever happened."— Winston S. Churchill

quan-da-ry [kwon-duh-ree, -dree] 1. a state of perplexity or uncertainty, especially as to what to do; dilemma.

"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any."~ Orson Scott Card

"I'm interested in having fun with ideas, throwing them up in the air like confetti and then running under them."~Ray Bradbury

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy.You can't "try" to do things. You simply "must" do things." — Ray Bradbury

"No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time."— Lewis Carroll

"A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all."Rita Mae Brown

"I was a little excited but mostly blorft. "Blorft" is an adjective I just made up that means 'Completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum.' I have been blorft every day for the past seven years." — Tina Fey

"With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?"~Oscar Wilde

"When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way."~Wayne W. Dyer

“Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions

“There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Heretics: The Annotated

“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” ― G.K. Chesterton

No Fast Food For Me This Week

What a fun weekend! Last week I decided that I wasn't eating fast food this week, which meant I needed better planning. I also had one new recipe I was dying to try. Michael did the grocery shopping last Thursday evening and I picked up my one ingredient for the recipe I wanted to try on Friday. Sunday, I was prepared for cooking. I made Baked Barley Risotto with Butternut Squash (from December issue of Real Simple), freezer burritos, prepared crock pot meatballs and made enough rice for side dishes to last the week.

The Baked Barley Risotto with Butternut Squash was really dinner last night for Michael and I. I didn't expect my kids to even try it with squash in it. Andrew had some and liked it. I guess his tastes are maturing. Michael and I loved it and I will definitely be adding this to my regular cooking rotation now that winter is here.

Today for dinner we are having crock pot meatballs with orzo and steamed broccoli. Tuesday, meatloaf from the rest of the ground beef and Thursday burritos. I love it when a plan comes together.

And still enjoying the Habit Blog. It's led me to some new (for me) amazing blogs. Here's a few I've checked out this week:

At Upper Pond (must try the marble loaf cake)
Twenty Two Pleasant (Again, another recipe to try - ginger cake)
This is Marzipan (amazing photos from a different part of the country)
Little Red Hen (I follow this via Tammy at daisyyellow too - quilts, knitting, farm, nearby)
Urban Prairie Forest (beautiful pictures)

Habit

"For the past 33 years, I've looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself - if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today. And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." - Steve Jobs

I've been enjoying the habit blog so much since finding it last month. Today my favorite quote was from Lindsay Crandall "It's not that I can't handle things while he's away; it's that everything is so much better when he's here." That's so true for me. This quote led me to look at another blog, which led to yet another blog with the above quote from Steve Jobs. Uh-oh. There may be a few things in my life that I need to purge. I've gotten into some habits or at least routines this year that need to change. I need to focus on these and change something.

To Done

Not To-Do. Too many things to-do. This week I'm just counting the To-Done list. It is much more satisfactory and not as scary.

Enjoying the Habit Blog immensly. I loved what Tara R. wrote on the 3rd. "I chose grace, and the day, in turn, graced me. It's easy. When I remember."

Finished two strands of my bottle cap curtain (similar photo here).