Lists...

I've mentioned before that I am a list maker.  Chronically so.  It works for me.  In the past couple weeks my to do list has been lengthy.  I will be 'useless' for weeks after my upcoming surgery and I have been working at a feverish pitch to get done all I can to lighten the load on my family post surgery.  Ty and I will be 'ahead' in homeschooling... giving me the peace of mind that we will still finish on schedule.  Items like cutting the boys hair literally the day before surgery so hopefully by the time I can cut hair again they will not be long haired ragamuffins... bill payments scheduled... my bedroom cleaned and sheets washed since that is where I shall spend most of my time for many weeks... etc.  My family is very capable to manage without my help, but the load will be heavy on Shawn and I want to help as much now as I can;)

An odd list that was started when we moved out here to the countryhood is how many animals have died due to impact of them versus one of our vehicles.  Shawn and the kids hit a HUGE buck shortly after we moved out here.  Airbags deployed, major damage to vehicle, but they were all OK.  I personally have hit my share of raccoons, opossums, skunks, and armadillos.  But this past Saturday night was our oddest collision so far.  Shawn, Christian, and I were headed into town.  Christian was babysitting and Shawn and I had a date planned.  Shawn was driving and focused on the road ahead but Christian and I both saw IT flying toward us....

a gigantic wild turkey!!  Yep.  I just screamed, so very helpful in these situations, and Christian yelled, "Watch Out"... but it was too late.  That darn mammoth of an ugly thing creamed the side of my new-ish car.  My only thought was I'm going to have to pay another deductible!!  Shawn was so startled by the sound of being HIT, because he never saw the turkey... he glanced in his rear mirror and only saw feathers flying.  We were not where we could pull over so we drove on to the house of the family Christian was babysitting for and I stayed in the car while Shawn assessed the car.  I do.not.know.HOW but we only got a small scratch.  By the sheer size of the turkey and the sound it made when he hit us, I could not believe we were blessed enough to not have major damage.  So now a wild turkey has officially been added to our list of animals now deceased due to collision with our vehicles... but to be fair, the turkey actually hit US!

Making a list of dinner menus:  I have never enjoyed the whole process of menu planning, grocery shopping, and cooking.  Since moving into this house and finally having a good stovetop with griddle and grill, and good ovens... the process of cooking has become less of a dread... but still the other things are tedious.

I found this pic/idea on Pinterest (more info can be found on my Organization board) and knew it would be the key to simplifying my menu planning/grocery list.  For the past few months I have been making a list of all the different dinners we enjoy having.  There are about 50 dinners.  The idea is that you make an individual card for each dinner idea and on the back of that card the grocery list of each item needed to make that dinner.  So each Sunday night I can pull 7 cards out of the menu box, make a grocery list from them... add any additional items for breakfast and lunches, and done!  I like that the clothes pins allow for me to rearrange dinner menus in case I need to swap the original Mondays dinner with Thursday due to lack of time, etc... you know how things pop up through out the week.  I am even going to make a card that reads "Family get to take MOM out to dinner".  I always come across recipes that I want to try... once they have been made and pass the family 'keeper' test... then I can simply make and additional card for it and increase our selection.  I will start out by putting ALL the menu cards in the top pocket.  As they are put on the clothes pins and fixed as part of a weeks menus, I will then put them in the lower pocket.  This will ensure that we could easily NOT have the same dinner but once in a month!  Unless we of course wanted to.  But I was so burned out on menu planning that I was in a terrible rut and was repeating ONE dinner over and over again in one month and the family was near mutiny.  I do not have my board completed yet.  And I won't get it all done before surgery, but it will be up and functional by summer.  Yay!!!

I am making a list of the first tasks that I will tackle when I am healed and backpain FREE. 
 #1 -  officially move in to my studio.  I have purchased several things and they will be waiting and ready for me to use.  These are the brackets for 2- 8' shelves... love them!

I bought these organizers from WestElm.  I decided to keep all the boxes the same since I will have tons of antique and repurposed storage that will add interest.  I hope that these boxes will help the open shelves look interesting but not too busy.

This will be the design for my l.o.n.g work surface.  It will allow for me to put storage underneath it, and...

I am going to make a pleated skirt for the table to hide all that extra storage.  I love the details of the table skirt below, that lacing detail will be perfect for the space!

#2 - I am so embarrassed by our non-functioning linen closet upstairs.  I never had adequate linen storage in any of our previous houses, so I made sure and had a huge closet built for that purpose.  I even put french doors on the linen closet because I do believe that it can be beautiful AND functional storage and I feel the fact that it can be seen will encourage me to maintain it.  The linen closet literally is a closet with no shelves and boxes and heaps of 'stuff' currently.  That WILL change this summer.  Here are some inspirational photos that I will use to create my true linen closet!

#3 - I will be outside as soon as I am able to weed and transplant.  I know, I KNOW... it will be way past the ideal time to transplant but I have many plants that will die if left in their current locations anyway.  So I will take the risk and move them once and for all.  Ohhhhh, to garden again.  I just can't contain the joy that thought gives me.  It has been several years since I have literally plopped in a weed infested bed and weeded til my hearts content.  Did you know I love to weed?  Weird, right?  But I love the brainless, repetitive action... it relaxes me.  While Shawn and I have resolved to not plant anything NEW until we can get proper water management/irrigation implemented... I will try and keep what we currently have alive and happy.  And the fact that I will be out there again with dirt under my fingernails is literally making me smile as I type this.

And along that same line... I have researched long enough... Time to just dive in and start the process of becoming a topiary master.  I have promised myself that the very day I am healed... I will be at the Greenery buying boxwoods to sculpt.  Content sigh.  I love lists.  And I love that many items that have long been absent from my to do lists will reappear in just a short amount of time.  Joy!