Thursday, December 17, 2009

This time of year everybody's got one

TO DO: THURSDAY 17/12/09

8.20 PM UPDATE

1) Make a list*

2) Check it twice (and do naughty/nice triage)

3) Shop for cutlery for C, DO NOT forget to print out email w. details of pattern etc. Also, next time, try not to lock keys in car. Or iPhone, RAA card and spare car key. Yes yes, I know this is the second time in a year.

4) Ham. (NAUGHTY. You have lied about this to the ob-com sibling so if the Special Ham Place has run out then you will have to SUCK IT UP) Whew.

5) Ring father

6) Depending on outcome of (5), visit father and stepmother, with 70% fruitless detour to cake-decorating specialist shop: tiny decorations for Christmas cake, tubes of edible red and green icingy stuff for Christmas bows on the gingerbread cats (see #9) NICE

7) Remaining cards -- to D, P, L, J (and an electronic one next week for S as per tradition) but MAKE AND POST SNAIL MAIL CARDS TODAY or it will all get a bit pointless

8) Think through appropriate gifts/visits for D&M, also R&N (see Master List)

9) Make gingerbread cats. (Mind out for breakable tails) NICE

10) Buy some Useful Tins to Put Things In (especially gingerbread cats)

11) Buy a paper (look what happened this week when you didn't have a quick TV guide handy -- DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN)

12) Get tree and decorations out of cupboard in garage -- mind out for redback infestation

13) Ring accountant for appointment IT IS A MATTER OF HONOUR to do this before Christmas, so you had better hope he is not on hols: NAUGHTY

14) Spend 5 hours (as timed last year) getting tax records into shape: NASTY

15) Housework, cat care, day job etc etc


* A Master List, viz a list of the lists you have to make

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This year I have ditched lists in favour of spreadsheet. So much easier to put someone else's name next to task, and google saves the document for me so I can look at it next year instead of trying to think of all the items all over again.

Except of course we're planning to be in Afghanistan or similar for the peace and quiet and non-Christmassy-ness next year.

Do you know what I should get my sister-in-law? Would it be bad if I gave her my bookclub copy of Eat, Pray, Love?

TimT said...

To-do spreadsheets! I love it! Santa must have one:

He's making a spreadsheet,
And checking it twice,
Applying Excel formulas in order to find out
Who's been naughty and nice.

When it comes to Christmas, I could a) do things, I could b) make useful lists of things I am to do, but instead, I am, c), doing neither of the above. I think the Christmas rush will hit soon...

Anonymous said...

Tim scoffs, but I'm guessing he is not hosting inlaws for Christmas lunch and wondering how it's all going to fit in the fridge and whether the guests will remember to bring the folding chairs. These are big important issues I'm grappling with here.

Christmas spreadsheet also includes present buying from the last three years. My grandmother had an exercise book for the purpose, but I like a google doc.

TimT said...

No, even if I was hosting inlaws I'd be this disorganised. :(

Di said...

I'm sorry about you locking the keys in the car, but full of admiration that you can still work on the list and update it for us after the event. Whenever I lock the keys in the car I become completely unnerved, like I just can't cope any longer.

Housework ahead of Christmas Day also unnerves me. It's unnerving me right now, putting me into a fug of not being able to get on with it,procrastinating, worrying about it, not knowing where to start. I see it's still on your list too.

Apart from taking drugs (which I can't seem to lay my hands on)can anyone offer words of hope on how to approach the housework?

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Fifteen-minute modules, Di, fifteen-minute modules.

I also find with truly chaotic rooms that the principle of the grid search can be useful. Totally tidy and clean one small square at a time.

And yoga breathing, of course.

Di said...

Thanks sister. I'm gonna jump on it!

Anonymous said...

I have managed, so far, to exclude housework from my brain and my list. It can happen in a mad flurry of glaring and yelling Christmas Eve, because the grid thing doesn't work with a three year old present. The floor will very quickly end up covered in little bits of wrapping paper and finger food anyway so there's probably not much point.

This is the good part of hosting inlaws. It's not my own mother, who would definitely cast nasturtiums about the lack of vacuuming.

Congratulations on retrieving the keys.