Lists! Are you a list maker?

So, it's August and I don't know where May, June, or July went.  I really haven't done any sewing of any type.  Well, I made a handbag for my son's girlfriend and I started a courthouse steps quilt (finished 1 row).  Oh, and I made my granddaughter's birthday outfit.  Hmmm, what else?  You guessed it, NOTHING!  Some time I will have to tell you about my challenge list, but that's another day.

I keep telling people that I have this to do and that to do, but it just doesn't seem to get anywhere.  I have to admit, it's not like I've been doing nothing.  My year started out pretty good.  I made my list.  The list I will tell you about later.  Well, maybe now is good time.  I decided in Dec of last year, I would work on all my UFO's and then all the projects I really want to do that aren't even started.  So, starting January 1st, I drew up an excel spreadsheet with the names of my projects.  To the right of my project name are columns.  Several. They list like this:

All Materials Collected
Partially Cut
All Cut
Blocks Pieced/Partially Pieced
Center Pieced and Done
Quilt Done But Not Quilted
Quilted But Not Bound
Done
Comments

Can you tell I'm a list maker, and I also like to check things off.  It's good for the ego.

So, you see I have a page with 36 projects listed.  I have 6 done and it's already August.  This is not the year I had planned.  Well, I keep telling myself that I have a shop to run and that includes paper work.  I hate paperwork.  It really gets in the way of my sewing time.  So, instead I tell myself that I will get all my paperwork done on a Sunday.  Well, that rarely happens cause the dh is home and well, we have a list together.  Yes, another list.  This one started in the beginning of March.  That list includes lots of things that are mostly to do with our house.  Which, by the way, is 148 years old.  So, there are plenty of things to do.  Some were for inside and plenty of things for the outside.

We started, or rather my husband started on the upstairs bathroom in March.  We he gutted it.  I wasn't much help cause I had shoulder surgery at the end of March, which was an 8-10 week recovery.  And he knew this and was okay with that.  He worked on this bathroom pretty avidly.  Then came no shower.  That lasted almost six weeks.  We took showers at my D#1's house, every other day.  At a certain point, we hung plastic around the shower so that we could use it.  Then the warm weather came and the bathroom took a back seat.  DH took a few days off last month from work and the two of us managed to get all of it done, except the trim.

So, back to my projects.  Well, you see I can't even locate my updated list anymore.  I have one saved on my laptop, but I wrote things in the one I had printed off.  It really doesn't matter, cause the other list (OUR List) has taken priority.

Well, the other day, I could tell my dh wanted to ask me to help him with one of the things on OUR list.  I turned to him and said "Are you going to whip up one of those quilts for Expo for me?"  He didn't say a thing.  Don't get me wrong, I love to be with him and help with all kinds of things, but really, I have things to tend to.  And as I write this, I laugh and say, I could've spent this time sewing! 

Moral of the story!  Don't write a list unless you can keep it in view and stick to it!

Talk Later!  PJR