Or, how to set yourself up for failure without ever leaving your desk.
++ Purge/organize girls' room
++ Revise synopsis (Finished the first draft, so I ate all the brownies. Now I need a new incentive.)
++ Scrub floors & walls
++ Finish returning defective Xmas gifts.
++ Figure out mail-order pharmacy forms; reorder asthma meds; sell plasma to afford meds.
++ Install new shade in Josie's room
++ Photograph Ellie's alphabet project; recycle
++ Put away play food choking hazards
++ Disassemble cradle; store
++ Get handyman quotes
++ Test new felting projects for Discovery Day; order supplies
++ Scan paperwork; recycle
++ Swap out Josie's clothes for 6-12 month size
++ Burley & bike tuneup
++ Find a helmet for Josie's teeny-tiny nugget
++ Clean out girls' paperwork bins & bulletin boards
++ Finish kite project
++ Purge bedroom shelves
++ Finish Ellie's puppet theater
++ Plan garden; order seeds/transplants
++ Purge old videos/DVDs
The odds of my actually completing this list are so small as to be incalculable, but at least it will afford us all a nice hearty laugh on Sunday night.
The girls blew me away with their willingness to purge stuff today. Not only did they get rid of a quarter of every toy category we went through today (games, puzzles, Barbies, craft supplies, building toys) but they also chose at least another 25% of their stuff to put in storage until after we move. To give you an idea of what we're up against:
Twenty-one board games. This doesn't count card games or small games, like Ellie's current favorite.
They gave five to Goodwill, put another five in a giant plastic tote, then decided that the remaining ten games took up too much space in their closet, and put three more in storage. The games they chose are kind of baffling. They're keeping Taboo, which is too old for Ellie, and putting Tier Auf Tier away, even though they love it. It's difficult to keep out of the decision-making process, but they need to be content with their choices. Best for everyone if I just do the heavy lifting. Tomorrow, we'll rearrange the shelves in their closet and see where we're at; then tackle the books -- theirs AND mine. I anticipate many agonizing decisions, and not all of them made by the girls.
Meanwhile, remember what I said about Tax Day? Clearly, someone wasn't listening, because we woke up to this on Sunday morning:
I am so rarely right about, well, anything, that I am a teensy bit gleeful.