Not In The Cards

I got up this morning thinking that, with the end of July in sight, it might not be a bad idea to break out The Index Cards Of Summer Organization.  I haven't so much as glanced at them since school let out back in June.  I didn't think it was a problem, though.  I remember what I wrote.  I was certain of it.

Every summer for the past few years, I've taken some time before school ends to think about the sorts of things I'd like to accomplish during the lazy, hazy days of summer.  I don't have to work (I should...but I don't) and it is a nice time to catch up on all that stuff I say I'd like to do but never seem to have the time to address.  I then break out a few index cards, give them catchy headings like "knitting," "spinning" and "find the carpet under all the crap you've let pile up" then list all the grand things I will accomplish.

I know I'm not going to do it all.  It's more of a motivational tool than anything else.  And what could be more motivating than a nice list from which you can cross off great feats of stuff-doing?

I unearthed this year's cards from the depths of the coffee table layers early this afternoon.  I had to take a minute to admire the breathtakingly beautiful penmanship and the creative use of sparkly blue gel pen.  Very nice...  With that out of the way, I prepared myself for some back-patting since I had obviously managed to deal with some of those listed tasks.  How could I have not?

Now, I knew that some of the things on the list had been changed a bit.  That always happens.  Sometimes I think of a better way to deal with a chore.  Other times, I realize that what I've planned to do is not really within my skill set.  And, let's face it, sometimes the things we want to do are just outside our ability to control.  Still...I fully expected to be able to cross off at least a couple things.  It's been over a month since I exited the hallowed halls of Small Town School, USA.  Something had to have reached the finish line.

Imagine my horror at discovering that I have done none of it.  Not one thing.  I seem to remember starting some of them.  I also have clear recollections of reminding myself to keep doing these things.  I am relatively certain that I wandered around in the vicinity of where these things should be getting done...

I just haven't done any of them.  At least not in a way that might lead to my crossing any of them off the list and being able to sleep the sleep of the just.  

I blame the sparkly blue gel pens.  They just didn't lend enough of a serious aura to the whole thing.  Next year, I'm going with orange.  Or purple.  Maybe without the sparkles.  That should do the trick.  

I fear my discovery has not really led to any further work on list completion.  Basically, the sum total of my day looks something like this:

Makes for a lovely picture...but that's about it.

The book?  Not on the list.  The second sleeve of The Thing Which Will Never Grow Up To Be A Sweater?  Totally not on the list.  And chocolate chip cookies?  They are so far from the list as to be considered Anti-List Material.  

I guess I'm just going to have to accept that this will not be a good year for things written on index cards.  I suppose the world will not come to a crashing halt because of this.  In addition, I am trying to break the Blog Sweater Curse which is a noble endeavor if you think about it hard enough and put on your Justifying Hat.  Besides, I checked with my home-based supervisors and they seemed to think that things were running pretty much on schedule these days.  They had only one concern when they called me into the kitchen for my daily performance review.

I was late with the afternoon snack delivery.

This sort of thing could also be a contributing factor in my lack of list attention, now that I think about it...

SA