Getting It All Done

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The one thing I have learned throughout all my years of being single is that you can't get it all done. As someone who works full time, Monday through Friday, my weekends are filled with endless to-do lists. I find that I am always making a choice between being a responsible adult and doing my chores, or blowing them all off to do something fun. Sometimes it is really hard to find the balance.

This past weekend I had the following on my to-do list:

• Finish puzzle - because I need the table it's on for my seedlings
• Clean the basement - just breaking down some random boxes and putting a few things away, not too bad
• Laundry
• Vacuuming
• Sweep kitchen floor
• Pick up dog land mines in back yard
• Go to pet store for dog food (so they can make more land mines)
• Look for dog frisbee that is in a box "somewhere" in the house ... or not.
• Replant my seedlings - This requires a trip to the garden center for some more potting soil and some 3" pots, and to the dollar store for some more cups to use as small pots
• Church (Singing for both services which takes an entire morning, so it goes on the list)
• Check out new hobby store that opened by my house
• Walk the dogs, twice
• Get a workout in
• Stop at liquor store so I can get the fixin's for this drink I want to try with these great strawberries that came my way (Where do I find triple sec? Oh, it's by the liquoooooors.)
• Prepare various meals, try new energy bar recipe, and make something with the left over buttermilk from last weekend

Not an exhaustive list, but quite a bit to do none-the-less. Plus there's loads of things that didn't even make the list:

• Rake the yard
• Pick up yard debris
• Get to hardware store for some Stabil for my gasoline can and snowblower
• Wash my truck - inside and out
• Fix flower beds that dogs have dug up
• Take "Bob" out for a spin
• Get to Sam's Club to replace TV that died
• Hem jeans with new sewing machine that I haven't even taken out of the box yet

It is physically impossible for me to get all of this done by myself. Plus, have you ever noticed that when you are away from work times moves at a much faster pace than normal? Something that should take half an hour suddenly takes one-and-a-half hours. A 20 minute shower turns into an hour spent in the bathroom because you decide you have to rearrange one of the drawers in the cabinet. Putting your laundry away from last week turns into an hour long project because you decide you need to rearrange all the shoes in your closet.

I can always tell when I've had a busy weekend because I get to work on Monday and my feet still hurt. Since I have a desk job my poor feet aren't used to standing all day long. By Sunday night I find that if I sit still for longer than 15 minutes rigor-mortis sets in. It always feels good to get to work on Monday and be able to sit down again and rest.

Then there's the inevitable task that will present itself that needs immediate attention. For example, I got home from church to find that Ellie had ripped open a teddy bear that you can put in the microwave oven and use as a hot pack. It had all these little pieces of cracked corn in it which were now spread all over the floor of one of the bedrooms (I wish I would have taken a picture--but I was too flabbergasted to run downstairs and grab my camera). I wasn't planning on having to pick up millions of little bits off the floor and it took me an hour to clean up because I had to get the vacuum cleaner out and, well, as long as I had the vacuum cleaner out and have to move the bed I might as well vacuum all around the edges of the carpet and then, well, I might as well vacuum the rest of the house while I'm at it!

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Sometimes I can't get it all done. Sometimes no matter what you do the odds are against you. Sometimes, in the end, you just have to admit defeat and go shopping.