Some days I keep thinking of all the things I need to get done, then I forget what they were. If I hope to get anything done, I have to make a list.

I actually love making lists, but more importantly I love crossing things off a list. I even write down things I’ve already done just so I can cross them off. It makes me feel productive.

If I don’t finish the stuff on the list, I have a sense of failure. I try to just dwell on the stuff I crossed off. So it’s important to put stuff on the list I know I can finish: take a shower, walk to the mailbox, feed the dog.

But there is also stuff on the list I’ve put off for a long time and I’m not sure if I’ll feel like doing that task, like clean the fridge, but it’s on the list and then I feel kind of obligated.

I also have grocery shopping on my list; but who forgets that? The only reason I keep noticing my fridge needs to be cleaned is because when I need to go grocery shopping, the fridge is empty and I can see it needs to be cleaned. This is the best time to clean the fridge and if I don’t get to it before I go shopping, cleaning has to wait until it’s empty and I need to go grocery shopping again. I just don’t think my family will wait until I “feel” like cleaning the fridge for me to go grocery shopping. Actually, they would wait because it’s not like they’d do it themselves, but they’d be annoying while they waited.

Whether something has to be done before another thing can be accomplished or whether something has to be done so I don’t have to listen to a bunch of whiners, it’s really all in the timing.

I had a few minutes to kill before I went to a meeting this morning. Wow, what’s a mom to do when she has a few minutes to kill? For some reason whenever I have extra time like that, when I’m under pressure to perform and make the most of those few minutes, I am the most productive. I end up taking care of little things I’ve been ignoring:  putting away the bulk bars of soap I bought last week, filling up the drawer of the fridge with the diet coke that’s been sitting on the dryer forever, starting a load of towels I’ve been stepping over for several days, sorting my kitchen tool drawer. Little, nagging stuff I tend to ignore because it will just take a few minutes and I never have those minutes to spare when I’m doing the “big stuff.”

I’m not sure what differentiates tasks I’m too busy to stop doing to do the little, annoying tasks and those few “extra” minutes I have before I walk out the door.  Probably I don’t feel like I’m taking time away from finishing a bigger task, or getting distracted by stopping to do the little things. Those few minutes before I walk out the door are free minutes.  It’s not enough time to start anything big, no one in the family is waiting for me, and I have the energy. The fact that I feel so productive after I’ve done those tasks is not as surprising as the fact that to my family I look like I’ve been slaving away all day.

When my family walks in after work and school and noticeable items have been put away, because they too have been stepping over them, it looks like I’ve worked very hard that day.  When, in fact, all that stuff I mentioned above only took me 15 minutes before I walked out the door this morning.

I should’ve written it on the list.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington.  She is committed to writing about the humor amidst the chaos of a family.  You can read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com.