Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Overwhelmed

Do you ever feel like the to do list is bigger than you are?

OMG.

I mean, I sort of have two lists, the day to day list -which I can assure you is long enough at any given moment, and then there is the big picture to-do list: off the top of my head we have,

1. Become fluent in Catalan (or as near as I can manage)

2. Learn Spanish

3. Ensure the girls learn Spanish

4. Ensure the girls can write English excellently

5. Get my teeth all fixed up

6. Get a physical and all the other follow ups done

7. Get all the follow ups for the look under the hood done

8. Get the kids Spanish citizenship

9. Floss - it interests me that the dentist here doesn't try and fill us with guilt and self-loathing because we don't floss three times a day. Instead she praises our level of hygiene and gives us some hints about how to improve. I am actually doing better than I ever have. Canadian dentists, are you listening???

10. Read

11. Figure out what I'm going to be when I grow up.

12. All the stuff for my work in Canada

13. All the stuff for my work here.

14. Wife/mother stuff.

15. Practice basketball with youngest

16 Yoga (I did that at least once in September anyway)

17. Stay/get in shape

18. Paint

OMG.

No wonder I read blogs. Short, enjoyable and clearly finished when it is done.

Start.

Enjoy.

Finish.

I think I'll stop here too.

Am I the only one?

9 comments:

Beth said...

That's why we have To Do lists - because the number of jobs to do is greater than the amount of time we have to do them! I have many lists - for the day, the week, the month and (my favourite) for whenever I feel like getting around to it.
Re: # 11? Strike it off your list. Don't ever grow up!

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

Yeah, yup, uh huh. You are the only one. Just what do you do with your time?!

J.G. said...

You and me both. Sometimes all I get accomplished is making the To Do list!

Anonymous said...

My 'to do' list is sooooooooo long at work that I have no idea what I am supposed to do next. I just go with whatever makes the most noise.

Jason, as himself said...

Wow. That's a lot.

Funny how they don't bother you about flossing over there.

Are you planning on staying in Spain permanently? Sounds like it.

kate said...

Yep. It's like treading water sometimes-- you get the daily necessities under control (sometimes), but never get around to the big picture stuff. I'm about to experience this big time when I start student teaching, because I will be on the same school schedule as the kids and won't have any time when they're not here to get stuff done-- which means it will mostly have to happen after 9pm, which isn't easy when you're being awakened multiple times a night. I don't know how all those working stiffs manage!

Anonymous said...

One partial solution is a computer free day at least once a week. No blogs, no e-mails, no headline reading. Amazing how much time we save. A bunch of companies are making it law. One day a week no e-mails.
Sea Dog

Diane Mandy said...

Before I read this I didn't think I had a big to-do list. But now (because many of mine are similar to yours, minus kids) I realize I do. Obviously, I haven't been taking my list very seriously.

oreneta said...

Beth, thank you, one down...a few more to go.

Bhodi,*sob*!!! I thought so...I knew I was the only hopelessly disorganised and over-busy one out there. Thank you! ;-)

JG, hey, making the to-do list is getting somewhere I guess....

Sirdar, I think my youngest works by that principle, whatever makes the most noise...though in fact, that may not be a bad system.

Jason, we honestly have no idea...we keep saying it, and I think it is probably ultimately the truth, we'll stay as long as it's fun.

OMG Kate, now I feel guilty, I don't have a baby, I don't have three small kids, and I am not in school full time....I do love your sometimes though...made me smile.

Have you ever read "Ghosts of Spain: Travels through a country's hidden past" by Giles Tremlett? I am loving it, and I wonder if you had read it. Are they as rabidly anti-Catalan in Madrid as the book would lead me to believe? Sounds harsh.

Sea dog, I could do no e-mail one day a week. I don't usually want to look honestly.

Diane, Probably better not to take the list too seriously...