Fabulous Friday: Lists

Here's the thing: I love making lists. Like, I could make lists all day and be just as happy as I am naming candles, writing about calla lilies, and researching needle felting.

I don’t even care what type of list it is—grocery list, to-do list, 2012 book list (which is nearing completion, I’m proud to say), wish lists—I’m all over any type of list.

I’m so obsessed with making lists that I look for reasons to update my to-do, grocery, and book lists daily.

“Oh, started reading book number 46 today. Guess I better update my list of remaining books to show that it’s ‘in progress’ now.” So I’ll rewrite the entire list. And yes, I do mean rewrite, not retype.

And the grocery-list-making process? I have a magnetic notepad on the fridge, and I write things down as I realize we need them. When I’m ready to go shopping, I rewrite the list in much neater form. I mean, the notepad is full of quickly scribbled scrawls, lighter pen marks due to having to hold the pen in the upright position too long, and covered in blue, black, and even red ink.

Much too unorganized to take to the store with me. So I get out a fresh slice of paper, as my friend Travis used to call it, and rewrite the list.

Here’s where things get a little crazy crazier: I then rewrite it again, this time in order of where the items can be found in the store.

I do similar psychotic organizational tweaks with my to-do lists. Like any normal person, I get a good amount of satisfaction from checking things off my to-do list. But when I’ve completed seven of eleven tasks, the list looks cluttered and out of order. So it’s time to redo it.

Much of my list-making joy comes from putting pen to paper. I can only assume that my obession with making lists and my love for Sharpie Ultra Fine Point markers go hand in hand.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise, then, that when I decided to take on a blog a day this month, I wrote and rewrote post ideas in my handy dandy three-subject notebook.

Ah, the joy lists bring.