Why can I not be bothered to work methodically down my to-do list today? Why, when I have a largely ‘free’ weekend, do I not race through some of the many outstanding items sitting in next week’s upcoming schedule? Why, when Mr J is away once again winning medals in the Midlands, do I not get ahead of the game for once?
In particular, I have spent the past 10 minutes wondering why I can’t simply get out the glass-cleaning spray and one of my many newly-acquired microfibre cloths and tackle the almost opaque window in my office whilst the sun is streaming in and shaming me for not doing it sooner. This weekend was surely an ideal time to put on loud music and flounce around the Mr J’less place with cleaning fluids and dusters – or paint the understairs cloakroom which still bears the masking tape of a previous abortive effort. Or fill the garden waste bin with freshly plucked weeds.
But I don’t do those things.
I HAVE managed to read the Sunday newspaper and complete ALL the sudokus therein – even accidentally completing the competition one online but then failing to submit it.
I HAVE succeeded in taking a longish walk to atone for consumption of a modicum of alcohol and several samosas at a party yesterday evening.
I AM completely up to date with Facebook and Instagram rabbit-hole exploration.
I DID spend two hours tackling a huge pile of ironing – mainly so that I had an excuse to watch Homes under the Hammer. These two hours are dangerously close to disproving my theory of weekend uselessness, but somehow the daytime telly admission detracts from the positive vibe I might otherwise derive from this ‘achievement’. And the two shirts I selflessly ironed for Mr J will no doubt be insufficiently smooth to fool him into thinking he doesn’t need to iron them himself (on the basis of my most recent previous attempt – ironing has never been a strong point in my wifely skill-set. I only attempted them because there was quite a lot of the second episode still to watch.)
I ACCIDENTALLY sent quite a useful marketing email to someone yesterday – which the law of sod suggests will result in the best result I have ever had from my endeavours to sell advertising space in concert programmes. (Well, except I’ve just jinxed that theory by mentioning it here!)
I DID fulfil the two tasks which were time-specific yesterday – the first of which was to prepare for a birthday party (buy and write card, buy suitable present and wrap, select drink and nibbles to take with me, select outfit to wear – all quite successfully achieved with at least three hours to spare) and then attend said party. I WAS a bit late, despite being fully aware of the start time, but forgetting that there was an early finish to factor in, and WAS initially a little uncompliant when it came to country-dancing – a task of which I had been blissfully unaware before arriving at the venue to find it already in full do-si-dohing swing! No matter, I made up for it by gamely joining in (eventually) with a dance or two, and then over-doing the disco participation later on (which may account for some of my inability to forge ahead with today’s tasks, although that may just be a lame excuse – boom boom!).
As the sun sinks, and I eagerly await the chink of new medals at the front door, I decide to give up pretending I might do anything else uesful this weeked. I reconcile myself to deferring all outstanding tasks in the splendid TickTick app* which currently rules (or doesn’t – haha) my life and check which TV dramas I have been intending to watch. It’s a hard life sometimes.
*TickTick – an app to which Daughter J introduced me a few weeks ago and which I now use on a daily basis to remind me what the hell I am supposed to be doing. You set up a task with a date on which you intend to complete it, and then you can tick it off when done. It is immensely satisfying – at least, it is when tasks actually get completed. It is also extremely useful to remind myself what I did yesterday or the day before – or at any time in the recent past which will have wiped itself from my memory. It is sadly quite easy to edit the lists and put later dates on the tasks. Having just done so for several items, I have put the phone to one side – but suddenly recall that I accidentally scheduled a few for 1st January 2026 due to user-incompetence. It would indeed be a task of moments to move them from there, but I haven’t put that task onto my list anywhere and it therefore does not exist. And who looks at to-do lists on 1st January? Confusion waiting to happen methinks…