Monday 22 November 2021

Lists

 Are you a list-maker or do you muddle through life doing jobs as they occur to you?   My sister who was more than twenty years my senior and long gone, once said to me that she made 'mental lists' before she got out of bed in a morning but usually found that by evening she had only done about one thing on the list and it was most frustrating.

I try to make a bit of a list and one thing that is first at present is to UPDATE FILES.   I have only one son.   You may find this thinking macabre but I hope that when I die (let's face it however much longer I live one thing is certain - I have lived far longer than I have left on this earth) I leave my affairs  (no not that sort) in such order that he has as little work as possible to sort them out.   To that end my filing cabinet (a set of drawers in my computer room) has labelled files.   They are all in the process of being updated.   One has been done, updated and ticked off the list (and that one is the organisation of my funeral arrangements - with the proviso that if he wishes to change the whole thing that is his prerogative.)   So that file is now the only one in the drawer.

The next one I intend to tackle is the Utilities file - Gas, Electricity etc.   I shall start on this the minute I finish this post.   I don't feel like it but I shall take it into the sitting room, tip the contents out onto the   carpet in front of my chair and then update them as I put them back.   Drastic it might be but when I have sorted every file out I shall feel 'cleansed' - a good feeling.

Now to other things - we have had a couple of cold days but the sun has shone non stop and the sky is a clear blue.  Priscilla and I walked the walk this morning we saw only one couple (I always try to speak to everyone) and I was able to say to them "Good to see a joint effort" because each had a bucket of soapy water and a cloth and each was tackling washing one side of the same car.   We had a bit of a laugh about it before I walked on.   I didn;t find the walk as arduous as yesterday but I am tired now.

When I arrived home I heated up my roast pork and veggies in the microwave and then took my fruit salad and coffee into the sitting room.   Then I watched Simon Reeve on iplayer in The Lakes - an absolutely excellent programme - so different from the usual 'travel' programme.  Now it is almost tea time  and the heating has just come back on.   I hadn't switched it off but once the sun gets into my South-facing windows they soon warm up the whole bungalow.

Looking out of the window into the back garden I see it is a mass of self-sown yellow antirrhinums.  I put  them in as bedding plants  at least five years ago and left some at the end of the season to go to seed- now they are everywhere and I love their feast of late colour.   I wish I was able to get out there and do a bit of work but I'm afraid my gardening days are now long over.

Back again tomorrow - in the meantime sleep well and stay well.

25 comments:

The Feminine Energy said...

Yes, I am definitely a list maker. If I don't make a list, nothing gets done. I can't keep things in my head anymore. They go up there & then vanish! I have to have it down on paper or else. ~Andrea xoxoxo

Derek Faulkner said...

After a frost, we have clear blue skies and sunshine all day but with an icy wind straight off the Thames Estuary.
My funeral arrangements are quite simple and written into my will, there will only be a Direct Funeral i.e. there will be no funeral as such, no church service, no eulogies - just the funeral people collecting my body and having it cremated - end of.

JayCee said...

I never used to make lists but kept everything in my head, which seemed to work well. However, now I am becoming more forgetful so need to write things down.

Susan said...

It's quite frosty in the morning and everything warms up to the high 40's. There is no more color as the leaves are 95% fallen. It looks like winter with bare trees. I like lists and files too. Everything is well ordered. Walking in the forest behind my home is all woodland trails with leaf and pine needles blanketing the forest floor. All you hear is the breeze swishing in the treetops. It's very peaceful.

the veg artist said...

I make lists for some things, like the weekly shop, which husband does, but not for much else. All of my papers for household bills, car, banking etc are in one drawer, a bit untidy but each in its own plastic folder. I'm guilty of only having a clear-out when I have trouble closing the drawer, but at least it's all in one place!

Rachel Phillips said...

I am not a list maker but I do not "muddle through life". I am well organised and on top of my game. There is a life without lists and people who are capable of being organised without them.

Anonymous said...

As well as a sturdy filing cabinet, we have a computer file called 'Just in Case" and have given our daughter the password for this file should anything happen to us.
I've never liked the feeling of 'where do I start' and would like to spare others that also, so everything is spelt out for her to make dealing with our estate( and immediate concerns )easier.
Husband and I have shifted many times due to work, so lists have been essential, however once at a large family function miles away, my mother asked 'Where's your father?'. I replied 'isn't he here? '. I was supposed to have picked him, and had forgotten my mother had stayed with her sister. He was quite relieved, after we'd made a frantic phone call, to stay home and potter in his shed. Guess he was pleased I hadn't written 'pick up Dad' on my list that day!- Pam.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Absolutely right Rachel - I don't think I am one of them though.
Jaycee Good idea - let's just put it down to the ageing process.
Derek - I rather like that idea but not so easy when one has children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Regardig lists - one does get a sense of satisfaction putting ticks on lists - at least I do.

Heather said...

I am a list maker. I make shopping lists even though I sometimes go right round the supermarket and find I've remembered everything. I make job lists and love ticking them off when done. I also rely on my diary to remind me of appointments and I have left a note of my funeral wishes to avoid any problems over who should do what when that time comes as I have five children. All important documents are in a metal box file in alphabetical order which gets an occasional sort out.

Ellen D. said...

I have found that the older I get the more I need to use lists. I always make a list for the grocery store and cross off the items as I shop. I make book lists and lists of Netflix titles I see recommended on blogs.

vic said...

I think if you write out a list of things to do tomorrow you are much more likely to actually follow through in doing some, if not all, of them. And listing them in order of importance also helps, you don't have to stop and think, "Well, now what shall I do today?"-----you've got it all right there in front of you and have considered which really "have to be done" and can just get on with it. It saves time and offers less of an opportunity to wander off into a byway and get nothing accomplished.

It's good of you to keep your files and "last wishes" all up to date. Leaving things in a muddle for children to sort out after you are gone creates a real burden for them at a time when they are already at a low ebb. Your son is a very lucky fellow to have you for a mother.

sparklingmerlot said...

My father had a stroke which necessitated the children (read me!) taking over his affairs. Oh my giddy aunt, they were such a mess. He hadn't put in a tax return in over 30 years (didn't think he needed to), there were unopen envelopes with share dividend cheques, papers going back forever. He died 4 years after the stroke and it took another 2 years before we finally got things sorted. He had to pay over $20,000 to the taxation dept. but it could have been a lot worse - he could have been bankrupted. So having things in order for your son is a wonderful thing.

Cro Magnon said...

I actually worry about the awful mess I'll leave behind; which in my case is bi-national. I would love to simplify matters, but there are family members who want everything to stay as it is. I wish them luck!

Librarian said...

I suppose I am something of a mix between Rachel and Pat - I am well organised and (usually) on top of things concerning my own life, but I also am a list maker for the sheer satisfaction of seeing the items being ticked off.

Pat, I think you are doing very well to get your affairs in order, and it is not at all macaber but both realistic and reasonable. Death is all around us, every day, and it is silly to make it a taboo and pretend it won't ever be upon us personally.

Bonnie said...

I have always been a list maker, mainly because I so enjoy marking things off the list. I love that sense of satisfaction. These days I feel like my lists help to keep me better organized and to get more accomplished. I keep my lists on my desktop now rather than on paper.

Hilde said...

I make more lists the older I get. To-do lists, shopping lists, menus, presents for Christmas - all the things I didn´t have to write down when I was younger. My husband and I try to keep our files up to date - we have divided things up but each of us should be able to deal with the other one´s files, too. We also keep a list of pins, passwords etc. for internet accounts.
In my opinion, this is not macaber but realistic. In a time of grief, one should not have to deal with a mess of paperwork. Younger friends od us (both 61) have already bought a place for their grave and written down the music they want to have played.
There is a very interesting book on this subject, Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson.
Hilde in Germany

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

I used to make lists when I was at work as my line manager used to ask me to do things whenever she happened to think of them, rather than when I had time to do them. Without a list I'd never have remembered everything - and some of them were important! For as long as I can remember my father used to disappear to the bedroom and say he was "doing his paperwork" on Sunday evenings. We used to think he was just going for some peace and quiet, but when he died I found that everything was in order and written down in small notebooks. It made everything so much easier.

thelma said...

Shopping lists but that is about all. My funerals arrangements are simple, it is just knowing where to scatter the ashes, I change the location every now and then ;)
Simon Reeves along with Max in the Lake District have convinced me I should visit Keswick one time next year. Not sure I will be hiking up the hills but the scenery looks lovely.

Jennyff said...

No not a list maker apart from the odd shopping one on the back of a scrap of paper. I often think people who make lists end up making lists of the lists they need to make and of course nowadays there is so much stationery dedicated to organisation they probably do.

Tom Stephenson said...

Just the act of making a list used to be enough. I would make a list then throw it away.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat re. your reply to me concerning funerals, I'm can't see how having various children, grandchildren, etc come into it. I have people who are connected to me, my partner for one, but surely how your funeral is carried out is for you to decide not the wishes of various other people.

VC said...

I've been watching Simon Reeve on catchup (NHS shifts) too and was telling my husband earlier that it was very different than the usual TV program about the Lakes.

Rambler said...

I learned such a lot from Simon Reeve's 'Lakes' programme and have discovered that near to me, the Cotehele Estate is re-wilding an area that has been prone to flooding, but will now be wetlands again (National Trust property). I do hope that others follow suit (though it's hard to read in the Guardian that many houses are being built on flood plains. WHY???? It seems certain that there will be flooding problems for those houses.
Off to add a couple of things to my list > > > > > >

Yellow Shoes said...

I like to be organised.
But if its not on the list it doesn't get done.
Very much a lister. x

The Weaver of Grass said...

Derek - but you are not there to witness it and the grieving process is helped I understand by some kind of funeral.
Thelma - The Simon Reeve programme on The Lakes in wonderful isn't it?


Thanks one and all. Seems most of us are listers.