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My to-do list lately has looked a little something like this:

  • Write 25 more articles for the real estate agent living in fantasy-land.
  • Clean off desk in classroom.
  • Wash enough underwear so you don't have to wear the 2-year old and 3 sizes-too-small stuff at the bottom of the drawer.
  • Catch up on detention list.
  • Call people for addresses for sister-in-law's baby shower.
  • Crochet two rows on cousin's baby's blanket.
  • Order take-out for dinner.
  • Update resume and call principals at local schools.
  • Buy gifts for cousins' children.
  • Write 25 more articles for real estate agent who thinks she has brilliant ideas.
  • Design sister-in-law's baby shower invitations.
  • Make it to GRE test on time and score at least 1000.
  • Count the change sitting in the computer fund can.
  • Write analysis paper for grad school application.
  • Make quilt for new neice.

Somewhere in here I am supposed to clean my house, which for the record, now has a 1/2 inch layer of dirt across the entire floor, this week's entire work wardrobe spread across the dining room table, and all the forks in the house sitting dirty in the sink. I think I lost the cat somewhere in the stack of papers on my desk.

I guess you could say it's a little chaotic, but this morning, at 11:46, I crossed one item off my list. As I drove away from the GRE testing center (with an acceptable score for grad school), my mind filled with far too many ideas. I've been so busy trying to keep up with mundane tasks, that I've pushed the creative endeavors to the side.

They immediately noticed the free space on my to-do list and moved right in. I was designing a summer dress, arranging for some photographs, and even putting together the "family history" wall in my hall way. My new business idea lobbied for a more prominent position. Book topics loomed.

It was an epic battle in my brain, and I couldn't help but notice these ideas clinging to my leg as I desperately tried to shake them free. Creativity can be forceful when it wants to be. That's why I am writing this instead of finishing my article about real estate marketing mistakes. Even with my to-do list, I'm still a slacker.

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Christy said…
Hmmmm. Sounds veeeerrrry familiar.
Without taking the time and space for point-by-point solidarity, I would like to say that I do love how you broke the crochet down into manageable chunks. Two rows? Sounds do-able. Though, with me, as I'm sure it is with you, it is sometimes worse to have fifty million do-able chunks on my list than it is to have one big task.
7:38 PM
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