I often wonder how Santa could have been so organized and successful at managing his “list” when most men I know avoid lists at all costs. If I had to bet, I’d say that it was, in fact, Mrs Claus that was making a list and checking it numerous time throughout the year.
I only say this based on my own experience of list creation, management and maintenance.
You see, hubby seems to have an aversion to writing or using lists for just about any circumstance. I, on the other hand, am a dedicated list maker.
- I make grocery lists – even if they don’t seem to help hubby
- I make long term “To Do” lists – these could include projects that we need to complete this year or within the next 5 years
- I make general shopping lists
- I make question lists… meaning I do a heck of a lot of prep work before we meet with any sort of service providers and I always have a list of questions to ask
- I make task lists.. which could include things like: go to the bank, buy stamps, pick up dry cleaning, make a dentist appt. etc..
I guess it would be fair to say, that I’m on list overload. I get it, not everyone is as list crazy as I am… and by no means, do I expect hubby to adapt to my over-zealous list addiction. HOWEVER, I’m hard pressed to understand why he wouldn’t take advantage of my compulsive behavior. The interesting thing here is, that more lists I make, the more hubby is apt to run screaming from my organized plans.
Case in point, I mentioned yesterday that hubby used my grocery list when he went begrudgingly on his yearly trip to the supermarket… this, my friends, is a rarity. What happens more frequently is that hubby stumbles on a need we have in our house. This could happen randomly and unexpectedly and then BAM! he comes home from work one night with a box of toothpaste.
“Gee, thanks for buying toothpaste hon, but how come you didn’t get anything else on the list?” we keep a running list of stuff like this in the kitchen
“Cause I didn’t use the list. I saw this morning we were running out of toothpaste so I stopped at the store during lunch and bought some”. He’s proud of his initiative!
“That’s great babe… but if you’d grabbed the list, we’d also have more soap which we are almost out of”
Do you celebrate the effort… or do you scratch your head as you cross walk into the kitchen to cross “toothpaste” off the list?
And, it’s not just shopping lists that he seems to avoid at all costs.
This past weekend we were having a handyman stop by to do some work for us. As we were discussing his arrival, I merrily declared… “Ok, let me make a list of everything he needs to do”. To which hubby replied “I already have a list”. ooohhhh…. ooooohhhh, I’m excited to hear this!. “You already have a list? Great, can I see it?”. He says “Nope, you can’t see it, cause it’s all up here.” as he taps the side of his head……UGH! I thought we were getting somewhere and dippy here, is hiding away his “mental list” – as if writing it all down would somehow leave his head even more empty than it already is. You’d think he’d be happy to have another box in his head that’s filled with NOTHING! (if this makes no sense visit this post HERE). But no, he’s stashing away all his secret lists… most likely to ensure that I’m not able to add anything to them!!!
Anyhow, he confidently declares that he doesn’t need to write anything down since he won’t forget anything. And, I bite my tongue as I want to remind him that if he “remembered everything” we have enough soap to shower tomorrow. But then I realize, that this is a futile argument since hubby would be perfectly ok with washing his entire body with shampoo …. and I chalk this one up as yet another battle that I will never win.
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