Planners Anonymous

Hi, my name is Christa, and I am an incessant planner.

Sometimes.

I was born to organize and make lists. I sometimes feel that maybe that is my purpose in life. To stay organized, to make lists and to keep myself and the people I am going through life with on track. Yep. It might very well be my purpose.

But like I said before, only sometimes. There are few things that I don’t want to have control over, but they are actually some of the biggest things. Travel is one of the biggest ones that I really want nothing to do with, other than to show up when I am told. Paul buys the plane tickets, schedules our drives, books our hotels, finds restaurants and stores and then tells me where we are going and gives me options of things to do. It is fabulous. For example, I know we are going to Europe and I know roughly where we will be most of the time but everything else, to me, is all ‘minor details’. With every trip, however, comes packing which must, and I mean must, include a list. I go over every outfit that I might wear and why and when and if the weather is right and then write out my outfit for everyday I’ll be gone. Shirt, pants and shoes for Monday? Check. Tuesday? Check. I then take that list and transform it into a larger packing list that includes everything down to the jewelry and shampoo that needs to be in my bag. We aren’t talking about a scrawly handwritten list on the back of a receipt here, oh no, we’re talking about the most organized list, on a nice clean white piece of paper with the total packing list, the to-do list of items before we go and any other list that might be needed. Call Betsy to have her pick us up, paint toe nails, make sure Paul cuts his hair, and change the kitty litter. Can you imagine (if I didn’t have a list) how easy it would be to forget some of these things?!

I make lists for my job. I make lists of things to do around the house. I make weekly meal plans and shopping lists that are organized and stylish. I also LOVE calendars. Starting the school year was beyond delightful for me because I got to buy a planner. I think about formatting and check boxes and where to get them on the Windows character map. I know what you are thinking, this is sick. Like, I should go see a doctor about OCD, but I really am not. My desk and my house seem to always be dirty; there are plenty of things on the lists that don’t get done so there is nothing OCD about me. But there is something so simple, so planned and so organized about lists and calendars that give me chills. I may go into the business of making planners and list pads that all coordinate. Hmmmm.

In other news, I am thinking about going to get my master’s degree next fall. Depends on if Paul gets himself moving on the PhD road or not. More to come later.

In better, again unrelated news, we are going to be in the 76 degree Michigan weather in two days!