My Got Done List

I don't have To Do lists anymore. They're too stressful: there's always more stuff To Do. Even if you run around all day To Do-ing, more To Dos inevitably get added to the list, and then you still have a To Do list, and you fall into bed feeling like you didn't Do anything, even though all you did was To Do all day. Sucky! So a while back I decided to flip the script, or suborn the paradigm, or turn my frown upside down, or whatever you want to call it, and now what I have instead is a Got Done list. It's ever so much better.

Just compare. Here's my To Do list, which is pretty much unchanged since September of 2009:

--Write and defend dissertation proposal
--Research and write dissertation
--Figure out how I'm going to make a living as an academic/archivist
--Tidy up around the house
--Clean out litter box

And here's what's on my Got Done list, JUST KNITTING-WISE, for the last six weeks or so:

--Socks for Andy U. to welcome him to the Center for Home Movies board of directors--check!

(I have noticed that it adds to the sense of accomplishment if I put "check!" after every item on my Got Done list. This, however, is optional, if you're of a more Calvinist bent and feel that a good thing done well is reward in itself, and saying "check!" is needlessly jaunty.)

--Hat for Skip E., ditto--check!
--Hat for Darren M., to say thanks for returning my lost sketchbook...
--check!
--Design, knit, finish, and block new sweater design for the Hill Country Weavers/Madeline Tosh design collection--check!
--Help out with photo shoot for HCW/MT project--double check!
--Write up pattern for HCW/MT project and send to tech editor--check!
--Finish knitting sample of jacket that coordinates with the Cecily camisole, block, and attach buttons--SUPER CHECK on that, because finishing projects promptly after principal knitting is complete was also a New Year's Resolution-type deal for me...
--Write up pattern for Cecily jacket and send to tech editor (pics and pattern coming soon!)--check
--Start on second Madeline Tosh project...--checkity check-check check!

And that doesn't even include some of the more typical To Do list stuff that I also actually Got Done, like figuring out how to cancel our gym membership and submitting some conference proposals and conducting field work for my dissertation and making travel plans for my very-busy-July (during which I have promised myself that I will Get Done some knitting for ME! Me me me me!) and trying out some bran muffin recipes and finding a graduation gift for my husband and--oh yeah--eating sleeping and bathing more or less regularly. Yay, Got Done list.

Now I'm going to publish this post (Oooh--check!) and then go work on that last Got Done item for a few more satisfying garter-stitchy minutes. And then I'll roll over and go to sleep, feeling pretty good about the Got Done list, and putting the To Do list out of my mind entirely.

P.S. I also cleaned out the litter box SEVERAL TIMES during the last six weeks. You're welcome, cats.