The Baboon Congress

Cleaning for Nonny

100 Comments

Today’s post comes from Sherrilee.

Nonny is coming on Monday. Those of you who know me, know that I have “a list”. And it’s a long list; I did it on the computer, complete with pictures of Nonny across the top, three columns and a multi-colored font (fall colors, since those are Nonny’s favorites). It’s gone onto a second page at this point.

Of course my list has a title… “Cleaning for Nonny”, since much of the list has to do with cleaning. Nonny says she doesn’t care if my house is clean or not and I believe her; my sister has a house that could make the cut for one of those hoarding shows and Nonny still goes over there. But I let things go during the winter due to how busy I am at work and then I kept letting things go as we got to spring and summer, since my energies tend to go to the yard. I just can’t stand to have her see it quite this messy.

I started to rename my list a couple of times because for some reason “Cleaning for Nonny” keeps reminding me of Bowling for Columbine; ultimately I left the title be. I haven’t even printed this list since it is quite long, but I am highlighting the finished items each night before I go to bed. I don’t really need to worry that I’ve named my list, right? Nobody on the planet even knows that I have a list, or that I’ve named the list – except you guys. You won’t tell will you?

Do you make lists? Do you give them titles?

100 thoughts on “Cleaning for Nonny”

  1. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    Thanks to the ‘boons for the birthday wishes and the virtual cake! Last night I went to Open Studio where they baked me a real cake. I appreciate the cakes from both sets of friends. I did kind of OD on sugar yesterday though.

    I do make lists, then lose them if they are not on an adhesive Post It which stays put.

    And today on that list:

    Put house back together because the reno is close to complete and the dust issue is fine’

    Finish several blogs that I have started! Post them on WP.

    Have a nap.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  2. I rarely make lists. More often than not, lists are made for me. It just so happens that I’m working (on break while typing this) such a list this morning. It’s an architectural punch list of items to be fixed before school starts. All of the various trades are here scrambling around, lists in hand. I’m proud to say that of the hundreds of particulars generated by a perfectionist architect and a supercilious school board, I have exactly two minor items. There are dozens more on the list but I’ve been able to say, “Not my responsibility” to all but those two. The first rule of construction is always have someone else to blame.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

        1. Years ago a friend of mine coined the term “Teflon desk”; the state in which everything that lands on your desk slides off onto someone else’s. Wessew – I think you’ve got this down!

          Liked by 1 person

  3. I do make lists but not as much as I once did
    I was once list driven. everything I put on a list gets done without fail so it’s a curse to put it on a list if it’s a big deal. my subconscious takes over and I am helpless but to cater to its calls in my sleep. without realizing it the list is completed and my life goes on and the tour items on my list get addressed. mental lists get done too but physical lists are special
    they all get named after Dorothy’s dog todo
    it is fun being able to look at the list and feeling good about having it all done. I recommend franklin planners abc prioritization.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. « Previous PostNext Post »

      How to Prioritize Tasks (Become a Master Planner of Your Time – Part 4)
      Posted in Priority Management on April 5th, 2013 by Tim Enochs

      Note: this post is part of a series on Becom­ing a Mas­ter Plan­ner of Your Time.
      How do you prioritize tasks on your To Do List?
      For many people, prioritizing consists of taking the next task on the list and completing it. The good news in this approach is that you will eventually get through your task list.
      The bad news is that deadlines can be missed because you were busy taking care of low priority tasks when you should have been focusing on higher priority ones.
      Several years ago I was certified by Franklin Covey to teach their What Matters Most course for planning your investment of time. It was then that I learned this simple, yet profound, method for prioritizing daily tasks.
      Here are three steps that can make prioritizing daily tasks simple for you:
      List your tasks in your daily planner. (I know this sounds simple but most people don’t do it.)
      Assign letters to each task as follows:
      A = High Priority and must be done today
      B = Important (It would be good to get this done today but it’s not critical.)
      C = Less Important (This is more of a someday list.)
      Assign numbers, in order of importance, to each letter (ex. A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2). This is the numerical order you will follow. A’s are done first starting with A1. If time is left after the A’s are done, start on the B’s, followed by the C’s.
      By following this method of prioritization, you will be able to work smarter during your quest for a more productive day.
      There are many great planners on the market today, some paper based and some electronic. It doesn’t matter which you use. It only matters that you use one. In terms of a paper planner, it is my opinion that the Franklin Covey system is the absolute best.
      What planning system do you use?
      Note: You may also want to consider Stephen Covey’s landmark book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Needless to say, it was an honor that he wrote the Foreword for The CHILD Game Plan which I wrote with NFL Agent Bruce Tollner.
      This entry was posted on Friday, April 5th, 2013 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Priority Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

      Like

      Reply

      2. If I went to all that work to prioritize everything on my to do list, I would spend way too much time making the list and be too tired to actually do the list.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  4. Lists? Bring ’em on. I make all kinds of lists (being the rather anal-retentative person I am). They help me stay organized and I LOVE crossing off things that are completed. I’ve been known to add things I’ve already completed to a list just so I can cross them off. (I know…I know….sigh….). I do not title them (except perhaps the day of the week I need to do them), nor add photos, nor use colored fonts, though.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    4. So if one adds things already done to a list, and I’ve seen several admissions to that here, then a list is not solely a memory aid. If not for memory, then what and who is it for? It strikes me as an arbitrary intercession between seeing something that needs to be done and actually doing it. Speaking as a non list maker, much of the list making practices seem more symbolic and ritual than useful.

      Like

      Reply

  5. A measure of old age: 1) your todo list is 85 percent of your calendar. Ten percent is medical appointments. 2) your todo list is the same repetitive tasks, mostly cleaning and maintenance.
    Sandy used to have lists by day, week, month, which she did not need, memory serving the bill. Now that she needs the lists, she does not keep them.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. My to-do list is titled Daily Planner. It’s on a spreadsheet, which allows me to easily move, bold, and color-code to-do’s and appointments. Each day has the timed stuff at the top. Work-related stuff is in bold type. Outdoor tasks are in green so I can put them on days which look most promising weather-wise. Reminders like due dates for library materials, red.

    I also find it helpful to break tasks up into pieces. (I’m curious about “kitchen floor one, two, three” and “kitchen floor four, five”, vs.)

    On my list for today is BiR’s Tapestry event – hoping the weather smiles on it.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Kitchen floor is a big project (hands and knees w/ a magic eraser)…. so I do it in bits and pieces. But I give myself credit for each bit/piece; I never wait until the end!

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  7. I am not and never have been a list maker and I do not admit that listlessly. I guess my attitude has been, if it’s important enough to put on a list, it’s important enough to remember. I gather that there are those who get satisfaction from having before them a long list of intentions, but I’m not sure why.
    My memory is good and I like to exercise it. Or maybe my memory is good because I exercise it, but at any rate I am not a slave to a list. I carry categories of things in my head– the books in my library, my family genealogy, a fair running inventory of the groceries we have and what we need, the names and some details about nineteenth century actors, humorists and literary characters, projects around the house that need attention, etc., but none of that exists on a list.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I’m the opposite, Bill. I like to put it down on a list so it gets OUT of my head. Otherwise I’m laying awake at 3 a.m. remembering all the stuff I need/want to get done.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. But looking at your list, the items seem either obvious or inconsequential. I don’t think any of that would haunt my brain. There must be something else, something ineffable, that makes a list satisfying to you, anathema to me.

        Like

        Reply

        1. Obvious doesn’t matter to my brain at 3 a.m., sad but true. But I’ve come to realize over the years that the list and the crossing off of the list is, besides getting it out of my brain, clearly a reward system for me. I am also highly motivated by stickers. This makes me sound like a 1st grader, doesn’t it.

          Liked by 1 person

  8. I have an app on my phone for grocery and other shopping lists – otherwise I wind up with three pounds of butter and no toilet paper in the house. To-do lists don’t often happen, though I am beginning to think I may want to adopt the methods I use with my team at work for prioritizing work: each task gets written on an index card (name of the task on the front, criteria to consider it “done” on the back) and those card get broken down into bi-weekly batches of work to do. There is a column on a board with the cards for “to do,” one for “in progress,” another for when it’s ready for review (could likely skip that at home) and one for “done.” At the end of two weeks we review all we did and prioritize a new chunk of work. As current tasks generate new tasks (e.g., cleaning out this closet generates a new pile of stuff in the basement), you create a new card and it either gets folded into the current set of work or put in a holding spot to be prioritized for a later chunk (we work in two week “sprints” at work). I may still keep moving the card for “finish the workbench” low in the priority, but it’s harder to ignore a card hung up in the kitchen than a workbench buried in the basement…

    Like

    Reply

  9. Does one of those entries really say “eat the twelfth time”?

    The only named list I have is the “camp stuff to bring checklist”. It’s really a spreadsheet with boxes after each item so I can print it out and put a check or X after the item has made it into the camp pile. It has been refined over more than 10 years. I finally removed the bathing suit because I never went to the town pool and the CD player/adapter for my tape deck because 1) it stopped working and 2) I bought a car with a BUILT-IN CD Player(!)

    Other lists are usually on the back of envelopes. I collect paper with an unprinted side for use in my printer. Rarely does a list merit using even that much of a plain piece of paper.
    If it is a list of things to do, I assign an expected time to each item. I can always take way more each time than I have anticipated.

    If it is a grocery list, I usually lay it out in roughly the order of the store.

    Today:
    farmers’ market
    library
    opening of new playground at MLK park
    prepare food for movie group
    attend movie group (movie as yet unrevealed)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Ha ha – it DOES look like “eat the twelfth time” doesn’t it. It’s actually LAF in lower case. LA Fitness.

      Like

      Reply

      1. i had a friend who had a box that opened like a desk where the front dropped down to act as a place to set the neeed collectied items before sliding the drawers cubbies all back in after you have grabbed your items.
        untensils spices tools and odds and ends all in there and as life went on items got added and deleted but the box was a thing to throw in the back of the trunk when it was time to go to the guys weekend the ball park tailgating or on a picnic, ill bet we used it 200 times in 3 or 4 years.
        bug spray bandaids rain poncho binnocs rope nut and bolt collection pen and paper paper clips the stuff you dont have is pretty repetitive.
        i thought about doing a trailer versuion with tent stove slleping bags air matterss canopy water holders sink but took it off muy todo list after a while because people never said they loved that idea. i think the box is a better idea. maybe ill put that one on a list

        Like

        Reply

  10. I went through a phase in which I made lists. Making a list was a good substitute for actually taking action. I got a smug sense of accomplishment from putting something on a list even though I hadn’t done the task or (like K Two) I’d already done it. After years of playing that game I made an uncomfortable discovery. My lists were comprised of things I was gonna do (“shop for groceries”) or things I was gonna put off again (“do your damn taxes”). Then I retired and sold my home, which simplified my life until there was nothing to put on a list, even a fraudulent list. It once made sense (or seemed to make sense) to remind myself to mow the lawn, but I hardly need a list to tell me to “watch the Mexican guy trim the shrubs.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I have a list of smaller, doable things which can be accomplished within a week. Sample: bank, food shopping, calling Netflix for programming help, set a lunch date, mow, clean upstairs, google to find a goose neck floor lamp, etc. All doable within a few days. I’d do these things anyway, but it feels good to cross things off anyway. Rarely, if I’m involved in a one-time major project or Xmas shopping, the list is detailed and comprehensive.

    Who’s “Nonny”?? That’s the only name my 12 grandchildren ever call me all of these years.

    Like

    Reply

    2. Nonny is my mom. My great grandmother was also Nonny. My grandmother was Nana. If I ever had grandchildren, I will also be Nana.

      Like

      Reply

        1. People do really interesting Grandma names. Our neighbor across the street is G-Mom, and that works for them.

          Like

      2. When I decided to select a grandma name for myself, I went to the interwebs, of course. From the many options I selected Nonni. I wonder if there was a subliminal memory of your having mentioned your mother at one time.
        I’m still a little self-conscious about it because neither my mother nor mother-in-law created their own names. They were Grandma Hilde and Grandma Dor. I wanted something that wouldn’t be duplicated by the other grandma.
        Until Grandson starts talking, I won’t know how it really feels. I’ll finally be visiting for the 2nd time next weekend. He’s almost 9 months old!

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. My mother made an announcement after her first grandchild was born that henceforth she would be known as “Nonny”. No discussion and no voting. It didn’t take too long for all of us to get the hang of it.

          Like

        4. My paternal grandmother was Grandma Boom. (As her last name was Boomgaarden . She was a pretty effervescent person and the name fit). That is also my last name, but I don’t think I want to be Grandma Boom if I ever have grandchildren.

          Like

        5. My step-grandmother was named Grandbear by the step-cousins who were older than I. A little Goldilocks – Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Baby Bear and Grandbear. I think it’s pretty cute but she wasn’t so I didn’t steal it.

          (“cute” as in being a nice person)

          Like

  12. As a retired person, I have precious little use for a list most of the time. For some things I find lists helpful, for others not. I don’t need to remind myself to go to the Farmer’s Market, mow the lawn or to go grocery shopping. But if I’m out of certain item that I need to remember to buy, such as corn starch or floor wax, it helps to write it down. I find that the process of writing it down is helpful even if I forget the list at home.

    Like

    Reply

  13. Kinda OT. Does anybody have a blog idea in the works? Today’s is the last thing we have in the hopper – so if anybody has anything for Monday morning, go for it!

    Like

    Reply

      1. I’ve been putting mine right onto WordPress for him to “approve” and then emailing him any photos that go with. When he put up today’s he told me it was the only one in the queue. I’ve had emails to him go wonky before – maybe you should send it again.

        Like

        Reply

        2. tim – i haven’t tried this on my phone or a mac, but here’s what I do on my windows machine.

          when I’m viewing trailbaboon.com, the top left of my screen says My Site.Hover over that and choose WP Admin. On the new page, choose Blog Post – Add. Write your post (I usually draft it in google docs, then copy/paste it) and submit. Email any photos/images to Dale. Easy peasey.

          Liked by 1 person

  15. Evening folks–
    Thanks for the posting VS. Good luck cleaning.

    I don’t make lists for daily routine things.
    I do make lists when I’m building a set or lighting a show.
    Priority items get an arrow next to them.
    Every item gets a box next to it. When the item is finished, ‘X’ the box. When I see it in rehearsal and I KNOW it’s good, then I’ll cross it off.
    I always laugh; sometimes the line item is something like ‘Paint the floor’.
    Which really takes like 3 days and 4 layers of paint. So that list subdivides to ‘Add stripes to floor’ or ‘pull masking tape off floor’.
    And I may not actually cross it off until the show opens and I decided it’s done.

    I did make a list of things to be done before sons wedding this spring.
    I think I crossed most of them off…
    Having a few items left just means I was thinking big and that’s OK.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      2. It reminds me of one of the twins. They both have their precious “blankie” and one of them is always stashing his blankie in odd places. Bowls, baskets, drawers, dump trucks…

        Like

        Reply

  16. I think part of the function of the list is to help you focus on one thing without thinking about all the other things you have to do, because if you think about them all at once you go a little crazy. As VS said, it keeps you awake at 3AM.

    The traditional advice given to women before they had all the modern conveniences was wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday. The workload in those days must have been overwhelming, but if it was Monday, you had your task, so you knew you didn’t have to mend anything, because you were going to get to that on Wednesday. So you could just do the washing and get that done, and get a good night’s sleep.

    That schedule also functioned as a dependency chart; Monday is washing and Tuesday is ironing because you have to wash before you can iron.

    Of course, there’s that symbolic and ritual element, too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. i used to wake up with my list, then i switched and tried bills version that if its important you will remember. and i do but i am too scattered to remember it all at the right time and too multi focused to keep it all straight. today i have a calendar on my phone that directs me to activites that need to be done by whenever.
      my big challange is that i am a thinker rather tha a doer and most of the items on my list require me to ask others to do a bit in addition to the bit that i do. its always something

      Like

      Reply

    2. You really should leave the dusting until the very last, as all that other cleaning activity raises the dust and makes dusting earlier a futile task (that is what my mom always said).

      Like

      Reply

  17. But I am one who may lie awake at night if I have a lot of details to remember the next day. If there are a million things rattling around in my brain, I find it’s useful to get up and make that list, with as much detail as I can, and then I can go back to sleep.

    I don’t usually name them unless there’s a specific event for which the list was made.

    I will try to get something in to Dale today…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. i was busy this week and missed the great posts by shreilee on the summer dish and on ljb’s grandious ideas gone wrong.
    mine are easy
    corn on the cob on the grill. open but leave the husk and try to remove all the cornsilk inside. butter it heavily salt and pepper it pull the husk back up around it and throw it on for a total of 6 or 7 minutes. rolling it as needed. i like the kernals a little brown so i go til that happens
    as for grandious ideas gone wrong. how about the first 60 sixty years of the tim plan. lets hope the next 60 go a little more according to plan.
    when i was in jr high school i decided byt e time i was at the age where parts staarted giving out i would be in an era when they could all be replaced. i am looking forward to the twilight years and find the stuff i have picked up in the first chunk of life makes the exchanges between the chunks i encounter these days a pleasure. another 60 years would be about right if i can keep the parts in proper repair.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      3. perfect. i love that paul simon album papa hobo is a seldom tribute sideways to detroit.
        detroit detroit you’ve got a hell of a hockey team.
        youve got a left handed way of making a man sign up frot at auto motive dream

        i love good writin

        carbon and monoxide. that old detroit perfume

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  19. I am pretty listless about list making. It’s not because i have a good memory like Bill – I don’t. It’s more because I already know what i should be doing and just don’t want to do it. I occasionally make lists, such as when I’m grocery shopping, although I often forget to bring the list with me. It’s more efficient to have the list with me, so I don’t have to walk up and down every aisle, hoping that seeing something will remind me of what i need to get. I make To-Do lists when I really need to not forget something, but I don’t get a kick out of crossing things off the list; I get more of a kick out of actually accomplishing something. Maybe because actually accomplishing something is fairly rare. I also don’t make lists of what to clean, because there is no end to cleaning a big house with two toddlers, a cat, a dog, and several adults. It’s too depressing to see it all spelled out, especially since I know that it’s just a matter of minutes before it’s all dirty and messy again.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  21. I do make lists. No titles. They are usually scribbled on an odd bits of paper. If they were made to make sure I get stuff done that needs to be done they do help me do that. I am sometimes surprised to find that I am getting everything done that is on the list. Sometimes i make lists of things I think I should do and haven’t done. I usually don’t get everything don’t on the should do lists because they aren’t very realistic. They might contain things I can put off for a long time and will put off for a long time and there might be things on these lists that I will never do.

    Like

    Reply

  22. I channeled my inner field marshall to construct the list for our feeding frenzy in the Badlands this weekend. Nothing was forgotten. Everything was packed in the van. All went well. We are exhausted.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    4. tell us about it in the blog you have filed away in your brain. i want to hear what worked and what didnt. was the smoked brisket a hit? how about the cold slaw?

      Like

      Reply

  23. An element of lists that nobody has discussed is the stage of life of the list maker. When I was young the number of things I “had to” or at least “should” do was literally incalculable. If you live with children or pets, they always have needs and issues and moods that require you to respond. If you live with someone else, he or she usually expects you to do things for them. If you are employed, there is much to do, and I’m convinced that workers in this economy are expected to do more than is reasonable. If you own a home, it has its own moods and needs, especially if was built a long time ago.

    All of that changes, should you live long enough. You have health issues and handicaps. Small tasks become huge obstacles. Mercifully, the number of things you must do constricts until it almost disappears. If you are lucky, all of this balances out.

    Like

    Reply

    1. True.

      What I didn’t say earlier is that I actually had to deal w/ my lists in therapy (couple of decades ago); I was a slave to a list and would stay up late and make myself crazy to cross out everything. I ended up not making lists for a year or so. So these days, if I don’t get to something, I let it go. If the period of time goes by that the list was meant to address and something isn’t done, I throw the list away.

      In fact, I’ve dumped my Cleaning for Nonny list now. Got pretty much everything done, including putting the geckos out (I was surprised nobody mentioned this one), but edging didn’t happen (trimmer gave up the ghost after 3 minutes) and cleaning out the fridge didn’t happen either. However I did make the bread salad (thanks for the idea PJ) and it was EXCELLENT!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Ornaments – Haitian crafts. I already had a dragonfly, but purchased the 2 geckos at a fundraiser a couple of weeks ago!

          Like

      2. Glad you liked it, VS. I deliberately chose vegetarian recipes because I know a lot of baboons don’t indulge in meat. Did you do the original or the Greek version?

        Like

        Reply

    2. my mom just got back from a trip to calgary with my sisters. she said they stopped in moose jaw saskatchawaon at a spot my sister wanted to hit for its culinary excellence but they forgot it was monday night and in fine dining that is the night off. sister was disappointed. there was a grand hotel on the corner of main street with a rooftop garden and beautiful awnings covering the tiered decks. they went in and found a delightful hotel on the bottom 2 floors and a retirement community on the top 2 floors. i suggested to her she should look at it for the medical coverage canada is so famous for. sister said canada caught on and only allows you to opt in if you have a bank account with 500,000 in it to offset the lifetime of paying in the good citizens of canada have contributed. makes sense but do the turned away immagrents simply smuggle therir way into donalds trumps campaign or do they die on the doorsteps of canada or does it act as a deterrent and not attract the
      tired and the poor as we offered once in a time of hope for the huddled masses before the tea party meant what it does today

      Like

      Reply

  24. A friend of mine does this with her weekly lists – if something on the list isn’t getting done three weeks in a row, she stops putting it on the list – apparently it isn’t time for that in her life. On the other hand, if she notices that something is now getting done repeatedly that wasn’t before, she puts that on the list, as it is time for that in her life now.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. if i had a three week time limit nothing would ever get checked off. i love putting it on there and moving it 10 days down the road if that is a reasonable thing to do. if its not it is clear but it is amazing what gets bumped to the top of the list.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.