“Remoted” – Workday 79 / Day 107 (Wednesday)

It’s July. Already. It’s amazing how 3.5 months spent out of society can distort your sense of time. Or maybe it’s just me. If not for day planners and calendars and blogs with titles that are counted days I would have no idea what day or week or month it is.

Sometimes the list multitasks
as a place mat.

Today went smoothly, guided by the usual work to-do list, and thank goodness for that or I would be really lost. Best thing I ever learned to do. I used to get all stressed out about how many things I had to do, and in a regular meeting with the production manager at my job in Tennessee, after I reeled off all the projects and parts of projects going on and expressing that I was a mite stressed and worried that something would get lost in the mix, she suggested I make a list. DUH. Why had I not been doing that? Thanks, Vicki!  I’ve been religiously making lists at work ever since. Every Friday (or Thursday, if it’s a week with a vacation day) the task list for the following week is drafted. Each day the list is consulted and things are added or crossed off. Some weeks, I’m hopping busy all day every day with a thousand surprise projects that come skidding in from multiple directions and from who knows where and never get to the actual list items, but at least they won’t be forgotten. This week has been pretty good for crossing items off the list. It’s a refreshing change. 

It was produce delivery day today, which can be exciting. Or not. The week before the box delivers, I can customize my order, which means going through a long list divided into several groupings and choosing items I want from each group. There is a lot of scrolling, because when it says “choose 2” or “choose 4” from a group, the universe to choose from could be 8, 10, or 20 fruit and vegetable items and you don’t know until hitting the end of the grouping. Then in a later group, there might be something that would go great with an item not chosen from an earlier group. For example, I hate choosing lettuce if there aren’t also tomatoes and cucumbers, and these three things are never in the same grouping. So I’ll blow past the lettuce, then get to another group and see tomatoes and then in another group, cucumbers. Or not. Sometimes, it’s just too many types of lettuce. There can be a lot of scrolling back and changing choices. Oftentimes, even if I’m in the site barely an hour after the customization opens, the best stuff is gone. Last week there was corn, but not when I got in – I was left looking at a grayed out image with a “sold out” banner, imagining how nice some corn would be. Cauliflower, colored carrots, and colored peppers seem to go quickly. There are always way too many types of potatoes. After clicking submit the whole list displays, but to change anything at that point, you have to clear the list and start over. Some weeks, it takes about as long as to build my list as driving to a store and shopping.

Radishes are different
than grape tomatoes.

Last week it was hard making the list because I just wasn’t loving the options. It took forever, but I finally got it done. Surprise! Today’s box did not include a couple items from the chosen and confirmed list. I ordered grape tomatoes – I love those, leave them in a bowl on the counter, and eat them like candy. I received radishes instead. I do not love radishes. There was also no "Ninos broccoli" and I was curious to see just what that is. But what arrived is lovely, and now there is an exploration of pickled radish recipes underway, so there is either an adventure or a comical disaster ahead. 

The progress on the work list is always significantly better than on the personal or house lists but that’s clearly and obviously because there is a paycheck attached to the work list. It’s July, and I still haven’t checked the gutters or put away the winter clothes, both of which were planned for May. The bedroom looks like an explosion happened in a clothing warehouse, but does it matter? Most of the time I’m in there I’m asleep. We’ve been in a drought, so the gutters haven’t been leaking on me when I let the dogs out. It’s on the list. It will happen some day.