Making a List and Checking it Twice

The call came at 4:43 A.M..  The ringer was off, but even on vibrate, the buzz woke me.  I’ve been having uncharacteristically fitful nights since the temperature plummeted and the landlord turned the steam heat on high.  Even with the window thrown wide it’s like sleeping in a sauna most nights.

Who on earth could be calling me at this hour? I thought, darkly.  In a flash, my annoyance changed to fear,  What if it was an emergency?  I snatched the phone from my bedside and checked: my downstairs neighbor.  Lord, what did he want?  I rolled over and let it go to voicemail. 

A moment later it hit me – what if he were locked out?  My brain still on autopilot, I quickly called him back.  He wasn’t locked out, his roommate’s ceiling was dripping.  He described the location – the same corner as my radiator.  Steam heat, was the culprit, and I tried to tell him this as nicely as I possibly could, after having been woken up at 4:30 in the morning. 

Thoroughly annoyed, I pulled my eye pillow over my face, and tried to drift back to s

leep.  After ten minutes, dreamland slipping further and further from my grasp, I threw the covers off, and lurched to my feet, put my hair up, and headed into the kitchen. 

If I had to be awake at O’-dark-thirty, I might as well make use of my time and bake.  A long-lost friend from kickboxing was coming to town the next, er, that day.  I hadn’t seen him in a decade and I’d promised cookies.  If I got it out of the way now, then maybe I’d be able to get nap in before heading out for the day.

With all of the cognitive functioning and dexterity of a zombie, I baked a batch of Apricot Jammies, set them on the counter to cool, and lumbered back to bed.

Well, at least that’s one thing off the list, I thought, putting a checkmark beside “Cookies for T” before crossing it out.  Satisfied, I pulled the covers over my head and slipped quickly into the dreamless slumber of a power nap.

I live my life by lists.  Every morning I have a list of things to get done, who to email, whom to contact, where I’m supposed to be, what I need to bring.  Sometimes I break the list up into things to do, things I need to buy, and places I need to go.  When I need to get things done there’s always a list.  If I don’t get something done one day, no problem, I just cross it off (with no check) and move it to tomorrow's.

Some people like writing things down on their blackberry, iphone, or computer.  As dependent on my computer as I am, when it comes to lists I’m an old fashioned girl.  There

’s something satisfying about physically crossing off an item.  Thus, I always carrying a notebook and a pen. I’m lost without them.  If I think of new things to do - I add them, if I think of story ideas -I write them down, and having a blank sheet of paper is always handy.

By no means do I live every day in a prescribed, regimented fashion, I thrive on spontaneity, adventure, and living by the seat of my pants - the lists are just reminders.  I don't always bother with them either - when I go on holiday, the lists are left behind.  When someone else is planning the schedule, then I have no need for them, but as a general rule they're helpful, and can even be freeing.  I don’t have to rely on my memory so it releases me from the stress and worry that I may have forgotten something.  I still don’t think I’ve completely transformed into a list person, but they certainly are a great asset in keeping me on point and productive.  

Apricot Jammies

Ingredients:

1 c Butter

1/2 c Brown sugar

2 c Flour

1/2 t Salt

1 t Vanilla

1 t Orange blossom water

Sesame seeds

Apricot jam

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Pour sesame seeds into bowl
• Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, and orange blossom water
• Stir in flour and salt
• Form into balls
• Roll balls in sesame seeds and place on ungreased baking sheet
• Gently press thumb into each ball leaving depression
• Spoon jam into depressions
• Bake 10-12 minutes