My friend Val believes in the power of the list and since a particular conversation last year at SXSW (on a roof deck, when we ate all this beautiful food), I’ve been a believer as well. I have a little notebook that I use for my lists, but in recent days, the only things I am able to cross off the this are the day-to-day, mundane tasks. I continue to carry the larger items over from one list to the next, rewriting them weekly, but never quite getting around to them. So I thought I’d post them here, in the hopes that some level of public accountability will be added incentive. So here we go…

• Clean out the storage unit. It still holds the carpet remnants from when my grandparents replaced the wall-to-wall when I was seven years old. It must go.
• Deal with the Indian blankets that I found in the hall closet, moth-infested, right after my grandmother died (nearly 8 years ago). They’re in the same plastic bags we threw them into as we prepared the apartment for her memorial luncheon.
• Get that damned undercarriage rattle on my car fixed.
• Replace the broken cart in my dining room.
• Organize recipes for a Fork You cookbook.
• Retile the bathroom and replace the vanity (the drain is badly rusted).
• Mail two boxes of pictures and video tapes to my family in Hawaii (they’re all of them).
• Replace the light fixture in the kitchen.

I think that’s it for now. I’ll be back to this list on occasion, for updates, additions and the blessed satisfaction of crossing things off.