The Never-Ending To-Do List

As I started writing this title, a similar one popped up. I guess that just goes to show that having a never-ending to-do list is nothing new. It's comforting to know that items do eventually get crossed off. And maybe someday they'll get crossed off faster than new ones get added! (I'm not holding my breath for that magic day!!) To help keep me accountable, I figured I would post that infamous list. I can always delete it, right?

• Make this list
• Clear off the kitchen desk
• Fix tab on Michelle's valance
• Complete baby afghan
• Hang the pedigree chart
• Hang pictures in kids' bathroom
• Hang "Finishers Wanted" plaque
• Replace the broken brick
• Use up the rest of the "reject" toffee
• Attach gate transponder to car window
• Attach gate transponder to van window
• Find "Sirius" list and put in car
• Get my hair cut
• Complete 50th anniversary book
• Frame completed cross-stitch projects (lots and lots)
• Finish Personal Progress
• Compile list of unfinished craft projects (then work on them)
• Clean up email folders
• Clean up "My Pictures" folder
• Test/check sprinkler system
• Send care packages to boys
• Get rid of duplicate hex drivers
• Get a new can of rice out of the food storage pile
• Buy replacement strike plates for the doors (count them first)
• Replace sliding mechanism on double door
• Repair sink drain plug
• Re-grout master shower
• Find unusual hinges for front door replacement
• Purchase and hang ceiling fan for master bedroom
• Do something with all the boys' trophies
• Update the emergency binder
• Clean the blinds
• Plan Christmas
• Find a piano tuner
• Find a trustworthy auto mechanic
• Find a new dentist
• Follow through on ordering key for laundry room cabinet
• Follow through on new high school receiving Michelle's official transcript (before she needs them for her college application)
• Trip to Goodwill
• Figure out what to do with "extra" workbench shelves
• Empty two boxes of music (means re-organizing the music cupboard)
• Etc. (not even going to think about the boxes in the boys' rooms yet, or new living room furniture, or replacing the vertical blinds, or planting a garden, or . . . .)

If your list isn't as long, you can feel lucky. If yours is just as long, you can know you have company. If yours is longer, you have my sympathy!

One Wednesday I paused before the elegant show window of a prestigious furniture store. My eyes rested on a small sign that had been placed at the bottom right-hand corner of the window. Its message was brief: “FINISHERS WANTED.” The store had need of those persons who possessed the talent and the skill to make ready for final sale the expensive furniture the firm manufactured and sold. “Finishers Wanted.” The words remained with me as I returned to the pressing activities of the day. In life, as in business, there has always been a need for those persons who could be called finishers. Their ranks are few, their opportunities many, their contributions great. From the very beginning to the present time, a fundamental question remains to be answered by each who runs the race of life. Shall I falter, or shall I finish? On the answer await the blessings of joy and happiness here in mortality and eternal life in the world to come. --Thomas S. Monson