To-Do Lists | Mixed Metaphors

Jul 11 2026

Retirement Journey: Midway Year One

“The path ahead: Take it one day at a time, to live in the moment, to be a human being, not a human doing, and when I’m able, a human becoming.” — Retirement Aspiration

July 4, 2026

Today, as I begin to draft this status on my retirement journey, midway in year one, it’s the 4^th of July holiday. I posted the following on my Facebook feed this morning:

Like most things in the past 10 years, this year’s holiday can only be described as “It’s complicated!” to employ an overused phrase. It describes Trump’s first term as POTUS, the COVID-19 pandemic, the January 6th insurrection, the missed opportunity in the 2024 presidential election, and the “It’s all about me!” narcissism of Trump’s second term, remaking the White House, Washington D.C., and our monuments to reflect his ‘gilded age’ Mar-a-Lago tacky taste, plus the exaggerated emphasis on his 80th birthday, and partisan impact on the holiday.

My hope is that the rest of us can find a way to celebrate the holiday in a personal and meaningful manner that honors our democracy and the traditions of the past, and inspires us to feel pride and gratitude today!

Celebrate with family, friends, and loved ones. Enjoy summer foods and cold beverages, ice cream, parades, and fireworks (please protect your dogs and children).

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Tagged Astrology, Capricorn, Celebration of Life, Copedendency, Death, Family, Fourth of July, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Home, Hospice, Human Becoming, Human Being, Human Doing, Journal, Loss, Love, Mercury in Retrograde, Relationships, Retirement Journey, Single, Strawberry Full Moon, Therapy, To-Do Lists

Feb 08 2026

Posts

Old People Problems

Musings on aging, retirement, and a life well-lived.

“Somedays, I wonder if I need a new operating system, a brain reboot, and memory upgrade. A common sign of aging for me is the time that it takes to recall names, movie, and book titles, and the list goes on. My primary care doctor reassures me it’s not the first sign of dementia, simply aging.” — Excerpt from Things Change

“It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.” — Margaret Mead

The Road Never Traveled

There are branching points in life when a journey takes a different direction and where the destination is often unknown. I’m on that pathway this last chapter of my life. It began when I made the decision at the age of 75, on the eve of my 76^th birthday when I decided to retire after working 65 years beginning at the age of 11. Continue reading →

Tagged Activism, Aging, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Health, LGBTQ, Longevity, Madison, Procrastination, Recovery, Relationships, Retirement, To-Do Lists, Work, Writing

Dec 31 2022

Posts

Intentions & The Lessons of Progress, Not Perfection

The Never-Ending To-Do List: Being & Becoming It’s the eve of the New Year, 2023. It’s 2:00 a.m. and my day is starting early as it has been recently while I recover from my hip-replacement surgery. My sleep schedule is turned upside down, so I’m up earlier than normal. It’s okay. I’m a morning person, the most productive time of day for me. I enjoy my three or four cups of joe as I logon to my laptop to see what’s happening in the world, and in my social media circle. Each year in September, I begin a new journal, and name it. This year’s journal is titled, To-Do List Confessions. The timing of each year’s new journal is the start of my late summer, early fall annual staycation. I take seven to ten days off of work. I usually make a ‘to-do if I want to list,’ a compilation of intentions, some creative, mostly writing projects, activities that feed my spirit like attending art galleries, films, coffee and brunch dates with friends and family, and completing long-overdue tasks for which I’ve procrastinated.

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Tagged Activism, Becoming, Being, COVID-19 Journal Project, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Harm Reduction, Holidays, Hotel Bar, Journaling, LGBTQ, Looking Backward, Pandemic, Personal Narratives, Progress Not Perfection, Recovery, Relationships, Staycation, To-Do Lists, Year-End-Musings

Jul 05 2019

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Posts

To-Do List Confessions, Or How I’m a Little Bit OCD

“The only thing more important than your to-do list is your to-be list. The only thing more important than your to-be list is to be.” ― Alan Cohen

“Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.” ― Patti Digh

Today as I write, it’s the Fourth of July Holiday, which for my part-time work schedule means it’s the beginning of a four-day weekend ― and an opportunity to power-load my weekly to-do list to capacity. I’m not an electrical engineer, yet it sounds like I run the risk of blowing a circuit, and some days it feels that way. Continue reading →

Tagged Confession, Datebook, Human Becoming, Human Being, Human Doing, Journaling, Journals, List-Making, Mundane Life, OCD, Post-It Notes, Procrastination, Recovery, To-Do Lists

Mixed Metaphors

Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.

Tag Archives: To-Do Lists

Retirement Journey: Midway Year One

Old People Problems

Intentions & The Lessons of Progress, Not Perfection