Making lists

It's too hot outside to be out there at all, so I'm working inside today.  Managing to keep busy.  Trying to get all the paperwork and housework done before Tuesday when Kate and family come.  I made a list, back in June, of all the things I wanted to get done before they came.  I have completed almost everything on the list.  Having a tree fall down was NOT on the list!  I hope to get the tree carted to the landfill on Monday and maybe the mums back in the hole.  Yesterday, late afternoon, I went out back to put up the 'totem poles' that I had removed from the front yard.  The poles are metal stakes.  I have made a bunch of ceramic tubes with faces on them.  (I"m pretty sure I've had photos of some of them on older blogs.)  The tubes slide down over the poles thus creating a 'totem pole'. (Why does the spell check function think that creating is not a word?  Am I spelling it wrong?)   Actually, I need a few more tubes, but probably won't be in a hurry to make them.  When the poles were in the front yard, I hammered them into the ground a good long ways bcause they were holding the tree up. (At least that was the theory. We know it didn't work.)  In fact, when I tried to get the poles out of the ground, several broke off just at ground level or below.  Out back, I didn't pound them in as far, so there is more of each pole sticking up and needing to be covered.  I have two of them looking pretty good, but the third will need several more sleeves.   

Anyway, back to my lists.  I write myself notes and make lists all the time.  It's the only way I can keep track of what I want or need to do.  I even jot down notes of what I want to talk about during my Sunday night phone calls to Kate.  My latest lists consist of things I want to talk to Kate or Steve (my son) about while they are here.  Things like:  the box of Karl's stuff that Nancy (my first husband's widow) sent; Steve's hat from military school; any of my ceramic stuff they would like to take home (please, please take some!); T-shirts that I am discarding that the girls might like; some snow boots and shoes that don't fit me, but might fit Sarah or Olivia and so on.  Now, as long as I don't lose the list, I may actually remember to talk about all those things.

My other list for this upcoming visit is a food shopping list.  I know that we will go grocery shopping after the family arrives, but I want to have a few things that they will enjoy eating and drinking already in the house.  Coffee needs to be on that list.  I'm not sure how much coffee anyone will want, considering how hot it is here, but I'll have to buy some.  I don't drink it at all.  I used to have some in the freezer, but finally used that up when somebody who drank coffee was visiting.  I don't even know what brand is good, although I'm sure my son could tell me!  I drink herbal teas and that's all I have in the house, but I think Kate will bring her own tea.  She finds American tea very weak, after years of drinking English tea.