Monkey List

Today I hope to cross a very big item off my monkey list.  Or at least change it to a small item farther down my monkey list. What is my monkey list, you ask?  Do you know the old expression "monkey on your back" that refers to something that is clinging to you and you can't seem to get rid off? My monkey list is a running list I keep of all the tasks or obligations that are feeling like monkeys on my back.  Some of them are beloved monkeys, some of them not so beloved.  They are some of those jobs that we list under "Urgent" or "Must Do" that we never seem to fully complete, sometimes barely get to.  Sometimes we spend hours and hours and hours, but they are still there.  

Today I hope to usher in and welcome the first official, paying, lease signed, tenants to what used to be my mother and father's home.  I have spent inordinate amounts of time over the last year and a half changing it from their home to a rentable oasis for other families.  Today is the first test of how well I have accomplished that task.  At the very least, it will mark the beginning of the first week in that year and a half that I will not, CANnot go over there and work on the house.  That alone lessens the monkey grip.  Like any house, there will always be things I could do to improve it or the yard around it.  But it is now ready for renters.  

Yes, there are a few things left yet.  I have a box of newly sewn curtains from my sister, just arrived yesterday via UPS that are not yet hung to replace some of the less attractive ones now up.  Yes, there is a new double curtain rod in my car that will not be up over the sliding doors for this tenant.  But... the house is ready.  God has blessed us with a beautiful blue sky and sunny clear forecast to add to the welcome and the ocean view for the tenants. I am ready to be the gracious hostess and then leave!.....

Or at least I will be if my clothes will just finish drying so that I can get dressed and get over there!