“I can’t believe it’s afternoon already,” Momanita said. “I haven’t written yet today.”
“I know. I’ve been napping all day.”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
“I wasted the whole morning. I need to work more.”
I knew what that meant. If Momanita worked more, I worked more.
“You need to nap more.”
“Maybe a ‘To Do’ list will help. Then I’ll know what needs to be done. It’ll be ‘Anita’s List’ or ‘The A List’ for short.”
“A nap needs to be done. Nap first.”
Momanita opened my writing nest door.
“I’ll research the best way to make a To Do list, Squeaks, and you’re going to help me!” Momanita said.
By “help” Momanita meant I needed to inspire her which meant that I helped her write which meant MY naptime ended.. I climbed into my writing nest and Momanita carried me upstairs to HER office writing nest. She tapped her keyboard and read and tapped and read.
“Google says to decide if my To Do list will be digital or paper. Either way the list should be something that I want to look at.”
“Put some Cheerios at the top, millet along the sides, and corn flakes along the bottom. It will be a food frame. I’d look at that.”
“Here’s some pretty paper. I like the flowers at the top.”
“You can’t EAT those flowers!”
I tried a dandelion once and didn’t like it.
“Then it says to list everything I need to do. I know. I’ll use my markers.”
Momanita thought and wrote. Then she scrunched up her face which meant that she was thinking some more. Then she wrote. I climbed down to look at her list.
“I think that’s it, Squeaks,” said Momanita.
“That’s a long list! There are more things to do than you have toes.”
I have eight toes and that’s about how many things I can get done in a day.
“Then I break down the list to different types of jobs like writing jobs, cooking jobs, everyday jobs.”
I thought about my jobs: morning and afternoon naps, gaze in the mirror, eat Cheerios and corn flakes, preen my feathers, listen to the music Momanita turned on for me, peck at the millet, play “bad hand” with Mike, inspire Momanita.
“Then I need to think about when I need to finish these jobs.”
You’ll never finish all those jobs. Just like I couldn’t finish my morning nap.
“I’ll never finish all these jobs, Squeaks.”
Momanita rubbed my favorite neck spot. I climbed onto her shoulder.
“I’ll pick out the most important ones to do. Then if I have time, I’ll finish the rest.”
From my perch I saw the list. Arrows by SPEND TIME WITH SQUEAKS AND MIKE and WRITE “SQUEAKS SAYS” POST pointed to the top.
“That’s really an ‘A’ list. I’ll inspire you so that you can finish the post. Then you’ll have more time for Mike and me.”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
“This list helped me understand to take time for others and myself.”
Anita Borgo 
I love your story. Squeaks is so cute.
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Thanks for reading! If you read the background about Squeqks on the website, you know I found him. I think he adds fun to my author website. If you like my writing, check out my children’s book, OPERATION HOPPER, on Amazon. (Yes, this is shameless self promotion.)
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