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I need Martha or HGTV

I am thinking at 36, I am never going to get organized or be domestic. I am sitting at my desk in the office/Sadie's room (how many dogs have their own room?), and there have to be at least 25 pieces of loose paper, including bills, Jordan's school stuff, my day planner, a wedding invitation, a Huggies pull-ups coupon pack (for the 21-month old child I apparently have, according to them) and a handful of credit card receipts. There are two filing cabinets next to my computer desk, but filing happens about every three or four months in this house. Fortunately, this is the worst room, but it is not as if the rest of the house is clutter-free. And unfortunately, if we expect to put our house back on the market in a couple of weeks, I need to spring into action. Help!

I have said to numerous people that I would rather go through labor again without drugs than move. I mean it, even though natural child birth is pretty awful, let me tell you. But I just hate packing and unpacking that much, and I am not even talking about the stress of selling your house and trying to find another, which also gives me heart palpitations. I just have trouble throwing things away, though I am starting to realize (even if I have not taken action yet), I am not going to be able to save every art piece, calendar, and newsletter from Jordan's preschool.

Speaking of being domestic, which I am clearly not, I am proud to say that I sewed a flower back on one of Jordan's ballet dress-up outfits. She asked Brian to do it, and I figured since he does all the cooking, I would really be setting a bad example if I did not do it (although at least our house is pretty devoid of sexism). It went pretty well, I must say; I think I did a better job than I normally do when I sew clasps and buttons once in a blue moon. In my defense, my mother never sewed anything. On top of that, I had only one year of home ec in high school, and we had such a large class that we hardly did any sewing. The one little project we did (I swear it was sewing buttons), I struggled, and my teacher, who absolutely adored me for whatever reason, pretty much did it for me.

Cooking I have less of an excuse. My mom was a pretty good cook, and at one time, I actually did some cooking around here. But once we had a kid, and I was the one who picked her up every day and got home later than Brian, it just made sense that he cook, and he is good at it too. Now that Bri works from home most days, what is the point of my stepping in, so I rationalize. I know I am lucky in that respect. But I also know it would be nice if I started to make a meal again on my day off. I know Brian sure would like it!

Well, maybe this weekend, I will finally remove our Christmas cards from the plastic pumpkin candy holder located on our microwave. Baby steps...

Comments

Anonymous said…
You don't need Martha or HGTV. Sounds like you need David Allen's book, Getting Things Done. I know your rant was about office organization, not productivity, but that book presents a way of dealing with "stuff" that has helped me tremendously, at work and at home.

There's a ton of info online about GTD...here's the basic idea, and check out Wikipedia for more in-depth info.

Looking forward to our Penn Brewery outing!
SweetRice said…
Love your blog! It sounds like you have a great life and wonderful people around you. Focus on your daughter, she is the most important, far more important than a perfect house!
Lori
Facie said…
Ash: I will have to check it out. But in the meantime, I did finally clean out the Halloween pumpkin full of Christmas cards. See you soon!

Sweetrice: Thanks for stopping by. I am lucky to be surrounded by a lot of really good people. And now I have another excuse not to clean/organize. Sweet!

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