Progress

I was very industrious yesterday and I unpacked the last boxes in my office AND cleaned out my desk. I have worked at this desk (it followed me from office to office) for 19 years and I only cleaned it out one other time that I can recall. I took everything out of the desk and put it into boxes--probably seven years ago. I'm not sure if that counts as cleaning it out, but I felt much lighter with all that cr.., stuff in boxes. This week I cleared out those boxes and so, I went the one step further and tackled the desk again. In the interest of full disclosure, I did leave one drawer untouched and it is one of my two top organization projects to go. It is the drawer with my Rolodex and phone logs and about 500 slips of paper with phone numbers and other information that I don't want to lose.

Several months ago (maybe it's been a year now), we had a speaker about organization at ABWA. She mentioned organizing information as well as closets and that got me wanting the iphone. Well I have the iphone and someday I'll have my contacts list down to a science. So far, not so much. That's a "one of these days" project.

Last week, Adam and I took all the recycling into the recycling center. We were not sure that we could fit it all in the car, but Adam is pretty good at smushing it down. The recycling center had this big sign announcing that they collect cardboard. We have so much cardboard at our house, so that is my project for Saturday. I do hope it will all fit in my car.

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of divide and conquer approach to cleaning. When we were forced to clean our room, it was usually already a hasmat disaster area. My strategy was to divide the clothes, shoes, hangers and toys into separate piles and address each one in turn. Most of the time, we were done after the clothes and we had the pile of shoes and hangers for a while, but every once in a while we made it down to get rid of the last pile and then it was time to sweep the floor. I hated that job, but the reward was so lovely--a clean room. It never lasted very long, but those first ten minutes were pretty brilliant as Denis the dramatory would say. (Too much 64 Zoo Lane, but I digress).

Only two more projects at my office in my organization quest--I'm looking toward my house and piles are forming in my head. Experience teaches me it will be a lot worse before my ten minutes of brilliant--I think I'd rather plan my next vacation.