Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Muddling through and catching up ...

So, here we are on the 11th of the month ... so far I've put away all our Christmas decorations (in the attic where they belong) and have started going through the random boxes and piles filled with paperwork that seem to have accumulated between Labor Day (when we have our annual barbeque) and Christmas.  (Yes, I will admit that in order to present a lovely, clean and organized looking home, I go through our house and clean the "public viewing" areas by throwing everything in a box that I don't need immediate access to.  Don't judge me.)

M.O. Signature Binder - Photo courtesy of  seejanework.com
As I go through all of these papers, I'm sorting them into my newly developed Project Binder.  What's this you ask?  Well ... it's a lovely purple binder that was neglected for oh, 2 years that I had sitting on my bookshelf and decided to use along with the box of page protectors and package of dividers that were there even longer.  I love these binders ... cute inside pattern, pretty purple color and a little cut out to easily pull off the shelf.  Since I have umpteen hobbies and interests, I divvied the sections into the following:  Scrapbooking, Knitting, Cooking & Baking, Quilting/Sewing and General Projects.  After I sorted through most of my paperwork I slipped my printouts of projects, patterns and ideas into the page protectors.  Now instead of trying to remember if I printed something, archived it in emails or simply just haven't thought of it in a while it'll all be in one place.  

After that mess was organized, why not continue?  While my niece and husband played his new Batman Wii game that he got for Christmas, I emptied out our 2 front hall closets ... the surprise storage area for my quilting and sewing projects. Oy vey.  I have quite the little stash going.  I went through my fabric for a couple of upcoming projects that I need to get working on ... and the rest of the closet contents are still sitting on the floor in our front hallway.  (Luckily we don't have visitors coming through the front door in the next couple of days.)  

Here's where the muddling through comes in ... the hubby is sick, we're expecting anywhere close to a foot of snow tomorrow ... which means that I'm hoping so very very much that it will snow so badly that I will justifiably have to call out from work.  If that happens ... then I'll be able to attack the mess in the front hall and be done with it.  Once that's done, please don't worry - I'll have plenty more to organize.  Namely the boxes that have the "organized" crap in it that I've sorted through.

I have to say ... after proof reading this, I realize how pathetic this little organizational feat sounds ... but it makes me happy, so I'll live with accepting that! 
 

Thursday, January 6, 2011

This weekend ...

I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I think this weekend may be it.  I want to go through our house room by room and list (here's where I wish I had a little mini recorder, but I guess I could leave myself a voice mail, huh?) everything that I want done or thrown out or moved or SOMETHING in every room.

Ambitious? Yes.  Will the hubs think I'm nuts?  Of course.  (What else is new?) ... But on my quest to be committed this year (not institutionalized, mind you) .... I need a really good and reasonable plan of action.  I think one room a month isn't a bad idea.  

Now, it's off to bed ... there's supposedly a snow storm coming in NY ... as per the lines at the grocery store (and the weather report).  I'll believe it when I see it!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Welcoming 2011 with open arms

It's not that 2010 was a bad year ... it just was, if you know what I mean.  Come December, I felt like I had been sideswiped by a moving truck ... Christmas came out of no where, and I was probably the most unprepared for it that I've ever been.  Forget about no time - I didn't even know what weekend it was most weeks!

Anyway ...  it's over, all we have to do is put the boxes of Christmas stuff  back in the attic and life will be back to normal ... which brings us to 2011.

As I'm sure many of you have seen in blog-land, Ali Edwards had started this little phenomenon called One Little Word.  Thinking about my life, the year to come and what my plans for it are ... coming up with one little word that epitomizes this for me.  I've "done" this for the past couple of years ... thinking long and hard about a word and it's meaning for me and my intentions ... then, I forget about it until I start seeing it come up around December.

This year though, I'm trying again.  Call this word self-inspired ... but my 2011 word is:

com·mit·ment

[kuh-mit-muhnt]     
–noun  1. the act of committing.  2.the state of being committed.  3. the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself.  4. a pledge or promise; obligation: We have made a commitment to pay our bills on time.  5. engagement; involvement: They have a sincere commitment to religion.  
(Definitions 6 - 12 weren't all that applicable, so I nixed them ... who needs talk of being committed to an institution so early in the year anyway?) 
Here's a couple of reasons why I chose it ... I'm usually the go-to girl for everything and everyone.   I stress (I call it stress, but really it's just some small fretting) about what I'm going to make for dinner - not for me ... but for my husband, who let's be honest here, couldn't really care if it was hot dogs with french fries or a roasted chicken with all the trimmings (meaning he's just thankful I cook our meals and loves whatever I put in front of him).  I make sure I call my mom (remember ... we live in a 2 family house together) to find out if she needs something from the store if I'm going because (gasp!) what if I actually came home and she needed a box of cereal because in 2 days she was going to be out?  (You see where I'm going here, right?)  Like a good percentage of women all around the world, I worry about and prioritize everyone and everything but me.  There are so many things that I have said I wanted to do, make or go to that just don't happen.  Granted, there are times that I just don't *feel* like going to do said things, but there are also times where I think that it's more important to go run errands, clean or do something that someone has asked me to because my just somehow isn't as important.  I change my plans before the hat is even dropped if it'll make someone else's life easier. 

I also know that for myself I try to take on way too many things.  It's just part of my personality.  I look at things and think "oh, I could make that!" and then they get filed away in my emails (all 2,000 of them somehow sitting in my in-box ... thank God for g-mail!) and forgotten about until I find myself searching for something else. 
This year, I'm going to stop doing that.  I'm going to commit to doing the things that I want.  To finishing projects that I say "oh, I'll do that Saturday" and then I'm somehow doing something else that is no where near what I wanted to be doing and the project is still undone 6 months later.  I'm not going to feel guilty about saying "No" and I'm going to give into some of my guilty pleasures ... like curling up on the couch and finishing a book in a day - just because that's what I wanted to do.  I'm committing myself to being a better manager of my time; of letting go of the DVR (hubby, if you're reading this ... it'll be okay ... I promise ... I won't abandon all our shows) and moving myself into my craft room to CREATE.  I'm so happy when I accomplish these things - and I don't know why I don't carve out the time to do it more often.  

How am I doing all of this?  With baby steps ... and I think organization.  This morning I pulled out a binder, some page protectors, a lined pad and some dividers and made myself a Project Binder.  I'm tired of having all these papers around or emails linking myself to projects that once archived away, I hardly ever look at again.  I think seeing these ideas will prompt me to act on them more.  At least, that's my hope.  It'll also be a fun way for me to kind of keep track of all that I can accomplish.  As to the guilt ... I know that I'm the only one that puts this on myself ... and the only cure for that is to stop doing it to myself.  No one's standards or expectations are as high as the ones that I put upon myself, so I just need to learn to loosen up a little and let myself enjoy the days and moments as they come.

What about you?  What is your "One Little Word" and how are you going to go about living it?

~ B