Best Laid Plans...

I hate it when a plan doesn't come together like, well, like I planned it.  I started my big office organization project last week, with intentions of being finished by the end of this week. Larry helped me alot when he was home on Monday. We got the twin bed out of there and put my work table back in. That was huge.

I had lots to do on Tuesday...meetings and more meetings...so not much done on the office that day.

But I had the entire day blocked out yesterday. No deadlines. No writing. No meetings. A full day, dedicated to organizing and making my office my own blissful haven.

Then I got sick. I'm not talking a little sniffle. I'm talking full-blown feel-like-crap head cold. With fever. Bad.

So I spent most of the day yesterday sleeping when I really wanted to be in my office (and getting all that stuff out of my den). Finally, about 4:00, I ventured back, ready to at least get a little something done. I got a box from the den and took it in the office, ready to find a place for everything with everything in its place.

What I discovered in that short amount of time was that I'm a hoarder. Just like those crazy people on TV. I started with the stapler (which had babies, and then there were three staplers!) and staples. For the record, I will probably NEVER have to buy staples ever again. In my best estimation, I have about 25,000 staples. I'm set for life. In a desire not to be wasteful, I was picking stray paperclips and rubber bands out of the bottom of the box, putting them with the other paperclips and rubber bands. And then there were more staples. Stray staples, not in a box. So I attempted to put them back in a box of staples...which never works. Sorry, Earth. There are going to be some stray staples in a landfill somewhere. Sue me.

In just one hour, I found at least 25 pads of sticky notes, easily 2000 or more paper clips, a couple dozen alligator clips (love those!), and countess pens and pencils. I actually had a scratch pad out and tested each pen before I put it in its place. In doing so, I found some old treasures...like my pen from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science that lights up neon green and has fish that float up and down inside the barrel. And my Elvis pen from Graceland with a little Elvis and a pink Cadillac that also float up and down. There's the heart-shaped pen from St. Dominic, a pink furry pen with a crown on top I got back in my "goddess" days, a beautiful beaded pen I got from the first Anthropology store I ever visited (in Denver, I believe), and some very special pens, made of exotic woods, turned by my dad. Those special pens went into their own holder, not to be mingled with the peasant pens.

Next I opened a drawer in a rolling cart and found....more pens. All in packages, brand new, never opened. At least 100 of them. I'm a hoarder, I tell you. Yet, when I need a pen when I'm out and about, I'm always digging in the bottom of my purse, and I usually end up borrowing one from whoever is next to me (which is probably one way I ended up with so many pens!).

So much for streamlining and simplifying my life.

Even though I still feel rotten, I have a full day today...beginning with a coffee meeting in a little while. So I won't be in my office today...or tomorrow, when I'll be doing my Friday afternoon volunteering gig at the Mississippi Museum of Art. (If you haven't seen the fabulous Jim Henson exhibit at the MMA, don't miss it!)

Maybe I'll make some progress this weekend. I'm not going to make plans. Instead, I'll just let it happen when it happens, which is how most of my most productive projects get done.

Do you have any projects you want to get done? If so, do you have a plan, or will you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants hoping it will happen?

Blessings to all who read this!

Susan