I am actually gaining control over the clutter in the office but I am worried that I haven’t thrown away enough stuff. 1 huge over-sized basket of file stuff and that’s it so far. Well, plus 7 boxes of things that didn’t need to be stored in my office went into the garage. And 1 bag for Goodwill. Still I’ll be happy if I can a) actually have enough room to work in there without feeling claustrophobic and b) actually FIND something when I need it. I know I should sort through the books – they are stacking up vertically on top of the horizontal stacks – but it is so hard for me to get rid of books. I think because when I first moved from California I sold all my books, including the old first editions I had that were worth some money, in order to finance my move. I’ll never get a lot of those books back again but I am loathe to let go of what I have. And we will need to, soon, I imagine as throughout the house we have over 5,000 books. Sigh. It is a comfort to me to see them all. My security blanket.
I have adopted a strange method of sorting what is left in the paper files, I know you’re not supposed to touch a piece of paper a gazillon times but hey, this is working so I am going for it. I have a big stack of paper in front of me and as I pick up a piece, if I know immediately where it goes, I put it away, if not, it goes to the new to-be-sorted pile. Mostly I am find things like receipts (Oh yeah, I’m gonna need those at tax times) and scraps of paper that have contact info or writing ideas. Once I’m done with the easy stuff I’ll have to go through it all again. This could take a while. I have 4 Xerox paper boxes filled with my paper that needs sorting.
Off to wrap birthday presents and drive to Sacramento for my daughter’s 23rd birthday and my grandson’s 1st birthday. They were born on the same day. Expect to see many indulgent grandma pictures upon my return. I haven’t seen him since Christmas.
SUSAN!
I didn’t know you were California Susan! 🙂 How could I miss that?
OH, WELL! Congrats on the fun party day. You will be in heaven with your little one to see.
And on the books. . .I think it is poignant that 5000 books that needed you found their way to your hearth, even as you cast the ones upon the water to get to the golden state. 🙂
I am with you on the clutter. My office is into shape. I continue it a little each day by tossing stuff as in stories that just haven’t shaped up in a few years. I am not looking back. I am opening the flow to more work that I can do now/because I am in a new place now. I know the work will find me though. . .like your books did.
Enjoy your day!
Meg 🙂
Re: SUSAN!
Actually I sold the books years ago to LEAVE California years ago. But I’ve been back here for 7 years now.
Methinks you’re not sure which Susan I am since I see you at our NORCA conference every year. Grin.
Re: SUSAN!
My bad, Meg, I put the word “in” in-between California and Susan. Sorry about that.
Ooh… looking forward to seeing pics from your family day.
I’ve stalled a bit on my study 🙁
Eh. I’ll get my butt in gear again this afternoon. I’ll go mad if I don’t see the floor again soon 😉
I’m about to turn off the computer and go back to work. Floor? You mean there’s a floor in there? Surely you jest.
Susan, my daughter turns 23 next week. And I’m in Sacramento today. Have fun with the double birthdays.
Linda Joy SIngleton
Thanks, Linda, we had a blast. I forgot we had daughters so close in age.
Wow! I love all those quotes you’ve collected
I have to come back and read more of you blog when I have time. Right now I’m too busy. I have important things to do. Things that can’t wait.
I’m bookmarking this and coming back later, after I finish my laundry and my back to school shopping and my dishes and all those other important things that get in the way of blog-reading. Sigh.