Organization or not. . . . This morning I walked into my closet and actually opened a drawer to take out my clean clothes. While this might sound like a 'so what' or 'ho hum' moment, for me it was a second of victory. (Blast of triumphant trumpet music, please.) On Saturday, there was no hope of even finding the closet door. Honest. Reaching the door meant stepping over, in this order, a box of pictures left over from the Fair in September, six bags of stuffed animals, a wooden shelf I thought I might use, the Hoover, a broom, a cascading bed spread I planned to give my niece, and the top of one of the Christmas bins.

The Christmas bin is a story in itself. Mama cat likes to find the oddest, darkest corners of the room to sleep in. For reasons known only to her feline mind, she decided that the top of the storage bins in my closet were the perfect location. During her residency there, she managed to open and shove away the top of the bin. This explains also the bits and pieces of Mrs. Santa (a three part candle holder), ornaments, bows, and assorted tree lights I also had to step over to reach the closet. When I finally got everything out to reorganize, I found I had a pile of laundry to do. A cat making a bed in a mound of Christmas stockings (red velvet), embroidered pillows and napkins is not a mess free zone.

It took about two hours to get everything back and to free up the floor so I could actually open my dresser drawers. My Christmas bins are on top of the storage containers--in October! My usual record for releasing the Christmas bins are the weekend before we get the tree. The bedspread for my niece is now in a wicker chair waiting for her to come. The only thing I'm still tripping over are the wooden shelf and an impish, round, silver ornament. Everytime I reach for it, it rolls out of sight.

Of course, organization in one area seldom means it spreads to any other layer of my life. Take the morning rush to LEAVE THE HOUSE ON TIME FOR SCHOOL. This year I was determined to keep the boys ahead of their school work for LOL and to make sure we arrived on time each day. We might have to work on the homework the day before. (All day--like yesterday we did fractions, decimals and percents. I think I actually learned something.) We did have a bit of a hassle finding Miah's assignment book. It finally came to light under the pile of library books, games and a very dirty pair of socks on top of the piano.

Miah is studying snakes and how they hear. We managed to decipher his assignment and print out the notes he needed for class. BEFORE dark---I mean, that is some kind of record.
We even had time for an evening that did not involve homework.

Which probably goes to prove that an organized evening does not make for a morning to match. Had to rush out of bed, rush up to the ATM, stop at the grocery for lunch and the Cheerios Jarrod needed to measure out for his fraction class. Stopped for gas---waited and waited and waited in line. Home where I had left the boys getting ready. Miah couldn't find his shoes. Jarrod couldn't find the measuring spoons to take to school to measure the Cheerios. We got a late start out of the driveway and horrors, we were five minutes late for school. Thankfully, a lot of other unorganized people were pulling in as we did, including two of the teachers, so the boys scrambled inside with a crowd. Without brushing their hair---on picture day! At least this year we remembered to make sure Miah brushed his teeth so he could smile.

Organization. It's a great concept but a lot of work.