Organizing Junkie

Photo from "The Art of Clean Up" by Ursus Wehrli

     Here's a look at my road to organizational perdition.  I hope this will serve as a cautionary tale to anyone thinking their space needs a little tweaking.  

     It's a slippery slope from ordinary tidiness to requiring matching hangars, alphabetized spices, and precision scheduling systems  NASA would envy.   

                         ---

     Hi.  I'm Susan, and I'm an Organize-aholic.  

Grocery Store-aphobia

     I never feel as alone in the Universe as I do when I'm grocery shopping.  For me, a grocery store would be the ideal setting for a horror film.  

     There's just something about the weird lighting, the narrow aisles, wide carts, and that smell of deli fried chicken.  It smells just like the chicken your grandma made...but we all know it's not even in the same culinary universe.  Does anyone even buy it? 

     Add in the long lines, uncontrollable carts, grumpy zombie-shoppers, those signs that never have the item you're looking for on them...  And the basic fact that you're engaged in a never-ending task of buying food...only to need more in a matter of days.  

     ** Sccccrrreeeeaaaammmm!!!  ** 

                         

Valentine's Day Revisited

     I've been reading through my journals and came across a piece I wrote on a Valentine's Day not long before Michael and I got together.  (So, no, this isn't about me and Michael.)  

     It's a time capsule of Valentine's past and a reminder that the most important relationship any of us has, is with ourselves.

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February 14, 1995
New York, NY

     He called this morning.

     I hadn't heard from him in months, but knew he'd call today.  Because it's Valentine's Day?  Because he likes to mess with my hard-won peace of mind?  I don't really know.

     Even though I knew he'd call, when I picked up the phone I was thinking it would be my friend, Melissa, or Carol, my neighbor,...or anyone, really, except him.

---

     I surprise myself when I answer his "Hello.", with "Don't call me anymore, okay?" I don't recognize myself; I sound like Maureen O'Sullivan-no-nonsense, serious-as-a-heart-attack.  But, then I'm not sure what to do.  I stand there staring at the blank white wall in front of me, hearing the sudden clatter of my heartbeat, and the startled silence at the other end of the line.

What Hill?

"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time, any fool can do it, there ain't nothin' to it.  Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill...but since we're on our way down, might as well enjoy the ride."    -James Taylor

   

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      I had dinner with a sweet, young, new-hire named Xiul (See Uhl).  We were talking about how tiring the job can be.  I told her about when I was a new-hire in New York.  I'd come in from these 10 hour all-night international flights, drag my bags through the city, and finally get to my apartment.  I remember looking up from the bottom of the four flights of stairs, wondering how I was going to get myself and my bags all the way up to my apartment.

     Xiul earnestly listened, nodded, and was, obviously, trying to picture the scene.

     She said:  "Were you skinny then?"

Quite Contrary

     A couple of years ago I worked with a flight attendant...we'll just call her Mary.

     I thought she looked familiar:  "I think we've flown together."

     "No, we haven't."  Mary said immediately.

      We fly with thousands of people and everyone does start to run together.  If someone said they remembered me, I would just feel rude for forgetting them.  

     Mary and I worked in main cabin together on that trip and it was total misery.  It took me a while to figure out why.

Crap Management: Techno-Clutter

    It's not like anyone aspires to become a hoarder.  It's just that stuff you bring home never senses when it's outworn it's welcome.  Obsolete technology is the worst.

     It just sits there.  

In Sickness and In Health

     Michael and I have completely different styles of being sick.

     Michael is not one of those men who turns into a big-baby when he gets sick.  Mainly he tries to pretend it's not happening-doesn't want to talk about it at all.  He pretends so convincingly that it can be a couple of days before I even realize he's sick.

     If he's hurt I may never know.  Just one small example:  He hit his thumb with a hammer while we were restoring our house.   I swear he hid it from me.  Months later, I noticed the blood blister under his nail.

     "When did that happen?"

     "When I was finishing the trim in the living room."

     "Dang!"  I said.  "If that had been me, I would have told you about it every day."

     "I know."  he said...sounding resigned.

Bewitched

    I overheard some lines from a movie Michael was watching.  It was all about witches.  Now I can't think about anything else.

     In the movie a professor was lecturing his class about how witches often use 'familiars'.  He explained that these are animals that do the bidding of their witches and said that cats are often used for this purpose.  

      Control A Cat?  Hilarious!  That's some powerful magic, indeed.

Good Intentions

     I love New Year's Resolutions.  I love them so much I make them all the time.  I've made thousands of them!!!

     Every once in a while I actually stick to one.

The Santa Question

Me at 15 with Santa (aka my granddad, Sam Scott)

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***SPOILER ALERT: ***
If you've been stressed all month about
whether you're going to make Santa's 'Nice' list...
DO NOT READ THIS!
It'll just upset you.

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Magic Happens

     A common conversation among foreigners in San Miguel includes the questions:  "What brought you to San Miguel?",  and "What made you want to stay?"

     I've heard and read all sorts of reasons for the appeal of the town, from the practical to the bizarre.

Careful What You Wish For, Cat

     It's been cold this week in Texas.  We're used to the occasional norther blowing in and making things frigid for a couple of days, but this time, it just got cold and stayed that way.  All the roads iced over last week and still aren't fully thawed.

     On one of the first days of the ice storm Ella indicated that she'd like to go hang out in the back yard.  She communicated this by standing at the back door crying incessantly.

     I explained to her that, no, she didn't want to go out, since it was freakin' cold out there.

     But she just explained (in ever-louder cat-speak) that yes she, definitely, did.

Oh Christmas Tree

     We started the tree decorating on a different note this year.  Typically, I like to push, pull, tug, and kick the tree from the upstairs of our garage, down the stairs, across the patio, and into the house.