September 2012 – No Chaos No Order

Progress in 15 minute chunks

Posted on September 30, 2012 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in heart, home .

Between my daily chores I get a couple chunks of time where I can do what I want. For about 15 minutes.

I am pleased that each day I spend at least one of those chunks trying to tame or accept the chaos around me. In my first post I committed to writing 3 entries this week and to putting my shoes on every day. This post counts as my third this week (I like a Monday through Sunday week) and, despite one late morning, I have put my shoes on every day this week – YAY!!

In my previous post I mentioned that the next two chapters in the book I’m using (“Organize Now”) as a guide in my organizing journey are about taming your schedule/to do list and chore schedule. And those are two things that I am on top of. As an adult with (undiagnosed) ADH, I also consider myself OC (not D, because it’s not hurting my life at all to be a little hyper or obsessive), and I just can’t manage my responsibilities with out a good system.

SCHEDULE: Google Calendar all the way! It’s easy, accessible in so many ways and works with all my electronic tools. I also love that, by creating several calendars, I can easily search in the past or in the future for events. I was sick … when last year? Make “My Health” the only visible calendar and I can scroll back quickly. I started a calendar for my son the next day after he was born. And my husband has access to all of these calendars, too. Let’s look at yesterday’s picture from my tablet. In the lower right corner is a widget that shows my daily schedule. (Widgets are a big reason I prefer Android) which I look at and revise constantly through the day. My friends, family and coworkers know: if I don’t put it in my phone, it’s not getting done!

TO DO: Google again! I use the task list available on the pc, but use an app called Google Tasks Organizer on my phone and tablet because of their great widget. It’s one of the few that lets me check off completed items right there. That widget is in the lower left corner on my tablet.

CLEANING SCHEDULE: I had made one up years ago when I lived with two slobbish boys and it needed updating. For example, while I was content to vacuum the carpets once a week back then, I now live in a house where all the floors are wood and I have a baby with a lung disorder. With two indoor cats, I want to sweep every day. I had used Google’s spreadsheet to list out all the chores by room and then sorted them by how often I wanted them done. I still need to put them as recurring events in my “Daily” calendar, but I’m happy with my progress.

Next week, as inspired by I Heart Organizing and chapter 5 of “Organize Now”, I am working on downsizing and sorting my paperwork – especially all the information I’ve collected about and for my son! I think the hardest part will be how (if?) my husband wants to combine our finances and paperwork. We’ve maintained separate finances till now, but since I won’t be working next year, I’ll be relying on him.

So, here are three measurable goals for next week:

1) Robin’s paperwork (including comprehensive file, home information, and a small travelling packet)
2) Discuss combined finances with husband, set up bill processing
3) Go through filing cabinet, sort and dispose, use paperless options

And a fourth goal: blog about the three goals!

New book, new plan!

Posted on September 28, 2012 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in health .

An aunt shared a book with me called “Organize Now” by Jennifer Ford Berry. So far what I like most about it is the table of contents! It seems to be a comprehensive list of everything I could think of to organize in my life. The tips I’ve read so fare are not earth shattering, but I do like that the first few chapters reminded me to reevaluate my values and priorities. I was immediately able to let go of some of the things on my To Do list – like fixating on “needing” new, more adult furniture or starting yet another line of not-so-exciting projects to sell on Etsy.

I did some journaling in my notebook and came up with core values and priorities to help me focus my efforts. I typed it up to make it pretty so I’d be happy to look at it around my house. That was harder than I thought it would be! I consider myself very computer savvy. I have made several of my own charts, lists, check off sheets similar to what I’ve seen on other organizing blogs, but they are ugly. I am not a graphic artist. My work is often much more functional than pretty. I have spent a lot of time trying to make this list look nice in the last two days!

The first thing I found was a font that appealed to me. At first I was thinking of something with polka dots, but, on this webpage of free fonts, I found a font that reminded me of my childhood and just filled me with joy (CareBears, anyone?)! Then, I wanted to vary the colors because I thought that would make it more attractive, too. Picking out colors that match is HARD. Until I found this webpage! It gave me a four color combination that worked really well. So, here is my final list!

(New ToDo item: clean fridge exterior!)

I also loaded it on my phone and tablet right next to my to do list, so I can remember to check the new, random tasks I come up with before committing to them. The next two chapters in the book are about organizing your schedule/to do lists and cleaning schedule, so I’ll briefly describe my current system in my next post.

New need, new blog

Posted on September 26, 2012 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in blogging, health, heart, home, relationship .

“No chaos, no order.” A new mantra for my new life. I think it acknowledges the craziness and disorder in my life while reminding me of the opportunity that comes from it. It is a simple phrase that will help me see the positive in my daily endeavors.

Chaos isn’t new to me, nor do I imagine that I’m particularly special in the type or amount of it, but both aspects have changed a lot for me recently and I recognize that I need to change how I deal with it – I’m not happy with how things are going now. Some sources that have helped me see this, and gave me the idea for how to address it, are the organizing blogs I Heart Organizing and Delightful Order.

The biggest change in my life has been the birth of my son, Robin, and the second change has been the rather spontaneous decision for me to be a full-time stay-at-home mom. Robin came early. Really early. There we were, debating if we wanted to rent a tub for our home birth, happy that I was finally getting over my morning sickness, and gearing up for some serious nesting when I started bleeding. And kept bleeding. With a complete placenta previa our home birth became a high risk c-section and, not only that, would require my hospitalized bed rest until the baby had to be delivered. We made it another month, but Robin had to be delivered when he was 28 weeks old. He weighed 1 pound and 13 ounces. There’s a lot more to that story (one of my current projects!) but the point is the unforseen complications that came of it.

We’ve got the normal upheaval of having a newborn – for which I’m often grateful! – but he has a few extra medical needs, too. I often feel guilty knowing how well Robin is doing compared to other families, but these things are still upsetting and exhausting. The primary things that have added to our chaos is Robin’s tubes and oxygen tank, Robin’s feeding difficulties, and my continued exclusive pumping. That and our decision for me to stay home full-time for a year (to avoid the illnesses so prevalent in public schools). So now, not only will I not be earning any money (I’m a Speech and Language Pathologist in a public school), I’ll be home all day. Every day. Not that that’s bad! Far from it! But it’s different from what I thought I was going to be doing.

Robin and I have been home for two months now (last weighed in at 12 pounds 3 ounces and meeting all developmental benchmarks) and I am actually becoming more distressed in some ways. Sure, I’ve mastered his medicines and feedings, but I am struggling to maintain my optimism as this drags on. I had hoped he’d be getting better at breastfeeding or at least eating from a bottle so we could have the gavage tube removed from his nose, but he’s actually getting worse. I’m upset about that, so I’m more sensitive to stupid things like cat hair clumps in the kitchen, and I respond by flopping on the couch to watch tv and eat ice cream.

The purpose of this blog is to resolve the chaos I can, so I can face the rest a little stronger. My goal is to write at least three times a week as I address the chaos in my health, my heart, my home, and my relationships. That may be too many topics, but we’ll give it a try for now. The point is not to complain, but to identify and solve problems. I’ll probably be doing a lot of cleaning and organizing for a while!

My first two solutions will need time to see if I am successful – I’ll check back in a week. Those solutions are:
1) blog three times each week (1 of 3 down!)
2) change out of my flip flops into tennis shoes at 9am every morning!