Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Sewanee...How I LOVE thee :-) + Organization


It has been way too long since I last posted...I've been out of town pretty much since school ended.  The day after I turned in my last paper for the semester (on the horrors of standardized testing) I took a wonderful trip to visit my alma mater and was delighted to see friends that I hadn't seen in over a year!  Sewanee, a very small town with stone buildings and breathtaking views can be found nestled in the "mountains" of southern Tennessee, surrounded by gorgeous oak-hickory forests.  What a reward for a semester well done here in the flatlands of Tuscaloosa!  The air is cooler and fresher and peacefulness and calmness permeate the landscape.  A 4 day trip to visit my girls and soak in the serenity of Sewanee was exactly what I needed.  [I took both photos during my tenure at Sewanee.]  Of course this was soon followed by (as life would have it) a "business trip" to hang around my parents' house all day Tuesday while AC installers were there.  It was wonderful to see all of my family though and my favorite hours of that trip were spent talking with my grandparents on their patio as the sun set :-)


          Before I left to visit my parents I did manage to accomplish Assignment #1 of "4 Weeks to a More Organized Home".  Yeah yeah...I know...I'm WAY BEHIND on this goal of the month, but I'm finally staying put for the next week and a half before my summer classes start at the end of May.  I definitely have confidence that it can be done!  Doubling up really shouldn't be that difficult as the assignments are fairly smallish.  I'm ignoring the first 3 parts of each assignment because they involve getting dressed in something nice, making goal lists, and following your morning routine because (1) I live by myself so am not all that concerned with wearing comfy pants for most of the day - unless of course I go out for food or errands -, (2) as I've mentioned before, making too many lists and too many separate goals just overwhelms me, and (3) I don't have anybody else to worry about so there's really no reason to follow any morning routine except for my usual coffee and newspaper as soon as I get up.  So, what does this leave?  I spent 15 minutes picking up random stuff laying around my den, I cleaned out my purse (which included adding receipts to my Excel sheet), and I chose 3 books to give away.  We'll see how many assignments I can get through today...

          Another thing I'm doing at the moment in regards to organization is going through the clutter of papers, magazines, and mail that I've allowed to pile up over the last month (when I'm in a rush to clean up my junk, I usually just throw everything in multiple eco-bags and deal with it later).  As soon as I got home last night I pulled out some desk trays I have and labeled them "Hobby Room", "To Do", "Urgent", "To Read", and "To File."  I have NO idea why I never thought of doing this before when going through my piles, but at least I figured it out this time around!  So far things are going really well and I'm pretty excited about what the final result will be :-)

No comments: