May 26, 2008

And still more progress!

As promised in my last post, here’s some more de-cluttering progress. I took the above picture of part of my desk a couple of weeks ago, then lost my nerve and didn’t show it to you. I can show it to you now because I took the next photo today.

There’s still a lot of work to do in my office. It took a couple of years of depression and neglect for things to get into such a mess. The re-organization is coming along nicely, but is far from finished.

And now, a word from my sponsor. Well, not really. No one is sponsoring this post. But the nice folks at Gloves In A Bottle were kind enough to send me a sample of their shielding lotion to try out. Y’all know that dehydration is one of the symptoms of my medical condition. That’s more than just thirst. My hair, skin and nails suffer from the lack of moisture. I’ve been handling great stacks of paper every day while organizing my files and catching up my books. Every gas receipt and phone bill is being filed in the proper place so I can compile my expenses and get my taxes caught up. Every report has already been entered into my work logs and journaled in the books. Old files have been purged and I’ve shredded hundreds of pages of sensitive documents. I’ve handled thousands of pieces of paper just in the last week. Paper sucks the moisture out of my skin, so I’m keeping Gloves In A Bottle on my desk and I apply it every few hours while doing this work. It’s a shielding lotion that goes into your skin and helps protect it from inside out, as opposed to conventional moisturizers which merely coat the outer layer of skin. Using Gloves In A Bottle has kept all of my paper-handling from drying and damaging my skin. It doesn’t leave a sticky residue when applied and has not made any smears on my paperwork because - well, how can it? It’s not sitting on the surface of my skin, it’s inside. It’s probably available in a store near you, so use the store locator and get yourself some. In the unlikey event that there’s not a distributor nearby, you can order it from their website. It’s good stuff. You should try it!

As I said, there’s still a lot to be done in the office. Here’s the part of my desk I didn’t show you in the “after” photo above. It’s a three-tiered tray system that sits to the left of my monitor and should have inspection order forms and a few other things neatly organized and close to hand. Yeah, I know - you can barely even see the trays right now. I’ll probably remedy that tomorrow. Maybe someday soon I’ll show you my whole desk in a single photo.

When I started this whirlwind of activity I wanted to do one house job, one office job and one yard/garden job each day. That’s not terribley practical because some chores move along more effectively when I dedicate big blocks of time to them. It took me most of a day to get all of my inspection files in date order and get them journaled, then put them in alphabetical order for filiing, so I didn’t break up the job to clean closets or pull weeds. I’ve managed to maintain a steady pace in each area of labor, though, except for the three days that rain kept me from working outside. Today I did the hall closet and started cleaning and organizing the shed in the front yard. Yesterday I did the pantry. There’s great variety of items in my pantry, so there are several types of items on each shelf. Generally, it breaks down like this: snacks and convenience foods on the top shelf, canned goods, sauces and syrups on the second shelf, herbs, spices and seasonings on the bottom shelf and gum and candy in the little hanging basket. There are a few frequently-used medications in there, too (the rest are in the hall closet, which you’ve already seen.) I threw away two rubbish bags of stale stuff that had been lost in the back, some herbs and spices that were past their prime and a couple of cans that I thought I gave to the food bank the last time I purged and refilled my evac kit. One can of tomato paste had a swollen top, a sure way to get botulism. Why is it always tomato paste? There was a mysterious sticky puddle on one shelf. Not a clue what it used to be, but it’s gone now.

Tall and bulky items are on the floor of the pantry - oils and vinegars, a couple of bottles of liquor and some unopened wine, cereal, Lance’s kibble and biscuits. Can liquor go bad in the bottle after it’s opened? I don’t really drink, but I have a bottle of B & B and a little rum for cooking. Both were opened several years ago. Maybe I should toss them? I washed Lance’s bins while I was cleaning the pantry and didn’t refill them yet, so the kibble bag is sticking out of it right now. Every time I open the pantry Lance checks to make sure the good stuff is still at beagle-eye level. My fire extinguisher is right there, too, where it will be easy to grab if I ever need it. You do have an extinguisher in your kitchen, don’t you? If you don’t, would you please get one very soon? Do it for yourself and your family, and because it will make me happy, too.

My next kitchen chore will be to sort through my dishes and assign a whole bunch of them to the garage sale/charity truck pile. Needless to say, there is entirely too much stuff in my kitchen!

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