The Organizing Journey Day 1

Day 1 – Distractions Happen

Within the first two minutes, I was greeted with one of my greatest nemeses… distraction.  Well, “distraction” isn’t the exact word I want.  Distraction implies that I got waylaid doing something unrelated to my task.  My version of distraction is more like, “Oh, I can’t do THIS until I do THAT.”  Then, “Shoot, before I can do THAT, I have to figure out THIS.”  Etc.

So I decided to start in my workshop studio because I teach and have students who are waiting for classes.  I’d like to have the place set up so that the things I use the most are in convenient places (for finding as well as for putting away when done) and I’d like to open the space up a bit (which means store seldom used things elsewhere).

I brilliantly remembered I want “before and after” photos.  So I took a few shots going around the room.  Then I thought how much better it would be if I could get MORE of the room in each shot.  I don’t think I have wide-angle option, but I know I have panorama capability (used it for the first time last week).  And as I’m looking at my camera (on my phone) I have no clue how to change any of the settings.  Well, there IS a “settings” button but doesn’t give me what I want.  I want the thing that changes from macro to landscape to portrait, etc.

So here I am at my computer, ready to Google this question.  I guess technically maybe this IS a distraction because do I really need a panorama photo of my studio?  Probably not.  And then there’s THIS distraction… writing about my organizing journey.  But I really want to share my progress and eventual success.  ALL MY DISTRACTIONS SEEM SO IMPORTANT!!!

Well, I don’t have wide-angle, and panorama didn’t work so we’ll just have to deal with stills.

In my usual fashion, I’m going as a clock.  I pick one spot in the room and that’s 12:00 o’clock, then I work my way clockwise around the rest of the room (not all in the same day… although that would be amazing). 

I select the area just to the right of the door.  Here’s what it looks like.

And just like that two hours have passed.  I sent two photos from my phone to my computer (so I could show you), and before they arrived I realized today was Monday and I had to process SRAJD applications.  So now, two hours have passed.  I did my SRAJD work, got my photos from my phone, and here is the section I will begin with…

Oh wait… more distractions.

A friend came over (she’s awesome so always a nice surprise and she didn’t even stay very long at all), but then I called Roseville Toyota to check on my car (I’d had it towed there this morning for check engine lights and probably a dead battery).  They said they’d call me back.  No call back.  This went on for three rounds until someone finally called me back and said they can’t find my car.

So after some time on the phone with the towing company I find out they towed it to a completely different city (USAA’s roadside assistance company gave the towing company a completely different address from where I told them to tow it).  At this point I’m fed up with the towing company and with Toyota so I decide to call an independent mechanic that was referred to me.

It’s almost 4pm now, I just finished eating a small bowl of salad (all I’ve had all day) because I WAS going to have a smoothie but the gasket in my NutriBullet blade assembly broke and NutriBullet won’t sell just a replacement gasket (they want you to buy the whole blade assembly instead) so I had to deal with finding that out and trying to locate an aftermarket gasket with the least amount of “this didn’t fit!” reviews.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, so it’s 4pm… I’ve been on the phone almost all day dealing with time-wasting things.  I asked Auburn Toyota to put a battery in my car so I can just drive it away.  At 5pm I’m supposed to go get it, but of course my new mechanic is closed at five so I’ll be driving it home (unless something goes wrong on the way home).  If the check engine light is still on, I will have a friend help me get the car to the new mechanic tomorrow.  If the check engine light is not on, I may drive it and see how things go.

What a waste of a day.

The least I can do is finally show you the photo of the spot I was GOING to start on (and will… tomorrow I guess).

The door is to the left of these images.  The second image shows that whole side of the wall.  I plan to start right next to the door though so it’s pretty much just on, in, and around that 8-drawer unit.

I did have a 30 minute window in which I worked on this area (after weedeating in 100+ degree heat because I’ve been gone for two weeks and things are totally out of control out there).

I removed things from the wall and from on top of the storage cabinet.  I’m measuring and thinking that I want to make some changes to this wall set-up.  If it works, I will of course show you a photo when I’m done.

Some of the things I find are small and potentially useful in the future.  I'm placing those on the table and will put them into one of those small drawer cabinets like you see in hardware store.  I actually find lots of uses for desiccant packs, twist-ties, thumb-tacks, etc.

I cut the hands off of a couple dolls.  I'd purchased the dolls so I could use their hands to make molds.  It was a little creepy severing the limbs, but very space-saving.

I emptied (almost) the first six drawers.  Into one, I am keeping some clip-on LED lights.  I was about to get rid of them but I want to confirm, first, that I don’t need them at all in my photo set-up (or at shows).  I have to be careful with this, though, because "I might need it someday" is one of my mottoes and definitely one that gets me into a lot of trouble with "stuff".

One of the drawers had resin supplies.  I don’t need that in the workroom, and I need to figure out if my ice resin systems are still any good (one of the bottles is clear the other is light brown… I think that’s the hardener… I just feel like it’s darker than when I bought it an embarrassingly high number of years ago with the best of intentions).

I put three large tubs on the floor.  1=trash, 2=things for a different room, 3=things to sell or donate

Of course, to GET three large tubs that were empty, I had to dump a bunch of stuff onto my bed.  And now that it’s almost 10:30 (I had to take my daughter to the airport), I have to get all that stuff back OFF my bed.  Sigh…

Anyway, will take more photos and show you more progress tomorrow.  G’night!