Organization? What's That?

I grew up in a very organized home. My poor mother had to be banging her head against every door frame in the house as she realized her eldest child was obviously not following in her footsteps....not even a little bit.

My idea of being organized was that all the papers that needed filed, tossed or read were stacked into one pile. Or all our medicines and first aid items were all tossed and piled onto one shelf in the bathroom. I have tried to be organized, I really have. It'll last for a while and then life gets crazy and before I know it, there's that ever growing stack of papers back again. It doesn't take long and chaos is running amok in the house (don't you just love that word...amok. LOL)

Actually, it's not just organization...it's that I am not able to multi-task at all. I just can't do it. I get way to overwhelmed and I lose my mind. When I worked in the law office, it nearly drove me crazy. I'd be typing, the phone would ring, and someone would stop in. ACK!

Fast forward to March 2008 and I am losing my flippin' mind! LOL I'm serious. I have to be organized. I NEED to be organized. But no matter how hard I try, it's just not happening. I am trying to prepare for Austins confirmation & am also trying to plan for Ashley & chelsea's graduation, which if a certain extended family member who shall be left nameless has their way, we will have 1,000 people in attendance - not going to happen! However, planning for the graduation means not only finding people you can bribe into helping work at it, it also means planning the meal, planning for the open house, planning the decorations, etc, etc, etc. Planning takes organization....and multi-tasking.

To show you how badly I'm failing at this: I have been trying really hard to find napkins that have something to do with Confirmation on them. I can find them, but they are pastel colored and Austin argues they are too "girlie" so he doesn't want those. I finally found some. Gold cross with a navy blue stained glass window behind it and underneath in navy blue letters it says "Confirmation". Beautiful and navy blue, so it's not girlie. Austin gave me a thumbs up and I was so excited to check that off my To-Do list (one of many lists that I have).

*pause* Insert Jeopardy theme music here while you wait

Ok, I'm back...I ran to do something else Graduation related I had forgotten about, before I forgot again. So, anyhow where was I? Oh yea, I ordered the napkins. About a week later they arrived and I put them in the large rubbermaid container that is labeled "Confirmation" (good place for it huh?). Two days later a box arrived by UPS addressed to me. Mind you, I've been placing lots of orders lately, so who knows what is in the box. I open it and there are very beautiful white napkins sitting there. On them in gold letters it says "Austin's Confirmation May 4, 2008"

hhhmmmmm....Houston we have a problem! I obviously ordered those during the high frustration time of not being able to find any that weren't girlie. And just as obvious...I seem to have forgotten I did that. Sooooooo, back go the blue Confirmation napkins, since these others are personalized and therefore can't be returned.

I am getting that one vein throbbing on the left side of my temple and I'm considering having it surgically removed because I just dont see it stopping anytime soon. I have actually prayed to God to remove it in my sleep, but so far it hasn't happened.

I finally admitted my feelings of defeat to my sounding board (AKA: Jay) and he shook his head and laughed as he said "Are you really suprised you feel overwhelmed?" No, but he didn't have to remind me that I should have seen this train wreck coming. He is so good at seeing the big picture and knowing just how to tackle it. If someone tells me what to do, I can do it....just don't tell me more than 2-3 things at a time. LOL

So, now I think we have a plan...well Jay has a plan, I'm just going to do my best to follow it. There are things I want to do in each room of the house regarding decorating or updating. He told me to take 1 room per day, which is very doable, instead of trying to do all of them in a day or two. I also am to write down every single thing I need to do yet regarding Confirmation and Graduation. I'm to have that done by Sunday night. Then we'll sit down and divide the number of items by what date I want everything done by and we'll figure how many things I need to do each day and in what order.

He makes it seem so easy peasy and much simpler than my own running amok style (there's that word again...hehehe). I should be able to do this all on my own. I wonder why I can't?

Oh wait....I'll be back....I just remember I need to call the photographer with more information for the graduation invitations....ok, now where's his phone number in this stack?