Last weekend, Mama Hedgehog and I started something new. We got together virtually. She has a headset phone, I have a headset phone, so we got on the phone and chatted for a bit while working on sewing projects.

After an hour or so, we said goodbye. I continued sewing and by the end of the day, I had the top pieced for a small table topper.

We did it again today. Except I didn't really have anything ready to sew.

So I baked. During a two hour phone call, I made 5 dozen maple crisp cookies, and packaged them and cleaned up. The baking sheets are drip-drying, but everything is put away.

Considering that I hadn't planned on baking, it was a bonus. A double bonus, really, since I now know that I can go from "vague urge" to "packaged baked goods and clean kitchen" in almost exactly a two-hour block.

We'll be doing this again next weekend. Saturday, from 11AM to 1PM. Can't wait to see what we'll do then!

Well, it's 6pm on Sunday evening.

I have made a dishcloth. I have started another one. (Variation on a theme.)

I have cut (most of) the fabric for the sudoku patchwork. I now have 23 strips of fabric of varying colors and widths, ready for sewing.

Does it sound impressive? Perhaps not. But as the payoff for my tidying and purging, it works.

I've been using the UI list to sort to-dos, and that's been good to a point. However, I've found that there's a subtle unlabelled factor involved. That is where the item falls on the Joy/Duty spectrum.

Some of this depends on how I look at it: Exercise is duty. Dancing is joy. And there are almost always aspects of joy in duty and of duty in joy. Even so, when comparing a trip to the dentist to selecting fabrics for a quilt, the odds are that the dentist visit is closer to the Duty end, and the fabric shop visit is closer to Joy.

While I had things on my list that were duty (make an appointment for a physical!) and things on my list that were joy (museum visit!), most of the things that were actually done skewed toward duty. Reviewing last weekend's accomplishments... The only Joy item was the baking for IT. And even that had a strong element of duty in it. Perhaps 60% joy, 40% duty. Enough for it to be worthwhile, but not something I was doing just for me.

Except that isn't quite right either. I tidied my sewing shelves and my yarn shelves, and I did that for me. But the payoff for tidying those areas isn't really the tidy areas. The real payoff comes when I can find things in those tidy areas. And make something.

So this is a payoff weekend. I have some obligations: I need to clean and cook and do laundry and balance my checkbook. But after the weekly obligations are done, I'm giving myself permission to do whatever I want, as long as it skews more toward the Joy end of the spectrum.

This:


Is now this:


And that takes care of everything that was on yesterday's list.

I've decided not to go to the American Museum of Natural History today. It is cold and windy, and with the wind chill... A) I'm a wimp, and B) I'm getting over a cold. I don't want to know what really cold air will do to my bronchial passages. I suspect it won't be pretty.

So that is disappointing, but fortunately, I have my UI list to refer back to.

Next on my list is something to do with a website. Unfortunately, I'm in one of those of those moods where "computer time" = "relaxation time", and that doesn't bode well for getting anything done.

Next item after that is the sudoku wall hanging. Okay, sounds fair. I estimated 4 hours, and that sounds reasonable. The item after that is a different patchwork. I estimated 5 hours, and that sounds fair, except that it's easily twice as complicated as the sudoku one. I botched the numbers somewhere, because while I can believe 3 and 5 or 4 and 7, I can't believe 4 and 5. Beyond that, no, I don't want to do two patchworks in a day at this point. Next?

Ah, the yarn shelves. Main problem is that I simply have too much yarn. More yarn than plans, more plans than time to knit or crochet... But the credit card still works. So there's a backlog.

Some people call this "stash", which it sort of is, but that tends to hide the reality of it. A supply of yarn (or of consumable supplies for any craft, really) comes under two main categories.

1. For a specific project. It's a to-do. There's a time commitment implied, even if it's not scheduled. So there's the pressure of the to-do.


2. Not for a specific project. It's a gee-that's-lovely, or gee-I-might-use-that, or a gee-I'd-love-to-make-something-with-that purchase. No real problem, except that if there are enough of these, they tend to hide the stuff that's ready to be done.

So whether it was meant to be used for something specific, or be inspirational for something as yet unknown, it's still backlog, and if you get enough of it over time, at least some of it is stagnant. You've moved past really wanting to make that project. Or those supplies no longer fill you with the sense of possibility. At least some of it is stagnant.

And that's where I am. When I say "yarn shelves", I mean "yarn purge". And I've estimated 3 hours. Do I really want to do that?

Perhaps not. I admit it, I'm hiding from the yarn. And from admitting that I need to give up some fantasies about some projects that will never get done. Perhaps the next item will be more appealing.

What's next? Oh, sewing shelves. Which need to be organized a bit, but you know... The real problem is that the yarn stash is too large for its designated area, and is migrating. (Migratory yarn. You heard it here first.) And I want to use black thread on my sudoku, which means I'll have to rummage through the sewing box anyway... This lacks something as a procrastination device, since it'll make dealing with the yarn even more urgent, but I wasn't hoping for a long reprieve, so... Okay. I'll start there, I guess.

So that's where I am. I evicted all the yarn, and am working on organizing my sewing box. I seem to have thread and fasteners and handpiecing/quilting stuff and big cutty things and small pointy things.

I love how my brain works.

---

201001031321 ETA: Well, I didn't discard much (elastics that were heading towards crackledom, mostly), but the sewing supplies are contained. The five categories I mentioned are now in larger Gladware containers, and three more categories ("rulers", "scraps", and "um...stuff") are each in smaller Gladware containers.

---

201001031906 ETA: I got rid of 5 lbs (2-3kg) of yarn that I knew I wouldn't use, and banished another 3 lbs (1.5-2kg) that I wasn't sure of. (I have a weakness for sock yarn, apparently.) I have issued an alert to my brain that if I find myself ogling yarn and thinking "socks" (or, to a lesser extent, "mittens"), then I need to step away from the yarn for a moment.

The good news is that none of the yarn had overt moth damage.

I'm not entirely donedonedone with this, because some of the bins are a bit overstuffed, and I'd like to see if I can impose a bit more order, but on the whole, I'm happy with what I've done.

It's amusing, though... I got done with the yarn just before 5pm. It was starting to get dark. Day is over! If I'd worked on this in June, I would likely have started on sudoku, because there would have been about 4 more hours of daylight to play with.

Yesterday, my plan was to work on some folders that were on my dining table, and two bags of #%$&*^@ stuff. I made a little headway, but not much. Found one thing that had been semi-lost, and... It was just a slog.

At some point, I realized that what I needed to do was play professional organizer (Ms Hedges) and client (Angie). However, at that point, the timing wasn't quite right... Wow, I'm blanking even now. I think I had this moment of enlightenment while on the phone with someone, so that took priority.

Anyway, when I went to bed last night, there was almost no visible progress.

This morning, the alarm went off at 5AM. (Erk!) I got up, and thought... I'm going to work on those files on the table. Before anything else. Before eating, before showering, before turning the computer on.

Sanity prevailed for a moment and said, "Fine and dandy, but get fully dressed first."

So I put water on for coffee, donned my grubbies, and went for it.

At 7AM, the table was clear. And I identified my two problem areas.

1. Former friends. Not current enemies, but people who were important to me at one point, who aren't an active part of my life at the moment. So I have their contact information. These felt like todos. And perhaps they are. But... I don't really want to renew the relationships right now. I'm content to let them lie fallow. Once I admitted that, those items became easier to deal with. The information is all in one folder. In a year or two, I can review the folder and decide what (if anything) to do with it, but in the meantime, I've discarded the implied to-do of contacting these people.


2. Gift cards. Gah. I hates them. Hates them, hates them, hates them. They seriously do not work for me. I get them, I lose them, I put them away, I wait until they've expired, I wait until I'm not sure whether fees have eaten up all the value... I have a plea for the world. If you want to give me a gift:
   • Do something nice for me.
   • Or for someone else.
   • Or donate some money to a food pantry.
   Gift cards? I have no problem with them in theory, but in practice, they make me twitch. I am gathering them together, and will (eventually) go through them find out which ones have value, and figure out how to spend them so I buy a minimum of "extra" stuff - stuff that I ordinarily wouldn't have bought.

After that, groceries arrived, and I assembled my meals. It's rather nice to (finally) sit down for breakfast and to know that the meals for the next week are ready to go.

And then I turned the computer on. There was a justifiable reason for it: today is baking day, and I wanted to print out a copy of my baking chart. That is done, and I've updated this, so... Um. I think I need to turn the computer off now.

*snif*

Before I go, here are my basic plans for the day:

• Shower and dress properly (put on grubbies that are a little less grubby)


• Baking preps


• #%$&*^@ stuff


• Baking

---

I think I have every train ticket I bought in 2005. And most of the ones from 1997. Not sure why I was saving them. I'm keeping a few of them, because they're moderately interesting in their own right. (Metrocards started off as predominantly blue, and then flipped to being predominantly gold.) The rest are going.

I have old ID cards. I have current ID cards. I'm willing to keep some of the old ID cards as "photos of AH", and put them with photos I've taken, but I'm not sure what to do about the current ID cards. They're not easy to file... Perhaps a ziploc bag and a box-bottom file folder?

And I found more gift cards. *sigh*

On the plus side, I have the dry preps for the baking done. The only things left are the eggs and butter/oil, and the apples. So I'm getting there.

---

Ah, Mama Hedgehog. She is the bestest mama this hedgie could have. I asked her to stay on the phone with me for 20 minutes while I finished the last of the #%$&*^@ stuff, and she did. Actually, it took 30 minutes, which was about 20 minutes longer than I would have lasted on my own.

It is sorted, half of it is tossed, the other half has found homes. Not great homes for some of the things, but non-#%$&*^@-bag homes. And I discarded one of the bags. (I still like the other, so I'm keeping it. And I think it might be useful, even as a #%$&*^@ bag. I'll just need to make going through it part of my semi-annual routine.)

Now it's time to bake.

I have a three day weekend. (Yay.)

I have 45 hours of things I'd like to do. (Um, okay.)

That doesn't include things like ordinary cooking/cleaning/laundry/paperwork. (Errr...)

Or sleep. (Houston, we have a problem.)

On top of that, I still have the not-quite-full-blown(hah!) cold. It seems to be on its way out, though. I'm sticking to that thought.

I figure I have about 8 working hours in each day. CCLP will take about 4, bringing the number down to about 6.5 hours per day. After that, we look at my UI list.

The three main things I would like to do this weekend are:

1. Clear up the mystery folders and junk bags. (Small side task: create folders for 2010.) UI=3, Estimated time: 6 hours.


2. Bake for IT. UI=4, Estimated time: 5 hours.


3. Go to AMNH. UI=10, Estimated time: 6 hours.

On the one hand, fantastic. Three days with 6.5 usable hours, three items that take about 6 hours.

By pure UI sort, I do papery stuff today, foodie stuff tomorrow, and laundry and museum on Sunday. That would work pretty nicely.

What's my problem, then?

I was thinking of going to AMNH today. Because... That would be kind of cool, you know? To go to a museum on a day off?

And yes, it would be. But that's Urgency=1 with no assignable Irritation value. It's a whim. I can't quantify it. I can't put it into the list.

Actually, I lied. I can assign an irritation value, more or less. It's 10 minutes before the museum opens, and I'm at home, drinking coffee. Doesn't look like it's really going to bother me if I'm not there today.

So, time to wash my face, brush my teeth, comb my hair, and see what I can do today.

Procrastination was apparently an anti-perfectionism tactic, because I left just enough time to get it done, and not to agonize over getting it done perfectly.

I could have done without the extra stress, I think, and I'll have to clean up the scraps after work this evening, but all in all, it worked.

Tomorrow, I'm back at work. Today, I got up at five, had the cakes in the oven by six, and am now heading for the cellar to swap laundry around. In an hour, I'll be leaving for an all-day class.

I'm not complaining!

(Although I'm not sure when I'll be making C's blanket. Still have to figure that one out.)

---

Well, I think this is pretty much the end of my week off. I went to class, came home, had supper, washed the dishes, and I've run out of steam.

I never expected this week to turn out like this. I was thinking a few days of patchwork with Mama Hedgehog, possibly going through the sewing supplies and the yarn stash, and then (after she'd gone home), a fair amount of relaxation. I'd make an appointment for a physical, do the homework for the class I was taking, bake something for the department spread, and that would be it.

That would have been a nice vacation, come to think of it.

Perhaps next time. After all, I usually do the file purge on New Year's Day, and that's done. The American Museum of Natural History is open on New Year's Day. And I'm ashamed to admit it, but I haven't been to the "new" planetarium yet. It may be time for me to make a Journey to the Stars.

Huh. It's Saturday again. Didn't we have one just last week?

This has been a really productive week, and I'd like it to be a bit more productive today.

I have ordinary things to do: dusting, sweeping, mopping, polishing, cooking.

After that, there are four things I would like to do, and while none of them really need to be done today, two of them need to be done by early next week, and I'll be really annoyed if I procrastinate. Collectively, they're approximately U=2, I=2 at this point.

1. Finish putting away my purchases from IKEA (.5 hour)
2. Bake apple cake for department spread (.5h prep/2h total)
3. Make C's blanket (2 hours? I've delayed this long enough that it feels like I'm stalling on it (and I likely am, at that point), and I'm not sure why.)
4. Finish sorting through Mystery Folders now on dining table (2 hours? At least, it shouldn't be much more than 2 hours for the sort itself (6 folders, 6"/15cm total) and may end up being a lot faster, but I'm not sure how many "do it now" items will be in that mix.)

First things first: shower, clothes, and caffeine.

Onwards!

---

Change of plans. I had Migraine Light, noticed an odd smell in the apartment (something like cockroach spray, except I haven't used that in years), and found that my IKEA receipt wasn't quite right. So I took out the trash, opened the windows and went to IKEA. I'm back, and the apartment smells reasonable now. But it's 5pm, and I haven't cooked, baked, sorted, or sewn.

The problem is... It's evening, two out of the four items involve hot stuff, and three out of the four items involve sharp stuff. When you add the possibility of paper cuts from the folders, really, the risk of injury is pretty high.

Tomorrow... Well, we'll see what happens. A lot will depend on when I wake up. The apple cake is for Tuesday, and C's blanket is for Wednesday (I think - I might have those reversed), so there's a bit of time still. The file folders can absolutely wait until next weekend, but I may clear them off the table in the meantime. The only truly urgent items are the raw meats I bought, and there, the worst case scenario is that I throw them into the freezer as is Sunday evening.

All of which means... I'm calling it a good week, and giving myself permission to blob.

---

Apparently, I decided to do my blobbing in the kitchen. Lunches and suppers are made, and dry ingredients for apple cake are prepped. Not arguing!

And now to bed. I want to do laundry before class tomorrow, and that means getting an early start.

Friday already. From one point of view (5 vacation days), I have just one more day of vacation. From another (off work from Saturday the 5th through Sunday the 13th, inclusive), I still have nearly a third of my time off available.

I think I prefer that second view, but it's a little misleading. Because I still have Ordinary Weekend Chores to do, and I'm taking a full day class on Sunday (the one for which I did homework on Monday - thank you, $DeitiesOfEfficiency), and it would be good to get some baking done, although given a choice between Saturday and Monday, it may be better done on Monday. Have to think about that one, because it'll make next Monday rather busy, and I suspect that Monday will be busy enough on its own.

So perhaps it is best if I think of this as my last day off, because the weekend looks pretty well booked.

My schedule is starting to fall apart. I'm overplanned and undertimed.

Yesterday, I was supposed to spend half the day on file purging. I spent most of the day, and got it half done. And then went out with a friend - which wasn't on the list at all. On the plus side, I bought the small file box, and am cautiously optimistic that it will work. It feels like I'm on the right track, at least.

On the other plus side, I cleared off the stash-and-dash stuff that I had dropped on my dining table. I can stop the file purging now if I want, because I'm not behind. However, if I do that, it'll feel like "Wow, didn't I just do this a week ago?" when it comes time to do the next purge. At that point, I think I'd like to continue with the file purging. If I can get the basic purge done, I'll call it good.

I would also like to make C's blanket. The fabric is dry, and the hard part should be figuring out where to put the blanket as I assemble it.

So these are my goals for the next two days, in roughly chronological order:

• File purge - January-June 2008


• C's blanket


• Ordinary housework


• Baking - Pumpkin bread? Not really feeling like baking this weekend, so I'll leave the full-on baking for next weekend, when I can spend the entire weekend on it. I'd also like to find containers that hold full loaves.


• Class

I am officially giving up purging the craft area and making patchwork for me. I would feel sorry about this, except that things got added to the list, and they were (and are) higher priority. It's nice to have the list, because it shows me how things worked. I've spent 7 hours so far on things that weren't on my original list. I don't regret them, but the time has to come from somewhere.

---

10:30AM - Basic file purge done, ordered flatware for Mama Hedgehog.

There are three areas that are... I would call them problem areas, but they aren't all problems.
1. Billpaying box. This is really just a separate area, but it needs to be done, so if I ignore it, it's a problem.
2. Mystery folders in the front of the filing cabinet. Seriously, I have one called "Action", and to the best of my knowledge, I never actually look at that file. If there's an action item, it needs to be in my billpaying box, because I do look at that pretty often. Would be good to get that cleared out.
3. #%$&*^@ stuff. Slips of paper with stuff written on them, to-dos I've lost track of, notepads with notes on the first few pages, then nothing. This is the stuff that defeats me consistently, because I'm never quite sure how to handle it.

Using my UI notation...
Billpaying: U=1 (running out of room), I=4, U*I=4, estimated time=1 hour
Mystery: U=4, I=3, U*I=12, ET=2 hours
#%$&*^@: U=5, I=2 (high irritation when brought to attention), U*I=10, ET=2 hours

Billpaying is the clear winner, with pretty close to a tie for the other two. However, C's blanket is a U*I=8, so that will get done before the Mystery folders and the #%$&*^@ stuff.

---

Noon: I cleared out my billpaying folder, realized that I had three folders I wasn't really using, and made three new folders: maps, menus, museums. (I had had them all in one folder, which sort of made sense, but made it hard to grab for a map quickly since menus and museum bulletins tend to be larger.)

I have a large bag full of shredded paper, another large bag three quarters full of unshredded paper (possibly heavier, since the shreds are fluffier), and a third large bag of non-paper trash. I'm done with the bulk of the paper purge, so I'll bring them downstairs now. (I know there'll be more when I get to the Mystery folders and the #%$&*^@ stuff, but there shouldn't be All That Much, and besides, I'm not sure when I'm going to get to it. No point in hanging onto full (or mostly full) bags just on the off chance that I might add some more to them. So I'll bring those down and call it a morning, I think. I need to put a grocery order in, and I may be meeting visiting friend for lunch, so that should take care of any extra time quite well.

Thursday already. My, how time flies.

There are three things on the list today. Lab work (U=1,I=1), files (U=3,I=42), and C's blanket (U=2,I=4).

Lab work first, then coffee, then wash the fabric, and then... Brain, I would really appreciate if we could focus on the files today. Really. If we can't, I'll understand, and we'll do C's blanket, or even work on the craft area, but really? Files would be so nice to get out of the way. Just think about it, okay?

---

Labwork done, fabric for C's blanket washed and on drying rack (had planned to use the dryer, but had second thoughts - these dryers run hot and I don't want to melt the batting/wadding), yesterday's purchases entered in register. I'm having my second cup of coffee, and then it's off to file land.

The fabric may not be dry until tomorrow, so my backup plan is to work on the craft area. That's assuming I get through the files soon enough to do anything else. It's already 11am, and I'm avoiding them intensely enough that I suspect there's something I really don't want to deal with, and that may drag this out into an all-day affair. At the very least, though, I should know exactly what I'm avoiding by lunchtime.

---

Hm. It's 4pm. I'm moving slowly, but steadily. The stash-and-dash box in my closet turned out to be the semi-annual purge from July (papers from July-December 2007), so I'm working through those before doing the January-June 2008 purge.

I'm not entirely sure what my resistance is, but I have some ideas. I suspect that I need an additional filing area for scribbles. Notes about knitting or patchwork or whatever. If I get a small file box and put it with books on those topics, that may well do it.

At this point, I think I'll call it a day. I'm meeting a friend for supper this evening, and her hotel is near(ish) a place where I can get a small file box. If I leave soon, I can buy the box before meeting with her.

Wow, it's really rather nice to look at that list and to see that all my top items (U*I<10, U+I<7) are done. The only remaining high-priority items are the physical (scheduled for this afternoon), and a trip to IKEA (planned for Friday).

It's 8AM and it's raining. I have until 1PM, then I need to head to the doctor's office. Not sure how long that will take, so I've blocked out the entire afternoon for it.

---

Oh, bonus declutterage! I was on the phone with Mama Hedgehog, and asked her if she'd seen a particular box. She said, yes, she had, it was in the cellar, and did I want to go through it? As luck would have it, she was in the cellar and had some time on her hands, so we went through it.

We tossed some ratty garlands and bows, and put aside some items for donation, and...

We found the tealight holder that had been semi-missing for years. (I was pretty sure it was in the box, but I had no idea where the box was.) The holder is holly on glass columns, and it looks like something a frost fairy would have: all clear and light. I've felt the lack the last few Decembers, and am glad that I will be able to use it again next December.

Happiness!

---

Back to the schedule. It's now 9:30AM, I'm showered, dressed, caffeinated and fed. It's a rainy day, so the natural light is pretty weak at the moment. Best to do things in an area that I can light easily. File purging may be possible, if not... Then I'll go through my sewing supplies.

---

11:20AM. Finished tidying baking supplies. Should also do pantry, but that feels like avoidance at this point. Or perhaps it isn't. I suppose it depends on what I'm trying to avoid.

1.5 hours until I need to leave for Dr's appointment. I'd been hoping to walk, but it is pretty soggy out.

File purge. Gah. Okay, at the least, I'm going to collect the stuff I need. And possibly get one file out of the drawer. Or possibly work on the pantry.

Avoidance? Me? You must be thinking of some other hedgie.

---

Went to doctor. First visit. I especially like that his specialty is high blood pressure, since that runs in my family. So I think I've found my primary care physician. Was a 2pm appointment, and I botched the fasting for bloodwork (as he pointed out, I could have had breakfast at 7AM - d'oh!), but no great loss; he gave me a slip for labwork. Good news: there's a branch of the lab they use really near where I live, and they open at 7:30am. I may get that done tomorrow morning.

Went to fabric shop. Got fabric to make a blanket for a baby shower for a coworker. Very simple (two layers of fabric and a bias binding), no fuss. But it will take priority over the other sewing, since her shower is next Wednesday, and I would prefer not to rush this.

I did not do the file purge. At this point, I'm not even sure what my problem was. I may have been stressing about the doctor's visit, or it may simply have been that I wanted to get the pantry done.

I'd been running out of space in the pantry closet and thinking it was out of control. What was out of control was the water bottles. 8oz bottles that I get on Amtrak or with certain premade lunches. I get them, sometimes I drink them, sometimes I don't, and the unopened bottles get stashed. A few here and there. I had 14 bottles. 4 liters. Sheesh. No wonder I had no room. Shifted the bottles to another area, tossed out a few old items, and suddenly... A pantry that looks like a pantry. I can find the chickpeas now.

So today I did the baking supplies (U=2,I=4) and the pantry (not on list), and had a physical (U=1,I=1). Tomorrow, I'll get the lab work done (U=1,I=1), and get C's blanket done (U=2,I=4), and work on the files (U=3,I=4).

Part of the problem with the files is that they don't really need to be done until January. And they aren't really irritating me right now. Although with the stuff on the table, "I" may now be 3 or possibly even 2. Better to get it done this week, if I can, because if I leave that stuff on the table until January, it will be a U=1,I=1 task.

Yesterday's experiment in scheduling worked so well that I decided to continue it this morning.

First item on the list. Office supplies. U=3, I=2. These things have defeated me for... a while. And actually, calling them "office supplies" is a bit misleading, since there are cameras and CD-ROMs and duct tape (always duct tape!) and other things in the mix. However, I think of them as all one category, so that's how I scheduled them.

I started. I pulled some office supplies off the shelf and put them onto the table. And then I dusted. And then I stalled. And then I called Mama Hedgehog. And then I discovered that a roll of duct tape had fused itself onto the shelves. And I pried it loose and was stalled again. And I tidied my baking area a bit (U=2, I=4), and stalled again. And...

Something happened. Slowly, with much agonizing. But it happened.

It started when I reached for something on another shelf. An emergency radio: crankable. I put it on an empty shelf. I added a corded phone. I took a Scrabble game, still sealed, and decided that had to be on that shelf too. And then I looked and realized... That's my storm shelf. That's what I will fall back on if power is knocked out. It clicked. Not random. Not hoarding. Perhaps not entirely rational in some ways, but... this stuff serves a need. And if knowing I have a crate with a radio, a phone, a first aid kit, a flashlight and a game of scrabble makes me feel safer... I'll go with it. Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I'm more than willing to work with it.

After that, I opened boxes, I discarded boxes. Somewhat randomly, but making progress. I noticed something that I had known already. That area is dark. Deceptively so, because there's just enough natural light so it doesn't seem dark at first glance. But really, there's not enough light to work with. I had already decided to get a lamp for that area, and I realized that two would be better.

I saw this and decided to press on anyway, just to see what I could do. And...

Oddly, it was mostly organized. It just wasn't very tidy (because who can put stuff back properly in the dark?), and it didn't feel organized, in part because I didn't know where the lines were.

But as I worked, I realized I had four main areas.

• Things I write to. Printer paper, envelopes, blank CD-ROMs


• Things I read from. Installation discs, instruction manuals


• Things with cords. Power adaptors, the mic for my old computer


• Things without cords. A small video camera, the mouse that goes with the tablet that I finally unpacked today

"Things without cords"? Really? But... that's what I thought of them as. Cordless (mostly computer) gadgets. They tend to be small, they tend not to get tangled. Wow. Makes sense, but who woulda thunk it?

I also have a few things that defy easy categorization. They're small gift bags with... stuff... in them. Coupons, binder clips, notebooks and scraps of paper. Since most of the items seem papery, I'll go through those when I'm doing my file purge. (U=3, I=4, scheduled for tomorrow morning.)

There's a bit more to do in the baking area (I bought fresh spices and need to put them away), but... yeah, it's dark in that area. I'll do that tomorrow, I think. I have one more thing on today's list: register for classes for next semester. And that sounds good. I'll take the trash out, check the mail, and see what mischief I can get into in 2010.

12 hours ago, I spoke with Mama Hedgehog. She's cancelling the trip to my place. She doesn't feel well. I am disappointed for our plans, a little concerned for her ("drink lots of fluids and contact a doctor if you don't feel better soon"), and at loose ends.

I'm taking five workdays off, and this visit was going to eat up two and a half of them. Half the time, prescheduled. We've worked together enough that we know the drill, and we know what we're capable of.

Now... Not so much. I have five days to schedule. Not two and a half. That's twice the time. And the stuff that would have been a priority with a helper may not be a priority if I have to do it all on my own.

I'm at loose ends.

I want to use this time well, because, oooooh, a whole week! But...

Time to prioritize. And make lists. And figure out what I want to do.

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15:26EDT: I'm on a roll!

I went all geeky control-freaky and created a spreadsheet.

Task

Estimated time (in hours)

Urgency/deadline ("U") a number from 1 through 5 where 1="this week", 5="eventually")

Irritation ("I") a number from 1 through 5 where 1="$#*%&@%!!!", 5="whatevah")

I then made two columns, because I wasn't sure which would give me the better sort:
U*I (could be anywhere from 1 to 25, with 1 being most urgent and most irritating)
U+I (could be anywhere from 2 to 10, with 2 being most urgent and most irritating)

I did a few sorts on U and I to make sure I had the values right, and then sorted on the sums and products. They were really similar, but products was a bit more specific, so I went with it.

Right at the top of the list: make appointment for physical. 15 minutes, high urgency, high irritation. 14m42s later, I had an appointment for this Wednesday at 2pm. WIN!

After that, I started assigning times to the activities. Four hour blocks: AM or PM. I switched a few things around (a 2 hour task and a 4 hour task can't both be in the same block), but pretty much followed the list. And...

It's working. Whee!

---

Done:
1. Made appointment for physical (U=1, I=1)
2. Did homework (U=1, I=2)
3. Retrieved "misfiled" items from closet (U=3, I=1, because they didn't belong there, darn it, and I knew it even as I was doing it.)
4. Magazine purge (U=3, I=1, because there's NO MORE ROOM in that area)
5. Tidy bookshelves (U=5, I=3) - bonus, because I was in that area anyway and was on the phone with Baby Brudder Hedgehog, so I could multitask.

I talked Mama Hedgehog into a visit. She'll be arriving a week from tomorrow, and staying until the following Wednesday. It'll work out to just under 48 hours.

We can get something done in that time.

I'm just not sure what. Sudoku? Seasons? Shamrock? I've had the fabric for all of these since December 2006 at the latest. Or should I buy fabric for the bedspread?

Actually, what I really need to do is go through my fabric stash. Because... It's stagnant.

It's sort of sensible, since the blanket that I use as a coverlet is showing its age. It looks fine when the bed is made, but its days are numbered. Sooner or later, I'll have to replace it.

But... Is my desire to make a patchwork blanket really workable? Is this a project that I'm not going to follow through on? Or will I just pick some fabrics and pick a pattern, and get it done?

The classes I registered for? One was cancelled, and when I looked for a replacement, I found that there was a conflict with the other class. So I'm registered for classes, but not the ones I started off with.

I'm taking a class in Adobe Illustrator. It's fun, but this weekend was busy with get-togethers and out-of-town visitors and... homework? Where I have to create swatches and symbols and gradients? Eeks!

We'll see what I can get done tonight, I suppose!

And I still haven't ordered the yarn I was talking about ordering a month ago. I have plenty to work on, but wow... more ideas than time at this point.

And whatever else my brain was doing yesterday, that's what it set up.

I got a reply e-mail from the person who had written asking if an item was available. Thanks but no thanks.

I understand fully ($29.95 would have been well beyond my price point as a consumer), and I was willing to accept either outcome.

If I'd priced the item at $5 (as little as $7, with postage), I likely could have made a sale. And I would have been grumbling and grousing and never-againing and mentally and verbally beating myself up the entire time, because after expenses, I would have been lucky to make a dollar an hour.

And I knew that from the start.

So I asked a fair wage. If he accepted, great, I got a reasonable amount of money for my work. If he declined, great, I had plenty of other things to do with that time, which would have been at least as valuable as the money.

Win-win. I like it.

Must do that more often.

I checked a secondary e-mail address for the first time in about two weeks. Had a message from someone, asking if I had something for sale, and if so, how much would it be.

I don't, but I could make one. Not a problem. The price...

Now, realistically, this is craft fair fodder. The sort of thing that my mother would have expected to see priced at $3. (I asked her.) But that wouldn't even cover my expenses, never mind the time it would take.

And... I don't need to make this thing. I don't have a burning desire to do so. I don't need money so desperately that I'm willing to undersell my time.

But it's fascinating how I arrived at a price in a heartbeat. $25. $30 would be closer, but $25 will do. Not a penny less, mind. And they pay shipping.

$29.95 total. Take it or leave it.

I think... I think this bodes well.

I ordered four bottles of laundry detergent a few weeks ago.

Last week, I did laundry and noticed that the measuring lid was cracked. Oh, okay, that's annoying, but not worth getting too bent out of shape about. I'll just work around it.

This week, I noticed that the bar code had been cut out with a razor blade.

At that point... This looks like something that was damaged in the warehouse. At a guess, the barcode was used to document goods damaged in house, or it was returned to the vendor as documentation for goods found to be damaged upon delivery.

I don't think this should have been sold to me.

The laundry cycle is nearly done. I've written to the grocery service. I generally get good results from them. We'll see what happens this time.

Interesting, though, that there are times I don't delay. The easier it is, the more likely I am to handle it immediately.

ETA: Success breeds success, apparently. I got a cell phone in 2003. It's still functional, but the battery is going. If the phone call is more than 2 minutes, it dies. And if it's left on for 8 hours, it dies.

I had hesitated to replace the battery, because it's old, and Verizon doesn't sell them, blablabla. Today, I opened the case, googled a suspicious looking number, and found that I could get a replacement on ebay for about $5.

Well, dang.

So, we'll see. If this works, great, I'll get another few years out of the cell phone. If it doesn't... I may yet succumb to iPhone envy. Either way, I'll have a phone that I can turn on and leave on when I suspect that someone will need to reach me.