Mon Aug 22 - After all those exciting breakfasts at home, or at least of homemade cooking, I'm embarassed to admit this morning was a breakfast on the road day (read: drive through), because I finally ate all my leftovers and I need to cook tonight. I also need to pay bills, do laundry, and empty at least one more box [which often turns into 3 boxes on average].

My Mondays always feel more scattered when I've been away or busy all weekend. Monday is almost always "laundry day" so I know I'm limited on my "stay at home in front of the computer" time. Also, my room still doesn't have enough space for me to spread out with my computer and my files at the same time, so I'm still only sitting down for short computer sessions. I prefer to use my narrow-long card table for my laptop and bills and papers, but it is now part of the living room sewing organization. I may just break down and get a second one AND finally toss out (or give away) my old card table (the original square version). I like the narrow version so much better that I really think owning two will be best.

I started re-reading "Organizing from the Inside Out" again over lunch, which got me thinking about my gigantic-piles-of-boxes project at home. I'm still musing over why I'm holding on to so much of it. Some of it was the stress of not facing the mess I packed when I divorced and moved out. Some of it seems to be the psychological need to always be in process, in the middle of improvement, the adoption of new and better systems. I really need to select the best system and stick with it, even if just for a trial period like six months or a year. Then if I need something slightly better, it won't be just because I like new things.

And I'm wondering if I have some leftover old paradigms from computer work back in the days when you had to have backups of everything on floppy. Nowadays there's just not the same need for backups (although I really need to make data backups again) or the same problem with diskspace back in the day. It used to be that a computer did not have a lot of room for things to be stored on them, so we stored things on floppies. Or more accurately, *I* stored everything in more than one place. I'm thinking that this is my vice for storage—this bizarre need to have everything in two or more places. Maybe some of that also comes from having one-of-everything in office supplies, then if I don't have the right bag with me, I don't have anything with me. So I have a set of colored pens here, another set there, another set there. There's a small pill box in my purse with migraine meds, and there's a full first aid kit in my car. I have a set of contact lens supplies at home and one in my car, "just in case" I need to stay overnight somewhere and I need a set with me.

I always have a small library of books in my car "just in case" I find myself stranded somewhere and want to read for 15 minutes or more. I used to always have my spinning bag with me, but of course now I have paranoia about that bag. But when I spent the day with friends yesterday, I was itching to have my spindle with me so I could work on a project. Melissa and I talked a little about that—maybe I just need to have ONE small project with me, not the whole spinning bag with all my projects.

And then again, part of me likes the project of figuring out my projects. I have to find a balance for that in my life.

This all came to mind when, over lunch, I stopped to pick up a calendar for home to share with Melissa. She and I are trying to plan some of our weekends to carpool to events or practices, or to schedule parties or crafts-days at our apartment. So I was thrilled to shop for more office supplies, but I found myself trying really hard to limit myself to *just* what we needed, not what would be fun to use.

I'm happy to say I spent only $6 and change on a printed calendar and magnet clips to attach it to the fridge. The fridge calendar worked great in the last apartment, so I thought I might try it again here.
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Turns out that I just didn't have it in me to stay away from home this evening, so I'm opting for early-morning before-work laundry. I hope that works. *giggle*

Anyways, I did manage to get quite a few personal computer errands done at work before driving home (always a good way to get things accomplished and miss the traffic). Then I cooked up the rest of my veggies for another lovely stir-fry, this one included shallots, carrots, green & yellow squash, and red chard—certainly bright and colorful! I even stir-fried a couple of eggs for protein, and had a most wonderful dinner and time to curl up with a book. And now I have some yummy breakfast and dinner left overs for the next few days.

I never did get around to emptying any more boxes tonight, but I did take the time to fill in the new house calendar and set it up on the fridge. And Kristin (my college best friend) called this evening, so we were able to catch up on the last month of my life. It turns out that she's switched to a split shift, working 2-6 pm in the office Mon-Fri and 10pm-2am at home Sun-Thu nights. What a cool arrangement! And so from 9 until 10 we chatted on her drive home, and then signed off until next time.
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Reading Recently: Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" and Julie Morgenstern's "Organizing from the Inside Out"

Recently Listened to: Tori Amos "Boys for Pele"

Recently Watched: King Arthur, 2004, the one with Keira Knightly. Don't bother, it's really boring. Ugh.