Wednesday, May 28, 2008

How not to tidy your desk...(secret diary of a procrastinator aged 47 and a half...)

1. Start on Friday by removing large piles of paper and stacking them precariously on the floor so that the desk at least looks tidy and so that step daughter can use the desk and computer over the weekend. Promise spouse (and self) that it will be your number-one-top-proirity-no-excuses-made way to spend your next day off. (Today, Wednesday!).

2. Oversleep on Wednesday and wake up with slight headache. Decide to read in bed for a while to see if headache goes. It doesn't, so try sleeping a bit longer... That doesn't work, and time now nearly 10am, so try shower. Slight improvement. Sort laundry and put first load in washing machine.

3. Decide that it would be a very good idea to check through all email accounts, ravelry, friends' blogs etc in case any replies are needed. Explain to spouse that this is really urgent and, anyway, it would be much easier to tidy desk whilst he is out teaching this afternoon, thus giving me entire run of study. (He can be so gullible). Unload washing and spread over clothes horses as sky looks so grey.

4. Brainwave! If I have an early lunch then I will have lots of afternoon to do tidying in. After lunch, realise that there is lots of afternoon stretching ahead of me, and thus decide that it wouldn't harm to have a bit of a break before tidying starts. Catch up with the serials in People's Friend (people don't believe me when I tell them that this is my favourite magazine, but just remove my watch from me sometime, and you'll see that its a prize from their "Love Darg" in 2000). Something in People's Friend reminds me of something I want to google for. In reflex action I accidentally log in to ravelry and go blog hopping. Discover rather intriguing quiz, but am shocked by result:


I am Elinor Dashwood!


Take the Quiz here!

Horrors! I am sensible and boring. Now feel even less like tidying desk, in case I live up to quiz's utter misdiagnosis.

Think I'll begin by removing all distracting craft materials/projects from study. Might help if computer is moved to another room, too. Suspect main problem lies in the fact that most of the "compost" on my desk is unclassifiable. Feel like crying. Admit to self that real literary heroine is Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden. Most particularly in the chapter called "I Won't, said Mary!"

Help! Anyone got any handy hints on how to make tidying painless (nb please do not say "regular filing"). Oh, and there is a very tempting sticky choc cake in the kitchen but spouse has taken careful note of its dimensions and will know if I cave in...

8 comments:

Manda said...

When I have a purge and maybe you can relate this to the items on your desk is ............. if it hasnt been used, worn or useful for a year then it is either ditched recycled or pays a visit to the charity shop. Or ask a friend who trust, you know will be be firm but fair to be the "tidy up referee" So they say keep or go during your tidy up. They can help you be focused about it.

picperfic said...

oh I so need to sort out some stuff and your post made me smile...we can talk ourselves out of it everytime!

Lyndsey-Jane said...

i feel for you. I am so bad at keeping my uni notes organised - this year I bought some really cool notebooks where paper can be removed and added back, this helped.
I also have a Karl - everyone should have a Karl, he really helps to keep things in place e.g. he puts my textbooks away when I just leave them on the floor where they were discarded. He also sits with me until I have filed/thrown away any paperwork. He can be a bit of a taskmaster but it works. At present he is busy cooking spag bol for me.
Maybe I should consider hiring him out by the hour?

Alison said...

one word: matches. ;)

Daisy said...

Well, I've tried the 10/20/40 minutes of tidying earns 1/10/lots of squares of chocolate (depending on how much I'm procrastinating)... It sometimes works.

Rick said...

nqgelThe top of my desk is a pit. Sometimes I just want to take a 50 gal drum and sweep the whole top off in one swoop.

http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/

TutleyMutley said...

Oh my. You're a woman after my own heart.
"Step Away From the Computer"...

The Wittering Knitter said...

Your post really made me smile - not only do I totally understand the desk issues but I too am supposedly Elinor Dashwood and I had the same reaction as you!