October 24, 2011

Wanna laugh? Read through the boring post to the bottom. Believe me.

Today I was on vacation (get used to that sentence - I have approximately a bazillion vacation days that I need to use before the end of the year) and had just ONE ambition.

To clean out the printer cabinet (aka where-hubby-hides-stuff).  That was it.  It wasn't a huge ambition but it was an ambition.  Something I've sorely been lacking lately.

When I went to bed last night, I told Man-Child that he would need to get himself up in the morning.  Because I planned to sleep in and then get to work on that little-bitty goal.

And then my eyes popped open at 5:00 am (yeah, I KNOW!).  After determining that more sleep was futile, I stumbled downstairs to start the coffee.

After drinking coffee, catching up on what you all had been doing while I was sleeping, and slowly coming to life I looked at the printer cabinet.

And then decided it would be cruel of me to open it and begin going through all the stuff that Hubby had squirreled away in there - because I was sure that the commotion of me exclaiming loudly, "SO THAT'S WHERE THOSE PICTURES HAVE BEEN!" would wake my slumbering giants far too early.

So I looked around, drumming my fingers.  What to do?  Quietly.  It was still too early for the paper to have come (and if it WAS down at the end of my VERY long driveway, I wasn't about to go tripping around in the dark looking for it) when it dawned on me....

College stuff!  Man-Child had FINALLY completed most (notice, not all) of the essays that one particular school required.  I decided to get a head start on that.  You can imagine my dismay when I opened up the application to begin pasting in the work he had slaved over only to discover that what they were looking for was a bit different than what he had produced. *sigh*

So, I put that one aside, and pulled out another application - this one he had written out, but never got around to sending.  Well, apparently, that worked in our favor.  The school had called the other night and gave us a special "code" so that when we applied we wouldn't have to pay the application fee.  So I proceeded to fill in the online application using exactly what he'd written (I know, I know - I SHOULD be making him do this stuff - but seriously?  If I nag him any more over anything else - one of our heads is going to explode - and it would probably be mine) and, let me tell you, hitting that send button?  It was amazing!

That load on my shoulders felt just a tad lighter.

Giddy with a sense of accomplishment (something I haven't felt in quite some time), I moved on.  We still needed to send SAT scores to schools.  So I forwarded the information for the two schools we've already applied for.

(Here's the lowdown for those of you with rising Seniors - when your child takes the SAT, you are given the opportunity to send the scores to four schools for free...but only IF you send them immediately.  Mine took the SAT twice at the end of his Junior Year, before even knowing WHERE he wanted to apply.  Plus I didn't know this next bit of info.  If you wait to send the scores when you are ready - you will be charged $10.50 per school.  You're welcome.)

Now, on a near high, I moved on to the NCAA eligibility website.  If your child wants to play sports in college you have to do this part (at least here on the East Coast.  I don't know what the requirements are elsewhere).  We had partially completed this - but got stuck on the ordering transcript part.  So, I tackled it.  And finished it.  The only problem?  Somehow they seem to have messed up my order - instead of asking the school for MC's transcript - they are asking them for mine!  Which will be damn near impossible to get since I didn't go to school there.  I then fired off an email to the help desk and am anxiously awaiting a response.

(Also?  FYI.  If your child wants to play sports in college - most schools have a Recruiting page that you are required to fill out.  Find it.)

Then the boys got up and the hustle-bustle of the morning began.  Eventually, I got MC out the door and on his way.  Hubby, I worked around.  Now it was time to tackle that printing cabinet.

Which I did, in short order.  Finding, among other things, the football team photos that I had ordered EONS ago.

Hubby, bless him.  When he "cleans" the house for me that means he hides everything.  Apparently, these photos (that I had JUST sent an email to the coach about) got "put away" during a cleaning spree, before I was able to register their existence*.

Sometime during my foray into the printer cabinet, Hubby decided it was best to make himself scarce.  Which turned out to be a blessing.  Because once I conquered the printer cabinet, I moved on to cleaning out other drawers into which he has been known to "hide" things.  I was totally on an organizing HIGH.

Instead of boring you (even more) with the details, suffice it to say that I went on and cleaned out a total of SIX drawers today and completed a load (can you say 6 months or more) of filing.  Including stops to run to the bank, have some papers notarized, eat lunch and pick up some essentials.

My sense of accomplishment today is at an ALL TIME HIGH.

I cannot lay the blame for all of this chaos at Hubby's feet (though I REALLY want to!).  I have been VERY slack in this past year or so.  I know that I have been hiding from everything....paperwork, the house, friends, and everything else.  There's really no excuse.

Hubby may hide/hoard things - but if I had been on top of things - it never would have reached the level of chaos that it had.  Bless him, he did what he thought best while trying to help me.

But that load that has been weighing me down - it feels SO much lighter now!  I feel like I can breathe again.

In the past year or so, I've even quit penning my "lists."  You know, those things that used to keep me semi-sane?  But even without the lists, the number to "to-do's" and "need to-do's" have been piling up in my head; adding to the stress that I already have.

Eliminating some of those things has eased my mind much more than I would have thought possible.  I think I need to start penning some more lists.  Just to get them out of my mind, onto to paper, done and crossed out. So that I can let my brain worry about other things.

So what is on my agenda for the next vacation day?  THAT closet.  The one where Hubby hides the BIGGER stuff.



*A very funny side-note.  Those pictures that I thought I found?  They were from last year.  How do I know? Man-Child JUST walked in the door with this year's pictures.  Even funnier? I've got one of those old photos sitting on my desk at work - staring at me ALL day, EVERY day.  Even better?  A new guy just asked me about that picture last week.  And I told him it was a year old... yeah.....so NOW you have a VERY clear picture of how chaotic my life and my brain has been.  Feel better about yourself?  You should.

You're welcome.

17 comments:

  1. I can so relate to everything you said. I try to take one day off/week (because working 5 days/week just seems wrong) and I am finally getting motivated to get stuff done on that day instead of sitting on the couch with my laptop all.day.long. In between naps of course.

    My biggest job right now? Having to weedeat the ENTIRE yard (remember when I told you about the arguement about buying the weedeater? Yeah. I could say SO much right now.) because the lawn mower broke (FOREVER AGO) and the weeds are starting to look like a jungle. And no, Chris can't do the yardwork because he has a sinus disease that causes polyps to grow and yardwork puts him into surgery. Seriously. He's had at least 7 sinus surgeries thus far. Brat.

    Now that I've hijacked your blog...the picture thing is HILARIOUS.

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  2. I have almost 35 years of junk piled up around here that needs to be sorted and tossed, or organized. I intend to wait until hubby retires and get him involved... after all, I didn't make all this mess by myself. I can only imagine the sense of accomplishment IF it ever gets done.

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  3. Not boring, but understandable. I'm glad to hear that you have the new pictures now... right? Everybody has those times when it doesn't seem possible that we once kept track of the years better than today. Not boring. :-)

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  4. Wow, applying for college is a really more involved now than when I went. Or maybe it's just a US-thing but when I applied, I don't think any of the universities required essays, I just sent my transcript and an application. And the city where I live now has a pretty good university (it makes Top 10 in the country quite frequently) and it was just an application form too (along with the transcript of marks). I'm so I don't have to do that anymore. I'm old & tired. :)

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  5. Oh, this post wasn't boring--it was very easy to relate too! Except for applying to colleges. Just reading about you helping with that gave me stress.

    Seriously funny about the pictures.

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  6. Me chaotic? I'm not even sure that's still my kid that lives here, I think it may be a clone to throw me off!

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  7. Now I feel as though I should go and sort out my drawers, they are full of junk!

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  8. The idea of helping my Kiddo apply to colleges just sends shivers down my spine--eek! Good luck to you & your son with that.

    You are far braver than I am. I am afraid to even walk into my Hub's office. He is a pack rat. I wouldn't be surprised it HIS class pictures are sitting in a pile under his desk.

    Good for you for braving the mess!

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  9. First, my husband "cleans" the exact same way - except he tends to throw stuff away. It's maddening!!

    And secondly, I had NO IDEA about all this college stuff. I do have a close friend whose son is a senior this year and so I am getting clued in a bit, but just wow! It's mind boggling. My son has only taken the SAT one other time and he sent it off to "dream" schools - like Michigan and Duke!! Hahaha!! I'll have to tell him when he takes iit in December to keep it a bit more "real"!! Thanks for the tip. Congrats on getting so much accomplished!

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  10. ugh, I have drawers closets and a garage full of stuff that needs to be "cleaned" meaning, I need to throw the stuff out. My hubby likes to buy stuff at other yard sales to sell at our future yardsale...the yardsale we have yet to have..meanwhile the crap piles up....

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  11. Your hubby doesn't hide things when he cleans. He is just rearranging. I mean, there are so many unused little nooks and crannies just begging to be filled. He should be complimented on his ingenuity.

    And you have to be complimented on emptying those nooks and crannies out so they can be refilled again.

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  12. Wow. I'm exhausted, just reading about what you've accomplished. Yeah, I'm loving the idea of lists...but that means more paper, right? Oh, the paper!!

    And yet, I refuse to go completely paperless...I'm afraid I'll miss something.

    I have decided that in our beach house? You're doing all the filing. I promise not to hide things.

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  13. That all sounds very familiar. I have taken to the habit of giving myself a day off on one of my husband's two days off per week. Feels more fair that way!

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  14. It is a huge task to go through papers in whatever hiding place we put them - Congrats on what you achieved that morning! Totally impressed that you got out of bed at 5 a.m. - I hate getting up that early. I just finished going through tons papers, "organized" in chaos. I always feel like I have conquered the world when I do that!

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  15. Why do they charge ten dollars and fifty cents to mail a damn test score. That is highway robbery.

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  16. They probably don't even mail it. They probably just have some person there sending out attachments in emails.

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  17. What is the fifty cents for? Why not make it an even ten?

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