Tuesday/Wednesday Update...a Progress Report.

[chochiyo_sama]

My first day back at school yesterday  was exhausting, since we had all our classroom stuff in the gym and had to haul it all back to the room during the first couple hours of the day--we had to do it by rooms because our school is small, and the hallways are two congested with more than a few kids hauling stuff.  I was towards the end of the line, and I have the MOST STUFF.  I've been thinning it out year by year.  But still, I have more books and binders and art supplies than anyone else because of the nature of my classes.  Next year I am going to ask that I get to start, since I have so darn much stuff.

I worked on the room and all my stuff all day--we had a shortened and odd schedule because of the reorganization in the morning--only half an hour per class.  I had my kids do assignments  that kept them busy and interested while I continued to sort and toss and file and organize.  We let the kids out at 2:10, and I continued to work on my classroom until 4 pm.  

I may have to take pictures and post them up on my livejournal.  Too bad I didn't take "Before" pictures.  The transformation is astonishing.  It makes me feel good to be in here when it is clean and tidy like this.

I was dog tired when I left school.

Fortunately, my carpooler, Susan, was working late too--but then she had some errands to run--so it was nearly 5:30 before we left Rochester.  We did stop at Papa Murphy's which is a take and bake pizza place.  I bought a vegetarian pizza (I don't care for meat on my pizza)--it was $12.99, but, I will get four meals out of it.

For $3.25 a meal, I figure that was pretty worth it. 

When I got home, I baked the pizza, ate two pieces of it, and divided the rest of it up into three servings, wrapped  them up and bagged them and put them in the fridge.  I'll have two pieces today for my school lunch (we have a microwave to heat stuff up). 

Then I did my dishes and tidied up my kitchen a bit. 

I posted my Christmas pictures up on my LiveJournal, which took a while.  Then I talked to some friends on IM for a little while.  There was an amazing dark ring around the moon last night.    

At this point I was freezing--my feet were so cold it was almost painful, so I crawled under the covers. 

I took all my meds and ate three good healthy meals.  I ate no sweets--cookies, candy, cake, or anything like that.   I had a craving for something sweet right at bedtime, but I resisted it.

I didn't go to the post office yesterday because Susan drove--but I drove  today, so I will get my mail today.  Post office wasn't open on Monday, of course.   I'm determined to get my mail and not let it pile up--the anxiety of getting a huge stack of mail and not knowing what sort of horrors are within it is too much.  If I get it every day--or at least every other day--the anxiety shouldn't build up quite so much.  I can keep better track of the bills that way too--and there should not be so many of them getting paid late because I am too stressed out to look at the bills, much less pay them.

The only thing I failed to do was spend 30 minutes cleaning my house.  I had started twice--both times the phone rang and distracted me.  I was good on the phone though!!  I talked less than 15 minutes both times.  One friend wanted to linger, but I told her I was too tired and just couldn't hang on the phone at the moment.  I'm trying to stop wasting my life on the phone, and on IM, too, for that matter.  I want to keep track of my friends--but not at the expense of it taking over my life and leaving me no time  to do the things I really need  to do.

I guess I just lost steam--anyhow--I didn't get my house cleaning done.  I cleaned for 2 hours after the kids left in my room at school though!  Does that count for something?

I've worked on the room as time has allowed today at school.  It is looking really nice in here.  And clean too, since I am cleaning everything (shelves, desk, tables, file cabinets, crates, etc) with 409 as I put things away.  I'm also going through some of the stuff and throwing out stuff I know I will never use again.  Little by little, things are getting more organized at school--and I always have been more organized at school than I have been at home.  Primarily because I have more places to put things--better containers and cupboards and file cabinets at school.  I wish I had a big file cabinet at home like I have at school--I could put all my patterns and pattern books in it and label the exterior regarding what is inside.  

I think getting organized at home IS possible.  It just takes so much time.  And there is no place to spread things out and sort them.  I'm thinking I might like to alter the second closet upstairs.  Instead of the clothes bar which I use only for a very few outfits which I don't wear any way, I would like to put shelves in.  Then I could put some of my craft and sewing stuff in there.  Maybe even MOST of it.  then, when I needed something, I could just open the door and pull it off the shelf.

So far today, I've been a very good girl--ate a healthy breakfast--oatmeal again--with a banana cooked into it this time.  Just a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon over the top.

My blood sugar was 6 points lower today than it was yesterday.  I'm doing great there.  It's always higher in the morning--so 130 is GREAT for me.  Last night before supper it was 117, which is right where it needs to be. 

I'm feeling good--lots of energy.  Also, I am actually HUNGRY at meal time, which generally means I am eating properly.   

I really want this to be the best year of my life--I want to get control of a lot of things  that have been out of control--in my body--in my mind--in my environment.  It's time.  

It's just time.

 

Comments

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

It really sounds like you got a lot done at school. I'm with you on the better control, and just feeling healthier.

Why?

[the_godiva]

Why did everyone have to put everything in the classrooms in the gym? And what a waste of instructional time to move it there and then move it back.

I've been buying clear storage bins with lids a few at a time when Target has sales. I've been trying to do it color coded, with orange and/or black for Halloween stuff, green and/or red for Christmas and blue and/or pink for Easter. White for anything else. It's really nice being able to see through them. I mostly buy Sterlite. Recently I've been buying the Target "Home" brand. I'd buy Rubbermaid if they weren't so expensive. I've been buying them for school too, since I have decorations for the library. This week they all moved to the locker bay we use for book storage. I'll be taking the monitors over there and cleaning and sorting the top shelves so we can put them all up there. We'll put them in order from September to June or Halloween to Easter.

Years ago I redid two of my closets. The closet in the sewing/guest room was completely redone. I put in a closetmaid system. The bottom has wire baskets for fabric. The top is open shelves for more fabric. I have the fabric organized by type and color. So all of the batiks are together, the dog fabric, the calicos, the celestrials. I also sort by color.

I did the closet in the "library" too. I put in two closetmaid systems. (These are from Home Depot). The bottom of one has baskets with doors on the open shelves above. These hold board games and videotapes. The next one has open shelves on the bottom to hold my "gifts" until birthdays or Christmas because I always shop in advance. Above it are open shelves with doors over them for my children's picture books. There is about a foot left to the wall. So I cut a closet pole down and put it there. It's just big enough for my winter coats and sweaters. On a shelf above are jigsaw puzzles. On the very top I store my guitar and picnic baskets.

I also got a fabulour Rubbermaid wrapping paper storage thing. It looks like a tall wastebasket with a lid. I highly recommend the Rubbermaid one (on sale) even though it's more expensive because the lid has a hinged top with a shallow shelf where you can store gift tags and small bows. Rolls of paper fit inside. I have two, one for gift wrapping and one holds all of my seasonal flags/banners I hang on a pole on the front of the house.

I highly recommend reorganizing a closet for function. If any future owner doesn't like what I've done, they can always put it back.

I'm considering doing my bedroom closet now. But the first thing I'd do is completely cover the interior with cedar. That will take quite a while as I could only afford to do it a little at a time. I do have very tall closets, like 10 feet, as tall as the rooms which all have high ceilings. Reorganizing allows me to utilize the tall space for storage. They are also a bit deeper than the average closet, not quite walk-in but deeper than average. I have a regular "door" like a room door on each closet but inside it is quite wide. The closets share a wall and are half the length of the room for one room and the other half for the opposite one. I suppose I could have taken out the shared dividing wall and had one long closet accessible from both sides. Like a walk through, sorta.

I sound more organized than I am. But I am doing a little better each year.

[duchym.livejournal.com]

Cho, sounds like you doing great and on the right track for taking control of the clutter and of your health! :-)