August 28, 2005

Delegating Is Good For the Soul?

I’ve been on a mission. A mission to tame the stacks of paper that accumulate while we sleep. Surely, those nasty little elves must come into our home in the middle of the night to add to the stacks!

There is a stack for potential sites to publish my work. This is left over from before I started the Master List of Markets in my Word program. This new list is alphabetized by genre and really is a neat thing to have.

There is a stack for information gathered that might be handy when writing articles. This stack is left over from before I started the Master List of Saved Info in my Word program.

There is the stack of paperwork gleaned from virtually everywhere regarding publishers who might be interested in one of the two novels in process. Of course I now have a Master List for that, too.

And there is the stack of prescription receipts and general paperwork. UGH! And the stack of junk mail. And the stack of ads and “offers” from our vendors. And the stack of miscellaneous paperwork.

I’m please to say each piece of paper is now in a designated file folder, neatly labeled and alphabetized for easy retrieval, dutifully separated into “business” and “personal”. OR, it’s been sent to that place where used paper goes to compost and recreate itself.

And since I’ve waded through these piles that would have easily measured two feet high, I’ve let hubby know I’d be more than happy to let him organized the basket full of receipts. After a short period of “confusion” about how it should be done, he’s gone to work on his project.

In honesty, I’m not sure which task is/has been the most daunting. That basket of receipts is from the beginning of the year and must be separated by cash, debit card, and four different credit cards. Some of the print is barely legible.

Just wait until I tell him AFTER the sorting is done, that each pile must be matched up to the bank/credit card statement by month. Then it must be posted in Quicken by category.

I wonder just how long before he decides to let me finish the task…

August 04, 2005

We’re up to our necks in packing boxes here in Ohio. Hubby has assembled a crew willing to help with the lifting and hauling. Since the temperatures have been soaring in the mid-nineties with a heat index of 104+ all week, the refrigerators at both the old and new apartments have been stocked with bottled water to keep us hydrated.

I’m forcing myself not to think about how hot it is at our farm in Tennessee. I used to envy my friends who had summer and winter homes, a time share here and there. Not anymore. It’s tough having more than one home. I now understand why one acquaintance insisted on using the same wallpaper in each of their homes.

I’ve spent several hours this past week with lists of contacts. Changing one’s address at the post office doesn’t suffice anymore. There are Internet routers and cable boxes to return so we can get new ones at the new address, bank accounts to manage, and prescription services to move from one pharmacy to another. As we age, it seems there are a multitude of doctors and other medical providers who must be notified. Emails have been sent to editors, other writers, organizations we belong to, and family and friends, notifying them of the change of address. Thankfully, we’ve kept the same cell phone numbers for the last ten years! Even our cat has a contact list to be managed!

We’re in good company, though. Our friend Ronii and her family made it safely from Oklahoma to Kentucky yesterday, with all of their worldly goods. And Lee, a long-term friend in Washington state has sold her big house and will be moving to smaller quarters on the 11th. I’m sure there will be plenty to commiserate!