Not Enough Time In The Day

If I had an extra seven or twelve hours every day, perhaps I could get all the things I want to get done, done. Then again, I'd probably still be behind because I'd try to fit more in. I guess I don't want the extra hours at night - just during daylight hours. [I should live in Alaska for six months of the year! There. Problem solved.] I'm still not done unpacking. Which isn't really true - the bags have been unpacked - and the clothes have all been put away - but the rest of the stuff that we brought home in our shipment - it is, for the most part, on the dining room table, on my craft table - which is still up in the dining room and has been there since I re-did the bedroom - and on the coffee table and on the kitchen table and on counters and on the desk in the study - and strewn about in other places as well.

Some of what is on the dining room table involves filing - receipts for "stuff." I still have six or eight months of filing sitting on the desk that I haven't taken care of - and it seems rather pointless to me to file the new stuff before filing the old stuff - then the files wouldn't be in the chronological order that they HAVE to be in. [Yes. I DO have SOME issues.] The documentation that we have to do for our shipment that we send here from the States every year is massive. That's all sitting on the dining room table - for this year's shipment - and I am pretty sure that last year's documentation is in that pile of "six eight months backlog" because I wanted to discard duplicates and only keep what I had to keep - even though last year's shipment documentation is a lot older than six or eight months. Why, you might ask, do I have to have all sorts of receipts and documents? Answer: When we finally leave here and have to do our inventory for our "stuff" I have to be able to prove that we have the "stuff" we do for insurance purposes in order to be reimbursed if something is damaged or missing. No, not for everything - but for items like furniture, televisions, appliances, etc. I will not need a receipt for the jeans I bought from Banana Republic - although each and every item we own will be listed on our inventory - but for certain things we will be required to have proof of purchase.

When we moved over here and did our inventory prior to doing so - I made a huge mistake. I had a library of books and instead of listing every single book on our inventory, instead I took pictures of the bookcases [this is not proof enough for the insurance company] and on our inventory sheets listed "box of 26 hard-cover books," "box of 34 paperback books," "box of 21 reference hard-cover books," "box of 18 'coffee table' books," etc. So when 100+ books were confiscated, and I was unable to provide the insurance company with the exact titles - even though I knew many of them - I was NOT reimbursed. Honestly I don't remember it if was 121 books that were confiscated or 211... It was that long ago. I do, however, still have in our "files" the little pink sheet that we received from customs after they inspected all of our belongings that came over by slow boat that said that they had confiscated books and some other things from our "household possessions" which says how many of my books were confiscated. [Why some of my books were confiscated by Customs here, remains a mystery to me. There was no rhyme or reason. I had nothing "schmultzy," or "trashy," and I removed every single dust-cover from every single book - another mistake I made, which I regret - so as not to offend the sensitivities of anyone, here.]

Now, I have on our computer a list of all of my books. Yep. Learned that lesson the hard way. [I can pretty much be guaranteed that if I have lessons to learn, they will be learned the "hard way." I was told to inventory my books. I didn't do it. And when books were confiscated, because I had no inventory - photographs and the number of books, yes - but no actual list of each and every book I owned - there was no getting reimbursed for the ones that did not make it to us.] So, before I can put my new books on the bookcase shelves I feel that I must add them to the inventory lists I have on the computer. Lists? Yes. One list by title, the other by author. Nothing like a good cross-reference! The books that came home in our suitcases are piled in front of the bookcases on the floor. Why add them to the list, today, when I know there are another dozen or so that are coming in the shipment that will be here soon, when I am just going to have to add them, too?

The two cases of dog food from The Honest Kitchen is still sitting in front of the kitchen pantry doors. Why? Because putting it away means - to me - that I MUST clean the closet out first and then open the boxes of food to store it and put it away properly. I've got three more cases that will be delivered in the next week or so - with our shipment from the States - so I really, really need to get my butt in gear and do this - or I'm going to have five huge boxes blocking the pantry. I know, I know... It sounds so simple to just open the pantry doors and shove the boxes in there, but, nope - no can do.

I brought back, in our suitcases, six or eight cartons of cigarettes. Another thirty cartons are in our shipment, which is on its way... They are in the refrigerator, right now, but really need to be in the freezer. [Yes, you can freeze cigarettes and yes, they stay fresh this way.] They are not in the freezer because in my mind, I really need to clean all three freezers - the two refrigerator freezers and the freezer in the garage - and do an inventory of exactly what is in them. And, yes, for the record, I do keep an inventory of what is in the freezers. It is hanging on an inside cupboard in the kitchen. This lets me know that I don't have to go and buy hamburger - I have it in one of the freezers. But, that inventory needs updated. I update it a couple of times a year. And yes, at this point, the freezers have not been cleaned in quite sometime, so it IS time...]

There are stacks and stacks of unread newspapers laying around, in nice neat piles, that need to be read. Why would I read old news? Because when I moved here, I started a scrapbook of "interesting" articles. I've not worked on the scrapbook since we moved into this house. Part of me says it is time to eliminate the "scrapbook project." The other part of me says, "Oh no you don't! You've invested too much time in it already. Why stop now?" But, working on the scrapbook is a winter project. Who in their right mind would want to work on that when it is so nice outside?!? So, that is waiting for me. And, yes, of course it is done in chronological order and cross-referenced... [Yes. I really, really DO have SOME issues.]

[Anyone that keeps their spices in their cupboard in alphabetical order - with a list that is posted on the inside of the cupboard of what spices are there - has some issues... Or, maybe not. This way, I can tell right off the bat - when I open the cupboard - if I have Old Bay - it is listed on the "inventory sheet" and I don't have to go rummaging through everything that is in the cupboard and mussing up the order that everything is in to see if I have it or not. See? There really, really is a reason and explanation as to any method for all of my madness!]

So much to do. So little time. And if I don't get a new / old houseboy to come and help me with the stuff that has to be done just to keep a household clean - then I am going to be stuck cleaning the leather furniture and the bathrooms and the floors and the windows and won't have time to do the things that I want to do - that I need to do...

DH has already bought me the birthday present I really wanted. We got it in the States. My birthday isn't for another month, though. [He was relieved when I picked out my present - now he only has to get me a card!] Unfortunately I have just recently realized that what I really, really need for my birthday is my own laptop computer. DH has one. And, I have disliked it since day one. I disliked using one when I had to for work many years ago - it belonged to the firm I worked for - and wasn't mine - but I was forced to use it - a lot. I much, much prefer using a desktop with a real keyboard - and even carried a real keyboard with me to use for the laptop that I needed for work. Now, though, I have decided that if I had a laptop I could make my life a whole lot easier. I could use the laptop anywhere... I wouldn't have to drag the stack of books sitting in the other room to in here to do the inventory. I could simply take the laptop to the living room and do the book inventory and then put the books away. Piece of cake. Ditto for the inventory of the freezer contents in the garage. I could just take the laptop out there and get it done. Instead, I have to write everything down and then come in the house and do the inventory on this computer. I could be sitting outside, "working," while I blog - or read blogs - because I would have a laptop and wouldn't have to be inside... What was I thinking when I picked out that absolutely stunningly GORGEOUS PURPLE Coach bag?!? I should have been picking out a Dell... Nope. The absolutely stunningly GORGEOUS PURPLE Coach bag is something I "want." The laptop is something I "need." Big difference. I'm going to try to talk DH into getting himself a new laptop... This way I can have the one he has now, and that should solve everything, right? I won't need that extra seven or twelve hours in a day, after all...