Do NOT Judge Me. I Can't Help It.

I am feeling so stupid at work right now that it's ridiculous. I am drowning in paper and I seem to have just given up even trying to get organized. (Although I am going in super-early this morning so I guess I haven't given up completely.) Also, the students are acting like little wolf-children on crack. I find myself raising my voice and being VERY STERN about every 15 minutes. All the teachers are complaining about their students' behavior, so I suppose it is the time of year. But it's fucking annoying, I'll tell you whut. I have to remind myself that I am not allowed to swear at school.

I am feeling woefully disorganized here at home, too. I suspect that I have some sort of cognitive impairment when it comes to calendars. I write things down on little pieces of paper and lose them, or find them later and have no idea what they are referring to. I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, yeah, ADD, but dammit why can't I just write shit down on a calendar like normal people?

I sat in a meeting yesterday and people were throwing dates around like rice at a wedding. Everyone else was pulling out their PDAs or their calendars. Me? Post-its. Fucking little yellow Post-its. I was so pissed at myself when I left work that I stopped by Staples and bought (yet another) At-A-Glance organizer. And it doesn't even fit in my purse. Doomed to failure already.

When I got home I sat down right away and conscientiously scoured my purse for all the little pieces of papers with important dates on them so that I could transfer them to the calendar. I found a piece of paper with a name, an address, a phone number, a date and a time. Obviously an important appointment, right? I had no idea what it was for. I finally screwed up my nerve and called the number and got the diabetes department at Children's Hospital in DC. So it was an appointment for Evangeline, right? Problem solved! Oh, except I scheduled her for the diabetes check-up at a satellite clinic in Annapolis on the same day and time that I scheduled her for her insulin pump evaluation at the main hospital in DC. This seems like it could be easily fixed with a phone call except that these appointments are scheduled months in advance and are hard to come by.

Every year I swear I am going to fix this shit and every year I fail miserably.

But this time will be different! I feel it in my bones!

Comments

[Laura/DaPFG]

YELLOW post-its?? gosh, those are so 1997. get with the times, woman. pink all the way. (wow, that last line sounded like a sexual reference)

although i must say, i do this with my HOUSE. swear that i'll get and STAY organized THIS time, but of course 2 days later i'm living in a mess again. gah. i don't have the date/time/calendar quandry you do, though, because i have no life (though, now that school is starting, i'll have a SCHEDULE!). good luck scheduling appointments. if they give you any gruff, let us know and we'll be there to deliver a beating.

(actually, according to their website, yellow post-its are so 1974!! even WORSE! :P and i like the Sweet Pea color variety, actually. here's a link to digital post-its for your desktop. http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/digital/digital_notes.html)

[blackbird]

I have three lists going today. And yet there is SOMETHING I know I'm forgetting.

[Jen @ The Cubicle's Backporch]

Wolf-children on crack!!! I love it!!!!

[Liza Lee Miller]

Oh, I hear ya. And, I agree with Laura -- pink post-its are very 2008. :) And, the way you write woman . . . wolf-children on crack. If you don't think that one is going to be spread all over my school today, you're mistaken! I'm looking forward to sharing that one. Maybe the ability to be organized and use a calendar has been usurped by the ability to string together an amazing set of words. I know which I'd rather have!

I used to use a PDA. And, I'm going to again. My sister's boss got her an iPhone so I'm inheriting her old PDA. Hurrah! My old one is so old that I can't sync it with my computer anymore. I guess, my advice would be to throw money at the problem. If you invest in a PDA, you'll likely use it to justify the expense. At least that's how it works for me. I'll use the most expensive piece of crap whatever just to ensure that I got my money's worth. :)

[Ree]

Good luck Mary! ;-)

And I think it is the end of the year syndrome!

[Keri]

I hate PDAs Can't get them down. HATE them. But I also hate post-its. they stick to everything they aren't SUPPOSED to stick to. Mother-effers. But I did finally find a purse sized planner that is a week at a glance with a two-page spread per month TOO that works for me. And I actually get shit in it. Because my purse is a back-pack style that I ALWAYS carry. ALWAYS. Am lost without it.

In the summer when it starts to get to be a heavy drag? I swap it out for a sling that works like a dream but looks rather unstylish. But where do I go that requires style? Yeah. You don't have to answer that.

[Belle]

Back in the day of transporting our two kids to ballgames and school and appts, I used a - gasp - Hallmark monthly planner. You know, those kind they give out free at the counter and are tiny and fit in your purse easily. I managed quite well with that for many years. PDAs annoy me for some reason and I wouldn't be caught dead with them.

My mother fills in her Audobon weekly planner pages completely. What does this woman write about? Anyway, she carefully logs all app'ts and then still! calls me to remind me of her app't on the wrong day. Ha.

Good luck! Some people are magically organized and some just aren't. And it doesn't mean we (cough cough) are any nicer or any better. I myself love the scatter-brained ones - not that I'm insinuating anything!

[eurolush]

We are leading parallel lives, me thinks.

[MsCellania]

You need one of those pink crackberries.
Having said that, I will tell you I despise PDA's and live by the refrigerator calendar. But you are too busy for a mommy calendar. When I worked I used a daytimer. Small, 2-pages/day format. It had an address book and some other handy stuff. I can write a helluva lot faster than I can poke at a keyboard with a teeny knitting needle. But you? You might just get quick on the thing.
I did the sticky note thing too. And cursed when I found cryptic notes. I invested in a leather-bound book at Target. Small, maybe 3 x 5, with good quality lined paper and an elastic band to keep it shut. It's full of notes now, and I swear I write more neatly in the thing since it's kinda permanent. And it's got a cool, copper geometric design! Yay.
I volunteered in the kindy and first grade classrooms and everyone was hollering at the kids. Literacy, volunteers, classroom kid aides - the students are terrible these days. We get out May 29th and I can't wait. I'm almost having to take a whip to get the boys out the door these days...

[Mary]

I keep a big calendar on the wall by the phone, and everyone is required to write their important stuff on it. Most of the time, it happens. If people want me to work at certain times, I tell them they have to call me at home so I can get it on the calendar.

You will be amused to know, though, that on Monday I looked at it and saw Lunch, 12. In my writing. And I had no idea whatsoever who I was having lunch with, or where I was supposed to show up. I had to think very hard before I remembered. Sigh.

Some of us are just not meant to be organized.

[Margaret]

Scraps of paper, yeah, that's my style as well. And then I can't find them, but I have a memory that they were IMPORTANT DATES. So, I tear apart the house and my purse looking for them. Very tedious.

[Maddy]

I rely on the large calendar in our kitchen, which is pretty up to date. The problem is when I am away from home. I have a small cheapie appt book that I keep in my purse, but I don't always synch it with the big calendar. So I end up hoping that things don't conflict with events on the big calendar at home in the kitchen when I write them in my little book. The results of this "system" are mixed.

[Tessie]

POST-ITS! YES! We are twinnies! You cannot beat me at Post-its. I have them EVERYWHERE. It's the ONLY thing that works for me, short of writing shit on my person.

[Wende]

Pink Post its? SO LAST YEAR: you need AQUA. :D

Organization is over rated.

[ImDaTeacher]

"wolf children on crack" Whoohooo! FINALLY the phrase that PERFECTLY describes my beloved class of 1st graders! Can't wait to run it by the teacher's lounge during lunch tomorrow! Gonna try the digital Post Its mentioned above! Mac's have a similar feature...and in fact were the ONLY part of my old Mac that I miss!

[bonnie]

I hope you are enjoying a lovely Mother's Day, Mary. I judge you as a goddess among mothers!

[Dusty]

I love my PDA. I used to carry an address book, a calendar, and a notebook in my purse and now thanks to my PDA, I only carry, well, a PDA, a notebook (for minutes and stuff), a camera, a cell phone...oh never mind.