Order

 

        One of the things my mother always told me was that I was a messy kid. For some reason putting things away was not something I cared about. Mom tried to teach me to put things away by hiding toys that I didn't put away. (I thought we might find  two lost dolls when we cleared the house after my parents moved out, but I think she may have thrown them away.) Once my brother got into high school, he moved to a bedroom downstairs and my sister and I got our own rooms. My sister is much more organized than I am and was getting irritated by all my piles of stuff.

        It got a little better when I got older. I lived in the dorm when I was in college. Out of respect for my roommates and people visiting, I kept things put away. It helped that I tended to have less stuff to leave around.

        Once I got a place of my own, I kept things fairly tidy. The fact that I didn't have much helped a lot. I'm finding as the years have gone by I've become more disorganized in a strange way. Some places are a disorganized mess while other places are neat and tidy.

        For instance, my computer desk is covered with old work schedules, recipes I've printed, a catalog I used to order some things, a notebook and a dammit doll. The shelves above the desk have paper, a few thesauruses and dictionaries fairly neatly arranged. The floor of the room is covered with bags, pictures, a pillow and a few empty totes. I'm not even going to describe the closet.  

        The kitchen is another example. I have spaces for almost everything, but there are four corners that have piles on them. One corner has spices and boxes of tea stacked along with plastic covers to use in the microwave. Another corner has our smoothie blender and and a small four cup coffee pot that I use to brew chicory coffee. There are cat food dishes, a cookie jar and a jar for cat treats jammed into the corner. However, my flatware, dishes, baking pans and pots are all neatly put away in their places.

        Lately I've had a craving for order. I want my desk to be clean and neat with only the current month's work schedules on them. I want the messy kitchen corners to be organized and things neatly put away. I want to pull everything out of the junk closet in out living room and organize it so that everything has a place and things we don't need or use are donated or thrown away. I want all my candles in one spot and to find the burner I use for stick incense.

  This might be a response to the fact that there are a lot of things going on right now that I can't control. Since I don't want to sit around feeling helpless and scared, there are a few things I can control. Spring is also coming so that is also a good time to reorganize and clean things out. I'm looking forward to getting started on it.