I have spent about a month over the last couple of months at my mom's helping her get organized, or digging her out of her paper avalanche, as she calls it. Also helping her with repairs. For example, last time I was there, in addition to the sorting, filing, and recycling, I installed a toilet.

Once I got home, I realized chez Nerd needs much the same sort of attention. That was my only possible conclusion after being unable to locate a set of notes. These are no ordinary notes, these are notes for the Jefferson State Entry Amy P has been encouraging me to write almost as long as she's known me, notes I spent several hours and many quarters to acquire.

Yeah, in spite of having plenty of file folders and cabinets, I lost the notes. Oh, but as I looked for the notes, I found... all sorts of stuff no one needs. I am my mother's daughter, after all. Of course when I get to be her age, I won't have a middle-aged daughter help me sort the wheat from the chaff, so I had better start now.

This entry then is my chronicle of my misadventures in organization.

28 September 2009 - The Office

The smallest bedroom contains four bookcases, lots and lots of books, two four-drawer file cabinets, and a table supporting a laptop, a printer, and a bunch of other stuff. This bed-free room also has a closet containing lots of things, some of which may well belong someplace else.

I did spend a little time some weeks back tidying up here in the office. As a result, the left-hand file cabinet actually contains, more or less, the sorts of things suggested by the little card in the metal brace proudly mounted on the outside of each file drawer. The file cabinet to the right is not as forthcoming.

The Fantasy Chocolate Shop Files

As some RL and online friends know, I made an attempt to start a chocolate shop a couple years back. In the near future I plan to make another attempt. Before I do so, I should probably clean up the files related to the first attempt.

Actually, it turns out these files weren't in such bad shape. Now they are in much better shape.

The Music Files

Oh, no. What a mess. Two of the hanging folders have collapsed under the strain. Something could perhaps be extrapolated from the fact that I have several folders unhelpfully labeled "Music." These folders contain everything from staff paper to sheet music to band council meeting minutes to fine-grit sandpaper for shaping reeds.

What an odd concept is sorting. You face a pile, knowing that you have to start somewhere, and you don't quite know what you've got until you are through. Keep, discard, reminisce, categorize, repeat.

I play the alto sax and my husband plays the baritone horn (aka euphonium). Over the years, I have amassed great quantities of tunes, methods, and arrangements, even a few songs. I'm particularly proud of my collection of drinking songs. Also there are newsletters, pictures, newspaper clippings, programs, and other printed materials from various musical organizations in which we have participated.

Now there are eight hanging folders, none labeled "Music."

The File Drawer Above the Music Files

Tax files from 1995 forward, math modeling notes, an essay on drummer Gene Krupa, certifications, workshop notes, recommendations, old calendars. A perfect mix of necessary in case of an IRS audit, helpful when writing Entries, desirable should I ever write my memoirs, and completely useless.

I've settled on keeping the tax files as they were and setting up a math section, a writing section, and a resume section.

29 September 2009 - The Office Doesn't Look Much Better Yet

Beginning an organization project by tidying up existing files has both pros and cons. On the positive side, old or useless material can be recycled, making way for today's needful information and tomorrow's obsolete data. On the negative side is the absence of any outward sign of improvement.

There are only two remaining file cabinet drawers. I can safely ignore the one containing Mr. Nerd's files. The other, an eclectic collection of everything from household expenses to appliance warrantees to lecture notes falls under my purview.

I've grouped the household expenses together. Some of the other files belonged in the music drawer, the math notes section, or the story idea file. Quite a few items seem to belong nowhere else.

Welding notes? I took a household and farm welding class years ago. Mushroom cultivation instructions? We grew a couple of nice crops of oyster mushrooms, before the foster dog tore the bags apart. Photos? Perhaps one rainy day, I'll put these in an album. But today I think I should just shut the drawer and press on.

The two-inch stack on top of the file cabinet was a mix of household expenses, bank statements, and music notes, including a trombone position chart. On the floor was a copy of an article on transits of Venus and some equipment manuals. The contents of a large binder went in the recycling bin.

Hooray, I'm done with the filing for now.

The Bookshelves

Our science fiction and fantasy collection is in alphabetical order by author's last name. Mr. Nerd's biology books and my math books are well-organized. The remaining non-fiction books are down-right unruly. But what to do?

I have a huge bone to pick with publishers who don't put a title on the spine. Perhaps the practice is only common with spiral-bound or plastic comb-bound books, but it renders the book nearly invisible on the shelf. I just found a spiral-bound collection of music I had given up trying to locate.

After a few hours, the books are slowly approaching some categorical order, not unlike the Dewey Decimal system, with generous allowances for the fact that some large books only fit on certain shelves.

30 September 2009 - The Sewing Room

Now that the office files and bookshelves are more orderly, I've gone to the sewing room to find, at Mr. Nerd's request, a sewing pattern. He'd like a new robe for his birthday, and I'm fairly sure I know under which mound of stuff that pattern is buried.

We didn't start out with a sewing room. Last year, we converted our dilapidated carport into a new room, much to the delight of our neighbors. Until they started popping by to thank us for taking care of the eyesore, I had no idea our sad carport was so universally hated. I'm glad the neighbors can't see what a mess I've making of the new room.

I originally brought the sewing machine into the new room so I could make curtains. As a light draws moths, so the sewing machine attracted a heap of unfinished sewing projects. While sorting through the fabric and pattern pieces, I found, along with the sheet music for I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General, the State of Jefferson notes.

As soon as I found the pattern for Mr. Nerd's new robe, we headed off to the fabric shop, leaving the sewing room in an even worse state than before.

1 October 2009 - What Is My Motivation?

So far today, I've accomplished very little toward the reorganization of our house and belongings. In finding the State of Jefferson notes, I've lost my original motivation for the flurry of tidying up.

Over the last few days, I've found several incomplete projects, some of which I'd begun before we moved here five years ago. The temptation to complete them battles with my desire to make our place presentable as the holidays draw near.

Will Happy Nerd write an entry about the State of Jefferson? Will Mr. Nerd get a new robe for his birthday? Will chez Nerd be organized before the holidays? Or ever?