Why I Shouldn't Be More Organized

Every now and then, I can be really organized. Some people manage to pull this off every day. I am not one of those people. I can rally my organizational energies for short bursts of time, like when I organized a fundraiser yard sale that netted over $2,000 in one day (oh, if only we had a second day! It would have been awesome!) I’ll be proud of that one for a long time.

But that was an anomaly. And immediately after, I slipped back into my typical patterns of easily-distracted semi-chaos. Once upon a time, I was a highly-organized Type-A individual. Then grad school happened. And now I’m not.

So I was proud of myself Wednesday night. I was READY for Thursday morning! I was scheduled to work in almost-downtown-Boston, which meant a T ride. And we were scheduled to have a storm during the morning rush hour, which meant that I needed to catch the 6:50am bus to the T station, instead of my usual walk through the Arboretum. So I couldn’t be late. And I was ready. I had daycare bags packed. I had my work bag packed (including a change of socks and shoes!). I had my lunch packed. I had my clothes picked out, and my rain gear ready. I was showered. I had a plan. I was ready.

And then the alarm rang the next morning. I did not feel ok. The bug had struck. And then HM joined me in bed. She was in the same shape as I was. The sick calls were made. We spent the day horizontal. All my planning was for naught.

This seemed to be the theme for the week. I had actually planned meals out for the week in advance, geniusly re-using certain ingredients, making-over leftovers, and creating a menu that was healthy, thrifty, and eye-pleasing*. I was so proud of myself. Until we had to institute a bland diet for ¾ of the family. The good news: I bought lots of bananas, and we got to re-use the rice. Lots of it. Too bad the rest of the fridge contents will either spoil or be consumed entirely by BH.

We also had fun events planned for the week. Playgroups. Trips to the gym. Visits to see friends. We looked forward to them! Mama was SO ORGANIZED! Organized = more fun! Until we had to cancel them all to avoid passing the plague on to our best friends.

So I’m disappointed. Really annoyed, in fact. If I hadn’t planned it all, I wouldn’t know how many of my great plans were destroyed. This seems to happen whenever I plan fun. Like our camping trips and roadtrips to see friends. (puke-fests destroyed all of those plans). So I have no other conclusion than to think that planning just doesn’t pay. Organization doesn’t pay. Not when you have puke-prone toddlers.

That’s my excuse for being disorganized, and I’m sticking to it.

*this genius plan was made on a Trophy Wife morning along with Sandra Lee and my favorite elliptical machine