I woke up this morning and went to check out what #Holidays were being celebrated today and it is Improve Your Office Day, and let me just tell you right now, my office needs a whole lot more than a little improvement. It needs a bulldozer to come in and take everything out and we start over.
Not only is there things sitting all over the room because there isn’t space for the things we have. The walk in closet is full to the brim. The sad part is I don’t even know what is in the closet or why it’s in there. Before you say go through it I can’t because I can’t get to the closet there is two much stuff in front of it and no, I can’t move the stuff out of the way David would have to and he hasn’t had the time to do it nor, has he wanted to.
What I can tell you though is for about a month and a half, I’ ve been telling David, “I need to clean and reorganize my office.” Our bedroom and even our bathroom we share with Charlie which I had started in our Grace By Grace: Room by Room Challenge but they messed it up and its worse than ever.
And if you saw it right now, you would see I wasn’t exaggerating when I said it was a mess. It looks like more than a hoarder’s house. I have a big old shelf behind my desk, and we started going through it one shelf at a time. We actually made some progress. Then David decided, “Oh heck, let’s not do that,” and quickly put the totes back up on the shelves.
So I still know there is stuff up there that needs to be gone through and probably gotten rid of. The problem is, I can’t reach the top shelf to pull the totes down. And I can’t get to the bottom shelf because my desk is sitting right in front of it. Then there are totes sitting all over my room, too.
One of the doors is blocked because of them. So if we had a fire, we’d be in a world of hurt. None of those hunky firemen would be able to get to me, either. They’d probably have to climb up the balcony. And I’m not Rapunzel. I don’t have long golden locks for them to climb up.
The other day David decided we needed more totes and wee went to Walmart and bought some which is just sitting in the floor. Then this morning David asked me if we needed more totes. No, we just need to use the ones we have which wouldn’t you know happened to be pink Before you ask there was no, purple totes just pink and that was okay with me.
Suzanne, does that mean you’re going to be here helping me clean my office? I wish. I know you would. The pink totes are now sitting around the room, too, because apparently you have to make a bigger mess before you can make things better. There are boxes of stuff everywhere.
But I did manage to fill almost two totes with review items this weekend that will be going downstairs. And honestly, that part makes me happy. We need to start packing things up and getting things ready to donate to the local toy drives and other organizations in December. Being able to take things we have received and pass them along to people who may not have those things is such a Godsend.
That’s one of the things I love about what I do. Sometimes the things that come into my house don’t stay here forever. They get reviewed, enjoyed, used, and eventually they can bless another family. So even though looking at all those boxes and totes makes me want to pull my hair out, I know there is a purpose behind some of this stuff.
Then there is my bedroom. My bed isn’t even made. I need to go get a new set of sheets this week. Now I’m wondering what color I should get. I do have a beautiful comforter for the bed, but we haven’t put it on yet because I was afraid the dogs would mess it up.
So David sleeps on a sleeping bag and covers up with his own sleeping back and I sleep under my blanket David got me from Traders Village years ago. Don’t ask me why David sleeps in a sleeping bag but he does and he says its fin. Since he’s a man and he works hard and the dogs sleep with him and leave me alone I’m not going to say anything. .
Then you look at the floor, and you can’t really get to the floor because the dogs have toys everywhere. My entertainment center would actually be clean, except I had to put all my shoes on it because the dogs keep thinking my shoes are their toys. Apparently dog toys aren’t enough around here.
But my little table beside my desk is clean. So there’s that. I’m calling it a victory. I figure it’s going to take me about four hours just to get my room cleaned. And then there are two totes of clothes sitting behind my desk. If David can help me get those out this week, I want to go through them and wash everything.
I think they’re my good blouses and things, and most of them may be winter clothes. And since it’s getting colder, I really need some winter clothes. Although David did something nice the other day. He bought me a sweatshirt from Aldi. It was only $10, and I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to pull it on and off by myself. But it fits great and works perfectly. So I am grateful, thankful, and blessed for my new $10 sweatshirt.
I’m just not quite as grateful for my office right now. And then there is the really bittersweet part of this whole cleanup. We’re getting rid of the pink desk. I’ve decided I just don’t need it. We don’t need two desks in this room, and there simply isn’t enough room.
That will leave me with the desk that matches Charlie’s, while the other desk is still downstairs in the man cave. The sad part is that David recently took the very first desk I ever bought for Charlie’s room out to the trash. It was a black desk. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it.
I had kept that desk for years. But sometimes you have to admit that it is simply time to let something go. I hope it blesses another family. And maybe that’s what I need to remember while I’m standing in the middle of this mess. Little by little. Step by step. We don’t have to do everything today. We just have to start. I know my office will never be perfect.
When you have limited space and you’re trying to run a business out of your home, there simply isn’t room for everything. Review items come in. Boxes need somewhere to go. Things need to be stored. Things need to be sorted. And eventually, some things need to leave.
So we’re going to work on it. We’re going to move things. We’re going to get rid of things. We’re going to donate things. And hopefully, eventually, I’ll be able to see my floor again. Until then, I’m going to pray, believe, and trust that somehow we’re going to figure it all out.
Because sometimes improving your office isn’t about making it Pinterest-perfect. Sometimes it’s just about making it work better for the life you’re actually living. And that’s what we’re going to do. Little by little. Step by step. Happy Improve Your Office Day from my very imperfect office to yours!
Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed,
GreatfulMoments.com
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
