October 22, 2009
Dear Everyone:
Last week I took Friday as a vacation day.
No special reason, just needed to burn off 8 hours of vacation.
I had 88 hours left in the “bank” and was already getting email
messages reminding me that
everyone is expected to take all of their vacation time this year.
In the past a lot of people who had too much work to do would
leave hours in the “bank” and take them in the following year.
Evidently this messes with the budget and the big bosses are very
cost-conscious these days.
So I stayed home on Friday.
Slept late then treated myself to lunch and a trip to one of
those big house wares discount stores.
I got some new sheets for the bed, a doormat for the front door
and three large pillar candles.
More about them later.
When I got home I decided to tackle the dining
room. I moved in over six
months ago. Then “Frankie”,
“Richard”, “Marshall” and “Jeannie” helped me prepare the
townhouse for
painting and remodeling. The
last thing they did was bring anything that looked like it was mine from
the old place to the new one.
Most of this stuff landed in the dining room.
In the meantime, my mailbox was being flooded by
all the junk mail that keeps coming.
A lot of that kept landing on the dining table.
All this time, I’ve been able to essentially walk around this
mountain of stuff. I made
sure that bills didn’t get lost in the shuffle (for the most part) but
let the other stuff just collect.
Friday was the day to get down to it.
Some things got moved to other locations.
The linen closet, where I discovered that I had far more boxes of
those disposable dust cloths than I ever knew.
Some things only got as far as the big garbage bag.
If I haven’t missed it in six months, did I really need to hang
on to it any longer? Some
things found their way into the second bedroom, which is still very much
a work-in-progress.
I went through all the junk mail, filling a shoebox
with what I call “beggars”.
These are all the worthy organizations that send missives begging for
money. I’ll deal with them
in a few weeks when I do my annual charity donations.
The rest I opened.
Many banks would like me to set up an account with them.
Many would like to give me “pre-approved” credit cards.
Those go into a “shred-then-recycle” bag.
The pre-paid envelopes that come with them get mailed back to the
banks, etc., because they only have to pay postage for what they
receive. That’s my revenge.
As I cleared more and more junk off the table, what
did I discover but the original Certificate sent to me by the
Institute
of Certified Records Managers.
You’d think it would have been mangled by all that junk, but it
was just sitting there as pristine as when it came out of the envelope.
By the time I’d removed leftover cardboard boxes,
an old cooler and various other objects, I realized that there was
actually a dining room there.
I could almost walk around the table.
Almost.
On Saturday I went to the hardware store for some
things that could help me do some repairs at home.
The fireplace has glass doors, but the handle on the left was
loose. I fixed it with a
little nut. Then I put the
three large candles on the fireplace floor.
When lit, they give off a soft glow and I don’t have to worry
about getting soot on the ceiling.
I also paid a visit to one of the really big office
supply warehouse stores and got some things to help me get a little
better organized. I went
looking for a clock for the second bedroom / home office / “catch-all
room.” Right next to the
clocks I found frames for certificates.
So I picked out a really nice matted frame.
Now my CRM Certificate is framed and hanging on the wall in the
“office”.
I also did some organizing in the corner of the
living room where my computer is located.
Some of the shelves there are a little more pulled together.
In time, I’ll clear the stuff off the mantle.
A lot of it was in a box that “Frankie” had set down in front of
the fireplace. To clear out
the box, I put everything on the mantle.
I realize that most people don’t use their mantle to display a
can of WD-40, but that’s where it is now.
Maybe next weekend I’ll get a few more things put
away. I might even get
around to hanging some pictures and things.
I moved in over six months ago.
Now I’m starting to settle
in.
Love, as always,
Pete
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