Need Help! Paperwork Crisis!

My house used to be a constant mess. Ok, it still is a constant mess, but it’s a tidiable (is that a word?) mess with an organised undercurrent. Having kids was probably the making of me in that department. I got so bogged and frustrated and upset that I went looking for help. I found FLYlady and did a lot of journaling and soul-searching about the role of a stay-at-home Mum (not all cupcakes and day-time television). I began to go to bed with a cleared kitchen, make my bed straight after getting up, clean something in the bathroom while waiting for the shower to warm, empty the dishwasher whilst the jug was boiling for my cup-of-tea and use a calendar….just those little things that some people know instinctively how to do to stay on top of life and some people (me!) need to learn.

In the spirit of full disclosure - here are my fugly bits.  Piles of paper everywhere!  And  there are other piles hiding in other spots around the house!

But I haven’t ever really got on top of my paperwork. Yuck. I hate it. But crunch time has come. Why? Because, for the life of me, I can’t find the kids birth certificates and I need them. That’s not good. I could order new ones (at $25 a pop) but that’s not really solving the problem, is it?

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that being organised with paperwork can save you time, help you be frugal, and keep on top of life in general.

I’m thinking of making goals – they seem to work for me. Do I dare ration my quilting time? For example: no quilting until I've done 15 minutes filing? Argh! It would probably work, but I think I have deeper issues, which are hijacking my attempts to stay on-top of paperwork. I don’t think I have a proper filing system sorted. Bits go here and bits go there and I have a big pile of ‘miscellaneous’! I don’t know how to sort stuff and how to store it.

So, tell me, how do you do it? What categories do you file stuff under? What techniques have worked for you (or not!)? Please! Anything you think will help me out. We’ve upgraded our computer after eeking out our current one for eight + years and I’ve decided I’m not allowed to open the box until my desk is clear!

Delayed Blog Giveaway

I am learning new things about blogging all the time. Here's a new one I learnt today: If you don't publish a post straight away, and go and edit and publish it later, it will publish to your blog under the date you started writing it.

I started writing a post of the 15th of December about a blog giveaway, and then I decided that it was a bad time to do it as I was about to go holidaying. So yesterday I published it and today I went and checked my blog and it wasn't there! I found it, of course, on the 15th December.

I presume I could have changed the date to publish yesterday - but that will be next time's step to learn. I certainly can't see anyway to change it now.

So, IF you are interested in a giveaway, and IF you can be bothered to look back to December 15th, then go have a lookie.

And IF anyone knows how to move a blog post date once you've published it, feel free to increase my knowledge base!

Ug, me big hunter.

Dear hubby came home VERY proud of himself! Terrible photo I know, but taken in the dark with me holding a torch and using the flash, and a grimacing husband saying polite words about hurrying up because it's rather heavy! It's a hapuka which is beautiful eating and lovely smoked.

Son and daughter had just been put to bed, but they heard the boat rattling down the drive and had to come and see daddy's catch - they weren't disappointed.

Not much else happening round here. I've been doing another set of antenatal classes. They always make me nervous to start with and I always wonder if I've told them enough, made it interesting, covered what they need to know, hope I don't offend anyone..........stressful.

Next month I am going to a workshop in Auckland called Breath New Life into your Childbirth Education Classes. Run by an Aussie woman, (whose name I've temporarily forgotten) she comes highly recommended, and as I've had no formal education on giving classes, I'm hoping it will give me a few ideas.

The garden is on hold again (I might just die of frustration!). We've decided to extend the shed. Because we decided to live in the shed, now we have no actual shed - no place to store the tractor, the tools, the wood we had sawn for our house building and all those other bits and pieces you need to keep out of the weather. And, of course, nowhere for the man of the house to retreat to. So, off to the left of the shed in that pic up there (this is before we converted it), will be another big bay. Plus we are going to put up a big verandah extending all the way along the front of the house.

The upshot of all that is there will be some site flattening to do and all the topsoil from that is going to be moved onto my garden site for raised beds. It makes sense to wait for this to be done, but it's sure driving me crazy!

Posting about the Post.

I have a new camera battery charger and so here is a photo of my first step towards my vegetable garden. Impressive, no?

It's a post. It used to be a part of a wharf which is why it has extra bits on it and some white paint. It's big and heavy and I dug the hole for it, carried it to the hole (thank you sackbarrow), lifted it in and rammed the dirt around it. Can you tell I'm a little proud of myself?!

The reason we need a new post is because we need to move the dog run (a wire between another post and a sandpit upright that we clip the dog chain onto so she has lots of room to run) because I want my garden to go where the dog run is currently.

Finally some progress towards the garden! It feels like we have been here for ever and yet all our work has just been settling in, tidying up and finding places for things. Today was one of the first days that we had together out here and we were very industrious. Dear Hubby plumbed up the shower so now I can shower as well as have a bath (Yay!) and he also finished putting up the smoke alarms. Now he's gone to work on our house that we've moved out of so we can get that rented. Once that's all renovated and rented then he'll be able to spend even more time here on the weekends.

It's kinda frustrating. Finally being where we wanted to be and yet still not having enough hours in the day to do all the things we want to get done. That's the story of my life though, and not just related to living here. How do you find time to cook, clean, spend time with the kids, blog (!), quilt, garden, read, catch up with people......?

I wish I could be a chicken sometimes. All they seem to worry about is eating, scratching in the dirt and dustbathing. Lucky things.