And one thing led to another…

I am joining my family for a few days in the mountains soon and needed to pack my suitcase. Said suitcase lives on a luggage rack in my bedroom and as I to and fro, sometimes only needing a night’s affairs, sometimes 2 and very seldom more, things end up in it instead of getting put away. The suitcase is never empty and of course each trip being slightly different, there can be many mundane items, none of which are needed for the upcoming trip.  Such was the case this time, I will not have the occasion to need my swimsuit or bonnet so took them downstairs to rejoin the “swim sack” in the front closet.

 

Talk about opening up a can of worms: that led to emptying out the closet as the swim sack was in the far corner, which in turn led to the discovery of a sack full of stuff for the car, along with many other collected sacks, both paper and plastic. That meant sorting those, half to join the plastic bags in the cellar, half to be given to the local mini grocer who can use them for customers.

 

The later thus needed to go in the car…

Open trunk, see mess, decided that it too needs sorting, well that led to not only sorting, but having to vacuum, which in turn meant that the windows were too dirty. You get the picture.

 

Fortunately at about that point, with the suitcase emptied and ready to re-pack, with the hall cupboard clean, the car as well, my younger son needed a lift to the bus stop (I had proposed it in the interests of his not having to take two hours to get to his point of departure) and I was able to stop. Such a productive morning happens rarely, but then such is life that one thing leads to another and if one is lucky many more. Making progress.

 

I wish that this last were true!
 

I can’t believe I actually did it, or

 A clean desktop.

 

I finally had a bit of time to myself and with bills paid, letters and e-mails to various friends that I had neglected were first on the agenda.

 

Those done, my thoughts, and finally energy, turned to cleaning off my desktop.

 

There are many theories as to the validity of a clean desktop, most written by those who chose to see a cluttered desktop as a sign of creativity including Einstein’s

 

“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign of?”

(sorry can’t resist: apparently even Einstein used dangling participles!)

 

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether. A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer. All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." ~ Mark Twain

 

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?" ~ Laurence J. Peter, paraphrase of Einstein

 

"It's pointless to have a nice clean desk, because it means you're not doing anything." ~ Michio Kaku

 

"Clutter in its highest and most organized form is called collecting." ~ Ada Louise Huxtable

 

That being said every couple of years I make the effort: in between I simply sort important and less-so-important-but-need-to-keep-for-reference and offload the later onto another surface. I could probably solve every problem ever thought of, never mind give you details on minute projects, recipes, statistics or whatever. Sometimes I actually do find something worthwhile having saved, so it doesn’t encourage me to let go.

 

I finally tackled the desktop and am ashamed to report that amongst the “urgent-leave-it-on-the-desk” was an unopened birthday card from last year as well as a Christmas greetings from 2020! Help.

 

But in one afternoon I waded through the lot and to my credit only put one small pile of books on another flat surface. Most of the rest was filed or tossed.

 

I promptly told both my sister and sister-in-law, I mean what’s the point of doing it if no one knows? That is the problem in the first place as my office is downstairs and I am the only one ever using it.

Feels good, may actually do it more often, but don’t hold your breath. Here for prosperity is the proof.