Friday 20 November 2009

Efficiency

Sometimes. Just sometimes. Life gets a little messy and out of order and disorganised.
This causes me great upset.

I don’t like mess. I don’t like disorder. And I definitely don’t like the feeling I get when things are disorganised.

Organised is good. Organised makes sense. Lists are a person’s best friend. You know why?

Efficiency.

What a lovely word it is. I like being efficient. Life is short and sometimes we mustn’t waste precious moments. And if that means getting dressed while I’m on the toilet then so be it.

Clearly that was a joke.

(it wasn’t a joke)

ANYWAY

When I feel that things are getting a little out of control I have a safe little place I can retreat to.

I could sit down with some M&Ms and put them in piles of the same colour (yes I have a touch of the OCD about me) OR I can go to my cross stitching file.

That’s right blog-friends. Cross-stitching FILE. I’m a geek. I buy the magazines, mostly because I am missing the creative gene that would mean I could design my own stuff. I’m happy to copy from other people.

But magazines can be messy. They can get in the way. They do not form an orderly pile. And I don’t want all the designs anyway. So within a week of me getting the magazine it has been ripped apart and the useless bits tossed aside. The good bits, the stuff I want to keep and copy one day are then filed.

FILED. It goes hand in hand with efficiency.

Unfortunately my file is not very exciting to look at. That’s because my boyfriend stole it from work for me and solicitors apparently don’t have fun files, they have boring, serious, grey files. But I’m not one to complain. :)

These charts are not just filed away willy nilly. That would not make them efficient. No no no. To be efficient they must be filed IN ORDER, by CATEGORY.

Ah you may laugh but next time you think to yourself “Oooh I might cross-stitch a flower to put on a card to give to my Granny” will you be able to flip straight to section 6??? where you will find all charts of all flowers?

I can.
(Yes I am smiling smugly to myself.)

And when I have selected my chart I turn to my little thread box.
Aaaah the thread box.

Thread box also makes me happy.

It is a) colourful and b) ORGANISED.

When I buy new threads I have a jolly little time spinning them on to my little cardboard bobbin things, using my spinny bobbin gadget.

Then they get put in their place.

Then when I need to find colours I can easily see whether I’ve got them or not. I usually don’t but I might have one that’s one out and if it’s the difference between using Orange and Slightly-Less-Orange-But-Not-Really then I’ll save my 75p thank you very much.

So if things get a little stressful you will find me looking through my file and looking at my threads.

They make me happy.

(Today’s post was brought to you by the words EFFICIENCY and GEEK)

4 comments:

Petit Filoux said...

Hhaaaaa!!! You actually made me laugh out loud!! First of all, I put my hands up, when I'm really really late for my train in the morning, it has been done (getting dressed while on the toilet - can't believe I'm actually owning up to this!!).
The thread box!! I spotted it first!!! It's really lovely, I want one just like that too!!!
And I'm with you with the folder. I've got a folder for my knitted patterns, but it's quite small still so it doesn't have dividers. All in good time!!!
Hope your organisation has made you feel more happy!

Unknown said...

I love your posts! My brother is a solicitor, and I think he may have loads of boring grey files! Hmmm, I wonder? I also wind all my threads onto those card things and file them in boxes like yours too! I write all the numbers on too. Except mine keep getting messed up! suzie. xx

Trish said...

Hee hee....you are hilarious AND a great writer. Yes...Solicitors and their files...tell me about it! What about Engineers? That is what I deal with! hee hee...love them all the same! Great little post today. I am not a neat freak but I hate things out of order....I can't proceed until everything is straightened out...my office desk, my kitchen work area, even the laundry room! Uh huh...I get ya sister!

Trish said...

now...get this...my word verification was 'splat'...not a comforting word to a 'neat geek'