Saturday, July 12, 2008

Lisa Land

I’m an organizer fiend.

Now please don’t misinterpret that. That’s “organizer," not “organizing." There’s a difference. Trust me.

I envy the people that can organize the fool out of things. They have organized book shelves, organized day planners, organized pantries. Heck, they even have organized underwear drawers. But I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.

My dream isn’t to have a Martha Stewart home. Nope. That’s beautiful and all, but I want a family-friendly home. I want my family to feel comfortable in our home. I want the kids to feel like they can pull toys out and play with them. I’d just like to have everything in its place, though. Toys piled in their bins, books stacked neatly on book shelves, and shoes resting neatly in the shoe basket by the front door.

However, life isn’t like that in Lisa Land. The toys spill over the toy box with a teddy bear flopped over the side, begging me to save him. The books are in baskets, all right, but they’re backwards, forwards, upwards, and downwards. The shoes seem to have given birth. It looks like every shoe in our closet walked straight into that basket.

So I buy organizers. You’d think, “She has the tools, now she has the ability to organize. Right?” Nope. Not me. Not here in Lisa Land.

Take, for instance, the stackable drawer bins I bought for the grandchildren to keep toys in. I printed a picture of each child and placed it on the front of their individual drawer. Smart, hmm? Nope again...still no cigar.

The drawers are stacked neatly on top of one another like they should be, but each drawer has only a toy or two toys in it. That’s it. The rest of the toys are once again spilling over the toy box. The bear still hangs there, doe eyes pleading with me.

I’m scared to death my girls will call one of those organizer shows. They’ve threatened it. (And I threatened them, of course!) They said I’m the only unorganized person they know with a million and one organizers. Go figure.

The only consolation is that my grandchildren absolutely love Lisa Land. That’s the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box. The books may be askew, the toys piled, and the shoes multiplying, but they love Grandma’s house. Who could ask for more?

3 comments:

Judy said...

Hi Lisa,

That your grandkids love "Lisa Land" is what it is all about.

I used to be organized, but somewhere along the way I lost the fine art of keeping it together.

I think the bear with his arms out saying I am lonely, come get me, is the way it should be!

So, if I follow your naming scheme... hmmm = Judy's Junk - not so great - will have to work on that one.

Take care,
Judy
http://www.localfoodconnections.com

Carma Dutra said...

Hey Lisa, I have every tool imagineable to organize my thoughts, books, toys, dishes and so forth. I have four lovely day planners. Two have my name inscribed. I have drawers of folders of all types, desk top file folders and on and on. But if you were to come into my office you would not see them. I can't find them because they are buried.

Glad to know I am not a lone.

My grandkids love to come to my office too. Go figure.

Carma
http://carmaswindow.blogspot.com

Theresa Schultz said...

Hi Lisa,

I have some areas of my house that are extremely organized and others that are a mess. I'm always working to clear up the paper clutter. Whatever happened to that concept of the paperless society?

Theresa
Stress-FreeParent.blogspot.com