Office Work

This afternoon I spent a considerable amount of time looking for my staple puller.  The following is an example of how one small thing can--and often will--inevitably lead to another, much larger thing...

In the cupboard where I keep my old-fashioned wire in-box for receipts and other miscellaneous stuff to be filed, I also have envelopes, a stapler, 3-hole punch, staple puller--the normal detritus required for office work.  The puller should have been right there, but mysteriously it wasn't. 

Is this like socks, or hangers?  No, that can't be.  Socks always leave a survivor, and hangers multiply willy nilly like rabbits, they don't disappear into thin air.  What could have happened to the staple puller?  I take everything out of the cupboard on the off-chance the little tool has fallen behind the other supplies.  Nope.

However, in this quest, what I do discover is that I am woefully behind in my filing and organizing.  If this was a paying job, I would be standing in the unemployment line by now, cheeks red with embarrassment that I was fired for my crap filing skills.  

My in-box is overflowing, papers are falling every which way, receipts are crumpled under tax forms, house insurance is mixed in with car stuff.  When was the last time I sorted through this stuff?  (October as it turns out when I finally get to the bottom of the pile).

I need to deal with this mayhem.  Clear back in January I bought a new notebook, dividers and manila folders to begin my New Year all organized and efficient.  Sighing, resigned, I drag out my office supplies, along with the over-burdened in-box and get to work.

Three hours later:

A large pile of papers tossed to the floor to be shredded, half the table taken up with crap, but hey, I'm caught up, my filing is done, notebook is efficiently organized, receipts have a home and I can flip a divider at will to view my monthly expenses.  Alrighty then.

Oh, and by the way:  Notice the closed blind in the background there?  That's the bugger that's broken and has to be replaced.  The paperwork for the custom order and delivery is filed under House Maintenance.  It should be filed under Money Pit.

And that elusive staple puller?  I found it in my little kitchen tool box next to the hammer.  I had used it to pull out some nails in the bathroom wall a few weeks ago before hanging the new pictures. 

Now, if I could just remember why I was looking for the damn thing in the first place...