Mission: Organization!

I have OCD. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, I'm sure you probably know this.

I'm not talking about the kind of OCD where people joke they "are" OCD because they don't like when a picture is hanging crooked on a wall. I'm talking I have been diagnosed by a doctor, two psychiatrists, a psychologist, and I've been on medication for the condition. This is the real deal, folks.

When people think of real OCD, they think of people who check locks 50 times or tap on walls or who are extremely clean. While those all can be symptoms, the condition comes with different levels of severity and lots of different manifestations. Luckily, mine isn't severe to the point where it interferes terribly with my every day life, but I know what it is and what issues it causes and that really helps with dealing with it.

One of my own manifestations is a severe need for order. If you visit me, my scrapbook room in particular, you will note that I have everything not only neatly put in it's proper place, but it's categorized and labelled too. I have a lot of stuff, but as long as it's organized, it's not a problem. I also have a tendency to want to clean and purge every so often, so that things stay neat and organized. In a way, this manifestation of my condition is a gift, and I love this about myself.

I had a friend recently ask me if I would help her get her scrapbooking supplies organized. She was on bed rest with her last pregnancy and so while she would manage to get in a little crafting time here and there (she has four kids folks, so that's not a whole lot of time) there never seemed to be enough to stay on top of organization. She scrapbooks in a guest bedroom, and her supplies were pretty much everywhere when I arrived.

Don't worry, I got permission to post these!

What you can't tell in these photos is that the carpet is a pretty high pile and there were lots of things hidden in it like pennies and buttons! We took everything from every surface and made a giant pile on the floor. We cleared off the bed, the dresser, the desk, and the folding table. The table got folded up and put away. We then sorted through the pile filling laundry baskets with stuff to keep, donate, and toss. We also had a box for paper so that it wouldn't get damaged in the sort. After we cleared out the first giant pile, we emptied out the closet and did the same thing with that stuff.

After almost five hours of work, we got through it! The paper was sorted into piles. The stuff to donate was neatly packed away into a box and stashed in the closet. The shelves in the closet were reorganized. The carpet was clear. We had two laundry baskets full of "keep" items that we left in the closet that we will work on during our next session later this week.

Of course, being the genius I am, I totally forgot to take "after" photos. I will when we are done with the whole project. We need to buy some more storage and reorganize the storage she has. I'll also be bringing over my label maker so we can get everything labelled neatly as well.

It was funny while we were there, because her two youngest children are a year and three years old. That means Bubba is right between the two. He was playing with the older one at first, but pretty much they kept butting heads the whole time. He would want whatever she was playing with and vice versa. He'd get really close to her and say "SHARE" in a demanding way. I didn't even know he knew that word! Before he'd always just snatch at what he wanted, so I guess this is growth!

Later he would find something and then she'd come to us and say "He NOT share!!!" It was pretty funny. By the end of our visit he had decided to hang out with the baby. They laid on the floor together and ate Baked Cheetos. Apparently, it was a good time. :)