Well Darlings I wish I could say “Rain, Rain go away, come again another day.” But we need the rain and the snow.
It’s coming down good right now and I looked out onto the lagoon and saw that some ducks had settled down to sit out the weather just underneath the sun shelter on my dock.
Princess, of course, considers them interlopers, but I have to take pity on them, even wild animals that are use to suburban life need a safe place during a storm.
Molly Maids came in and did a wonderful job sprucing things up yesterday, and one of the ladies even helped me fold and put away laundry that I had washed and dried that morning. And in a matter of a few hours it was done and all is sparkling.
I was also surprised yesterday morning when Manuel, Juanita’s son-in-law showed up, just after the Molly Maids arrived, he said that his mother was worried that there maybe things outside that would need to anchored down because of the high winds and rains that were coming.
I’m glad he did because there were some things that did, indeed, needed to be taken care of. He made quick work of it and said that Juanita has been so happy to see her family from Mexico, but they would be leaving this Sunday, so she’s going to be a little sad, and would it be alright for her to come back on Monday as she wants to go to a special mass Sunday evening with the family, I said of course that would be fine.
It seems that by starting the New Year in getting back to normalcy on Monday seems just right, since Sunday would be Epiphany, which as my friend Mean Kitty says is the last day of the Christmas Season, which means taking down the Christmas decorations.
And that is the way to start off the New Year and to get organized for the year to come.
The rain is coming down; I have a small fire going in the fire place just so things won’t seem so gloomy, Tommy Dorsey is playing on the Stereo.
I have a stack of local magazines and will be looking through them to see if there are any wonderful places that are elegant and relaxing that Irma and I had talked about the other day.
January is the best month for Diva’s to get themselves organized for the entire year, it’s slower and you have all that paper work from the previous year to get organized and filed. And with a rainy, gloomy day like today this is the perfect time to start that organization.
The first thing in the New Year is to first take down all the Christmas decorations both inside and outside, traditionally that should be done on January 6th, Epiphany or the Sunday closest to January 6th. Of course the outside decorations may have to wait if it’s storming.
Secondly, if you can afford it, hire a cleaning service to do a good cleaning of most of the living quarters of your home so you can start the New Year with a clean house.
This also means replacing filters on your central heating system, and batteries in your fire alarm system, Now Darlings although there are times when I simply detest the woman, Martha Stewart in her magazine does give some very good suggestions for organization and what to do to get the year started right.
Consider the month of January the time to do upgrades on your cell phone, your computer, to renew your antivirus system, and renew your gym membership---yes Darlings, if you want to have the lovely shaped Diva figure you do need a gym membership or at least an excerise program to keep fit (more on that later).
Also to start your separate Christmas savings account---Mean Kitty has what she calls a sub-account at her Credit Union (and they are a good thing to join as well)that is a Christmas Club account, she can put money in, but she cannot touch it until they release it in late November. This way you know exactly how much to spend for Christmas and it's always best to have a goal of what to put in. Multiply it by 10 or 25 dollars either everyweek or everyother week, depending on what is your payroll schedule, this way you do not max your credit cards.
This is also a good time to see what maintenance needs to be done on your car, and make regular appointments for it.
I consider January a paper month and an organization month.
First I go through my Day Runner for 2008 to mark in birthdays, Holidays, Anniversary’s, when to make appointments for things---you know Darlings, Doctor, Dentist, Hair Stylist, Pet Care, Auto mechanic, and make a list of cards to buy for various occasions, such as Thank yous, condolences, congratulations (on different events), and start putting things in order for my tax preparer.
I have the perfect location to hold my stationary supplies. In my home I have a modest room that I use as my library/office, but it has a closet, and in that closet I’ve had an electrician put in a good bright light and a carpenter put shelves (in white—it’s reflective of the light) and with that and some pretty baskets or canvas storage boxes I’m able to put in my supply of stationary items, cards, paper, envelopes, paper for the printer, some computer supplies. And a two drawer file cabinet on wheels, the idea of the cabinet being on wheels is that I can wheel it out when I need to work and put it away when I’m entertaining or I have work staff over.
The high upper shelves I use to hold past years IRS Tax information----there is a lot of questions of how to safely store this important information, many people I know use the cardboard shoe boxes, but they are flimsy, can get wet and generally fall apart, I use the plastic shoe boxes with the heavy plastic lids, they keep the damp and dust out, will not collapse under stacked weight and they look nice and neat, be sure to put the year that they cover on them so it can be clearly seen.
Another thing that I do is I keep my yearly personal calendar from the pervious years, you can get inexpensive ones with flowers or kitties on it and it’s just the right size to put in one’s purse or tote bag, it’s handy to quickly write down appointments, events, and phone numbers---do keep a pen clipped to it. Then when you get home and at your office transfer this information to your Day Runner and office calendar. This way you have 3 to 4 “tickle” areas to remind you of appointments, meetings and upcoming events.
Another good thing is that it acts like a shorthand diary in case you need to know when something was purchased, or when was a medical procedure done---this way you don’t have to rely just on memory. As they say “It takes the guess work out”. Keep the past years in a separate plastic container so that you can use it to refer to any particular file box.
Now Diva’s here is an important lesson-----
All Diva’s should have a very well organized desk and file, this is so important.
The idea of a file cabinet will help to keep important things like warranties, Insurance policy’s, Property taxes, and all your bills from the last year.
Now a photographer friend of mine has a two drawer file cabinet with a box on top to hold those things just received to be ready to file and I’ve found that idea works very well---but she takes it one step further----in case of an emergency earthquakes, fires that threaten the neighborhood, she has it so that if need be she can scoop things up and put then into two heavy duty tote bags and also thrust her lap top into it as well and just toss it into her car/van.
She also keeps any prescription bottles of medication on top of that same filing cabinet for the same reason and with one of those “dispense a day’ plastic containers to hold what pills she needs to take for the day next to her bed.
The idea is that since her file cabinet, like mine is next to her desk, when her prescription needs to be refilled it’s all right there next to the phone.
Now Darlings I do know that you all are going to ask me, “why do I keep referring to a Day Runner, isn’t that what electronic devices are for?” Well electronic devices fail, short out or get stolen, but a Day Runner is quick, easy to use, will not short out and you would know if you left it anywhere. A pencil never fails unless it breaks, a pen does not short out unless it runs out of ink. And it’s much quicker to use and to transfer all the information where you need to put it.
Never assume that trying to create a “Paperless Society” is going to happen, by having it down on paper in black and white it’s a solid piece of evidence of any transaction. Another thing, all those heat transfer receipts will fade, so photocopy them for a permanent record.
Several of my friends who work always plan on taking a week off in January to do this organization. Not the week of New Years, but starting around the weekend of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, by taking that week off as a time to put all things in order, it helps them get their paperwork and files prepared for the Tax man. This is really a good time to do it.
The Reason is that you have come back from the Christmas holidays, caught up with the paper work at work and then can allow for this time. If you cannot take a full week off the MLK jr weekend plus a day before or after would be perfect.
Hmmmm it seems that I’m creating a line of thought here----All right Darlings what I’m going to do is post lessons and idea’s on how you Marvelous Diva’s and Diva’s-in-Training can organize your life.
That will be for the Month of January and then we shall go on from there
So watch for my next posting on what important papers to keep and for how long.
Until Anon Darlings, it is time for an early lunch and to do some organizing. Kisses Darlings.
