Categories

I watched a planner video on YouTube the other day and she said to group items together rather than having a To-Do list jumbled up with all of your life categories.

Hmm, I thought, I'm not having any problems.

But I thought about it some more and decided it would interesting to test it out and see if I like separating them more than mixed up together.

First, I needed my categories. I decided on 1) Self-Care 2) Exercise 3) Life and 4) Career (as in writing).

Next, I went looking for my stencil collection. I started using this and just swashing a mild liner line and writing the category in there, but toward the end of the week, I decided to try outlining the swash with pen.

I prefer the outline. It seems to jump off the page more. I also started out with the same color I use to make my check boxes, but switched to purple because it blended too much in the beige.

It might be helpful on my busiest days, but I already messed up and didn't leave enough room under self-care for an item that belonged there. I ended up putting it under life because I forgot about it.

Which underlined the big drawback to this system: if something comes up later and I don't leave any extra space, then it's jumbled up at the bottom of the page because there's nowhere else to put it. But if I do leave extra space and don't need it, then that will look annoying. Shrug.

I'm going to try it out for a week and see what I think about it. If separated is easier than jumbled, then it might be worth taking my chances with the spacing. Or maybe a add a fifth category called Last-Minute Adds.

I like trying out new ideas for staying organized, so I'm going to keep an open mind and see where I end up with my version of her system.

Replacement Time

While I did miss out on the 10-year CO2 detectors because I didn't know what to buy if it wasn't listed online as compatible with the mounts I already had, I did buy the 10-year smoke detectors for the house because my brother said he could install them no matter what kind of mount there was.

Thrilled to at least have four of the seven detectors off the cycle of battery replacement, I went back to the home improvement store and bought a four pack, as well as four adapters.

Those adapters are really handy because it saved rewiring and made the replacement quick and easy. About half an hour to do the four smoke detectors and the two CO2 detectors that I didn't replace because ladder.

I can't even begin to tell you how much peace of mind I have knowing those smoke detectors are not going to chirp at me. I wish I'd gotten the 10-year CO2 detectors, too, for total peace of mind, but next time I replace them, I'll do that.

You'd think they would have come up with this 10-year battery thing decades ago. Is there anyone who doesn't hate the chirping?

When I bought the CO2 detectors because of the one was chirping, the woman checking me out said she and her husband couldn't get theirs off the mount when it was chirping and they used a baseball bat. That should have been a message a long time ago about how freaking annoying those things are.

At least my house is 57% done with battery issues. Wish it was 100%, but next time.

Handy Patti: Part Two

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It's now Sunday. I am at my computer writing. The same CO2 detector that chirped on Thursday and required new batteries starts chirping again.

This time I have batteries. I bought two different name brands for that fussy thing. I don't even check if someone can help. I climb the ladder and replace the batteries, remembering that the label is incorrect.

The damn thing continues to chirp.

I know the batteries are fresh. I know they are in correctly. I know that there shouldn't be any chirping.

And then I remember that the house is ten years old and these are the original detectors. I also remember that they only last ten years. I research how to remove a CO2 detector. It ended up being easier than I expected. I flipped the circuit breaker, disconnected it, and went to get ready to leave for the home improvement store.

Chirping. I'm like, don't tell me that the other detectors are chirping because I popped the circuit breaker. This is a longer segment, but to sum up: I forgot to take the batteries out of the one I took down and that's why it was chirping.

With the batteries removed and dressed for people to see me, which means not like I was dressed to write, I head to the store to buy a new CO2 detector.

Of course, there is literally no employee in the general vicinity to help me, so I pull out my phone and do a search for compatible models since my original has been discontinued. One of the models is a ten year, no battery changes option, but I can't find that on the shelves. Since I don't know anything about changing out the mount, it must be compatible so I can use the old mount.

I search for one of the other two options.

It took forever, but I finally located it on the top shelf. I buy three since I have three detectors, and if one is going, how long until the other two go? Then I spot the adapters. I don't know if I need them or not, but I buy three anyway, just in case.

When I get home, I put in the name-brand batteries, replacing the ones that came with the unit. (Now the +/- is imprinted in the plastic, which makes more sense.) I put one of the adapters in my pocket and go up the ladder.

Yes, I most definitely need the adapter. I do the attaching, all the while terrified because I'm three rungs up on a ladder and have a phobia about falling that I'm struggling with.

Next problem: Screwing the new detector into the existing mount.

This required multiple attempts and a lot more twisting than it took to get the old one off. I finally, finally got it attached. Flipped the circuit breaker back on.

Blessed silence. 

Handy Patti: Part One

Newsletter subscribers have already heard this story. If you'd like to subscribe, you can do it on the Coming Next page of my website.

It was a Thursday. I come home and hear chirping. Yes, the damn CO2 detector is complaining even though the batteries should have been good.

This is not great because I'm terrified of ladders, and since no one was available to help me, and because I hate the chirping so much, I scrounged up some new AA batteries and got the ladder. I'm short enough that it requires three rungs to reach the damn thing.

I put in the batteries. Still chirping.

Probably old batteries. I don't know how long they were sitting around. The CO2 detector will not accept the generic batteries I use for everything else. It's fussy. It requires the name brand, expensive batteries. This means a trip to the store to buy some of the name-brand batteries.

Up the ladder again. Batteries in. Still chirping.

Up the ladder again. I discover I didn't push in one of the red trigger things. I do so now. Still chirping.

Up the ladder again. I discover I put both batteries in the same direction, so I pull one out, study the sticker, and rotate the one that needs to change. Still chirping.

Now I'm desperate. Still no help available.

Up the ladder again. I pull out both batteries, study the sticker inside the compartment, and put the batteries in per the label. Still chirping.

Up the ladder again. Switch the batteries so that it's opposite of the way the sticker says to put them in.

Silence.

That's when I remembered that the last time I had to do the batteries on my own, that I discovered the sticker with which side should be +/- was backward. I vow to remember this for next time.

To be continued on Thursday. 

Paper Overwhelm

I'm trying to figure out how paper keeps accumulating in my office.

At the moment, I have a pile on my desk to my right. I have no clue what that is. 

To my left, I have a bunched up mess that is actually a timeline/scene list for a book I've written. Not sure I need it anymore or not, but I'm leaning toward tossing it because it got mangled when I pushed my laptop over.

Underneath the laptop is more papers. Have no clue what those are either and I'm kind of scared to lift the computer and look at them.

On top of my black and white printer, I have two separate stacks of unidentified papers.

Under my window, I have a cart with two levels and multiple drawers. I know what's on the top. Mostly. But that second tier? It's a disaster.

Then there are the stacking bins over my desk, the plastic bins I bought to organize myself, but just dumped more papers in, the stack on top of my drawer that used to be where I kept my planner. And oh, yeah, the stacks on top of the filing cabinets.

This is where someone without ADHD would say, you just start and work through it. Unfortunately, I take one look at all this, get overwhelmed and find something else to do. My executive function just checks out when it sees this mess.

Sigh. The paper overwhelm is real.