Problem was, [...]]]> After my art lesson the other day, I stashed a few checks in my pocket like a usually do. Usually this isn’t a problem, and the checks mingle with odd receipts, and bits of cash, and my cell phone, to become what my sister terms a “pocket wad”. That’s right, we’re ladies!

Problem was, this was a new pair of jeans, and the pockets aren’t as deep as the ones in my old pair. When I went through my pockets today looking for the checks, I couldn’t find them anywhere.

It turns out that as pants get smaller, pockets likewise get smaller. I never had this problem when I was a size 18.

I had to e-mail my clients and tell them to cancel the checks because I’d lost them. This is an inconvenience to them, and I felt bad about that, and to make it worse I just felt like a total idiot. It wouldn’t have taken that much longer to put the checks in my wallet. But of course, I would have had to unzip my bag, and open my wallet, and put the checks inside it, and close the wallet, and then close my bag. That’s FOUR MORE STEPS than just stuffing them in my pocket! Damn, where will I find the time?

I’m trying to talk myself out of feeling like such a jerk. I read somewhere that people with ADHD tend to overemphasize their negative experiences and thoughts in favor of their positive ones. Maybe that’s why I’m having such a hard time telling myself that this kind of thing happens to everyone, and it’s not the end of the world, that my clients won’t suddenly think of me as an incompetent art teacher, and above all that canceling a check is really not that big a deal because banking is done online these days. It takes about 30 seconds to do a transaction, all without leaving your chair, or even picking up the phone.

Sigh.

“I think we should help each other get organized”, she said.

I was stunned. “Get organized? Help each other?” I asked. “How can I be any help to you at all? You’re pretty [...]]]> My organizing journey began in the fall of 2005 when a friend of mine called me with an interesting proposition.

“I think we should help each other get organized”, she said.

I was stunned. “Get organized? Help each other?” I asked. “How can I be any help to you at all? You’re pretty organized already. I’m a chaos demon. I think I just need to come to terms with that.”

“I realize that I know more about organizing than you do,” said my friend. “That’s OK. But I just moved in with my partner, I’ve got a lot of unpacking to do, and two people’s stuff to deal with. I could use the company. And I think I could help you a lot.”

“Look, I’m grateful, I really am. I’m happy to help you get unpacked. I just don’t think I’ll ever be organized. Honestly. I’ve tried EVERYTHING. You wouldn’t believe the money I’ve wasted on containers and drawer organizers. Besides, I’m in grad school, and I have a job … I have no time and no money.”

“Do you have one afternoon a week?” she asked.

“Well, I guess Friday afternoons are free”, I said.

“Great. If I recommend a book, a single, inexpensive book, are you willing to buy it?”

“I don’t know. I feel like I’ve read everything and nothing works. Besides, I’ve got a ton of reading to do already.”

“You haven’t read this,” my friend told me. “And it’s easy. It won’t take you any time at all.”

“OK, fine, I’ll buy the book”, I said. “I just don’t want you to feel bad if this doesn’t work.”

“I know you’ve had a lot of bad experiences in the past, but I know you, and I really think this will work.  I wouldn’t be suggesting it otherwise,” my friend said. “Go find that book. And I’ll see you Friday.”

Hmph, I thought to myself after I hung up. We’ll just see about this book.

The book, Julie Morgenstern’s Organizing from the Inside Out, would change my life. Using it, I was actually able to organize my space, starting a cascade of healthy, positive change that has completely transformed the way I see myself.

I came to this realization in a round about way because of the mice.  As I mentioned last week, my house has been invaded by rodents. The good news is that they’re not roof rats like I thought; they’re house mice, [...]]]> Or, Why I $%#@ing HATE Palm Trees

Today I realized that palm-trees are not ADD-friendly.

I came to this realization in a round about way because of the mice.  As I mentioned last week, my house has been invaded by rodents. The good news is that they’re not roof rats like I thought; they’re house mice, which are certainly a problem to have living in the walls, but they’re not significant disease vectors either. I had no idea mice could be so darn LOUD.

To make a long story short, in order to trap the mice, I need to clean up my yard. Yard work isn’t so bad once I actually start doing it, but it’s one of those tasks where I have trouble getting started. My yard is ringed by mature trees, many of them tropical species.  It’s very shady so I can’t plant my own stuff, which means I’m not motivated to take care of plants I planted.  I’ve got several trees, most of which I wouldn’t have chosen, and none of which will be overcome by weeds. I think the last time I cleaned up my yard was … 2005? Seriously.

Which gets me to the palm trees. Weeding my yard wasn’t even the bad part. It didn’t take me much time to finish the first third of my yard, and I could easily see what I’d accomplished:

This part of the yard had weeds that came up over my knees. I cleared it in an hour.

So today, I went out to finish the other half. The important half. The half that the pest control people will need to access in order to set their traps tomorrow. After three and a half hours of work, it looked like this:

The whole yard used to look like that super-green area toward the back. In front is a very leggy butterfly bush.

Yeah, that’s right. Clearing the same amount of space took three times as long. Why? Because of those #@$^&%@ palm trees!

In truth, it’s not just the palms, it’s all the tropical plants in my yard. There are four different types of palms (some of them much skinnier than others), a few banana trees (that don’t produce fruit because it’s too cold, but there are some very weird-looking flowers on them), and a calistemon or “bottlebrush” (a tree native to Hawai’i, with a weeping growth habit). In order to get to the weeds, I had to prune the calistemon severely, and then hack my way through wilting palm fronds and banana branches. Then I had to clear the fallen fronds from the ground. Then, and only then, could I actually start weeding. On Friday, I spent an hour filling our two 32 gallon compost bins and two 33 gallon compostable yard waste bags — that’s 130 gallons, for those of you keeping score at home. Today, before I could even start pulling weeds, I filled both compost bins and three yard waste bags.  That’s right.  163 gallons of palm tree detritus, before I could even start weeding.

The bin in back is 32 gallons, the compostable yard waste bag in front is 33 gallons

These are the banana branches I had to hack through in order to get at the ground to weed.

A large pile of banana leaves. My tiny lens does not do it justice.

It got me thinking about how much I hate tropical plants. They’re all well and good when they’re in the jungle. Jungles, by definition, are overgrown. My northern California yard should not be. Furthermore, tropical plants grow all year round, which means they drop leaves and fronds all year round. Many of them are too big to just rake up, which means you have to collect them by hand. For someone with ADD, this presents one of those barriers to action which keep us from getting started on the task at hand.

Older branches (the grey ones) slowly collapse until they're in the way of foot traffic. The stalks of these fronds are very hard, sharp, and serrated. This is not good.

So my advice to you, if you have ADD and are planning a landscaping project, is to avoid the tropicals. Pick trees that drop their leaves once a year, so you only have to rake once a year, or plant conifers. Pick plants that have open, upright growth habits. If you like trees with a weeping habit, like willows or some varieties of flowering cherry, be sure and plant them far enough away from other trees that they don’t become tangled and forbidding. Check a gardening book for trees to plant near swimming pools, as these trees are selected because they’re less messy. Double check with your local plant nursery or garden center.

Having ADD doesn’t mean you can’t have a beautiful outdoor space. Just be sure and find plants that are low-maintenance and ADD-friendly.