March 1, 2011

Fabulously Quirky

I have always had an admiration for those who can compartmentalize everything in life. The ones who know where almost everything is at any moment in time. Every shoe, every purse, every penny, every piece of paper, or shirt has a place where it can always be found. My flighty organizational thought process in life more closely resembles that of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I can find a clean sweater behind the couch, (yes, I knew it was there, no I didn’t pick it up until I put it on for work) or one shoe placed purposely on my dresser while the other one is in the front hall closet. Sometimes I can go months without finding an entire purse. A purse! I wouldn’t call our home a total disaster, I would however say that my personal belongings are scattered, misplaced, and unorganized. I’m sure this drives my husband crazy, but it’s who I am. Let’s just call it, “quirky.”

I do organize one part of my life. Of course you see where this is going darling reader, my kitchen. I wouldn’t say the items are grouped together by color or size or hell even type, but everything has a place, a drawer, a cabinet… a space of it’s own. The entire shelf of one of our cabinets is dedicated to items only purchased at Chicago Spice House and Old Town Oil.  (I may have a slight “over purchasing” problem in both shops.) Even when my pantry was unorganized up until Saturday afternoon, I knew where everything was. Yes, that 3/4 empty box of Lucky Charms on the top shelf was from my birthday in July but I knew it was there. Those two, one year-old cans of cheese soup were for a cheesy chicken crock-pot recipe  I never made. See, I know what I have and where it is, even if my oatmeal shares a space with dog bones from time to time. Everything has a place.

I also organize my grocery list like it’s going out of style.  (Because it is, didn’t you know? Hurry up, the bandwagon is leaving!) Growing up, my Mom’s grocery list had a menu on the bottom right hand corner. All items to be purchased were listed on the left in the order that they could be found in the store. This, to me, is normal.  Recently I had this conversation with not one or two,  but three different people, who don’t make a grocery list or a weekly menu, that just head to the store! Madness! I can hardly fathom my shopping trips without a list! (I’m certain these same people would think, “But Kayte, how did you find cookie sheets in the backseat of your car and why do you have an empty prescription bottle in your jewelry box?”) Damn it, I just need my list, I can manage the rest.

Everyone has idiosyncrasies that make them tick, mine just happen to be a mess of contradictions, and when combined with a helping of disorganization and a dash of ADHD they really just make me fabulously quirky me.

4 comments:

  1. Hahaha! I love this. The first reason is because I am the kind of person you describe in the beginning of this post: OCD to the fablulous maximus. The second reason is because I very much wish I was as organized in the kitchen as I am in every other aspect of life! But the best part of it all...

    "All items to be purchased were listed on the left in the order that they could be found in the store. This, to me, is normal."

    no words...just emotions :)

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  2. love your blog! I am a menu and list kind of girl but my organizational skills are similar to yours at home too...is this good or bad?!

    I found your blog on 20 something bloggers, check mine out!

    http://lauramtaylor.blogspot.com/

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  3. Haha. How about my beautiful periwinkle vegetable tray that went missing for 2 years? I don't recall signing a release stating that you could describe my grocery list. Love you !!!

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  4. LOL! I am sure you will be SHOCKED to find out that I have a spreadsheet I use as my grocery list. All sections broken out in their own columns. And yes, the columns and items are ordered from left to right in the order you make your way through the store!

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