Did you make any New Year’s resolutions this year? I made one.
It’s hard to believe now, but I used to be a real slob. I was so messy as a kid that my grandmother even wrote me a poem.
![Poem[2]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtDxvn38bWp2hNbFToAObday57B9Ch5LYuV6rZHhRnKqRXfr1A3exalfT5CtVH9ktFd9wDwKHJ03SvPsY2cr4112FjXMH8PAEjANyle5b7gQKaPLecsv4JeUwUktAxi05jlojF6lTk4IA/s1600-h/Poem%25255B2%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg "Poem[2]")
And in elementary school, my second grade teacher asked me, one afternoon, if I’d like help cleaning up my desk, and when I said yes, she dumped the entire contents of it onto the floor. (I still find myself appalled at her attempt to teach me to be tidy. It just seems mean, now.)
Eventually, I learned to love neatness. I guess I’m a little obsessed with it these days. I admit, though, that I can still make a first class mess with the best of them-after baking, or sewing, for example. (For a funny post about my studio, read this.) In general though, I like to run a tight ship.
When it comes to being neat and tidy and organized though, I do have my Achilles heel. My collection of addresses and phone numbers. Slips of paper. Corners torn off envelopes. Random scraps scrawled with numbers, and names. They are everywhere, and nowhere to be found when I need them. It’s become quite the joke in my house.
So this year, I have resolved to find all those bits and pieces of vital information and write them down in one place. I bought myself a cute little vintage red address book, made in 1947, but never used. Waiting all these years to come to my rescue, I think.
As it says in the Forward:
We write the record of our lives on the Scroll of Time. Memories of friends we have made, ecstasies we have lived, and unsullied joys we have felt, through the years, form the pages of the Book of Life.
Lest we forget, we pause from time to time, and turn the pages of this Book to live again past thrills, remember friends, and recall pleasant associations.
Now that’s what I call an address book.
So anyone want to be added to my Christmas card list? Or have me remember a birthday or anniversary perhaps? Want me to know where to reach you day or night?
I’m your gal, because this is one resolution I really hope to keep.
Now, if I could just find my little red book. I know it’s around here somewhere…
It's a darling little red book. That alone would motivate me I think to use it!
ReplyDeleteI think it will be a breeze with such a neat book.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great resolution to make - I hope it's even easier to keep!
ReplyDeleteI didn't make any resolutions yet - I stopped doing it years ago because I always got so disappointed with myself. Whenever I make goals like that, I usually end up blowing them and then feel horrible about myself. Where's the sense in that?
So I think I need to try something a little different, though not sure what that something is yet!
BTW - your comment the other day about your daughter eating the "chocolate sprinkles" made me laugh out loud! (and get squeamish at the same time!)
What a perfect book for you, it must have been calling your name! If that beautiful vintage book can't inspire your addresses and dates to be listed, I fear nothing can ... Happy organizing :)
ReplyDeleteThank you all! I'm really feeling inspired now:)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful your Grandma was!!!
ReplyDeleteI love your little red book ... and that you are writing your info! Too many have lost touch with the written word... info goes into phones and gadgets... what do you do if something fails - you're sunk!!
My book is an oldie too but not so old as yours .. from the 70s with Holly Hobbie.... ~:o) my favorite!
Now THAT is a foreword. I can see why you adopted this book. Best of luck with your resolution and cheers to a happy 2012.
ReplyDeleteLisa and Tina-thank you both! :)
ReplyDeleteYour Grandma was one of a kind! And I too need a little red book. This year when doing Christmas cards I had to look up almost every address on the internet-I'd lost my little black book. And I agree, that teacher was being dramatic and nasty.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this post!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way with addresses and phone numbers...all on scraps of paper and no where to be found when I need them. LOL
I bought an Orla Kiely address book and I'm determined to use it!
Kim-I'm determined to get organized! I take after my grandma though, in that she used to write phone numbers and addresses all over everything-old envelopes, the backs of photos, magazine covers...I think she may have needed to have a little red book too!
ReplyDeleteWe can do it Kimberly!!