Photographically Organized!

It's taken almost a week, but I finally have most of the photos organized. Here's how my life works:

The original problem? Organize and clean the office/guest room. The excuse for not getting it done? The secondary problem, which is stacks and stacks of photo prints and film, all over my office. These are both huge projects, and one must be done for the other to be completed, capish?

So, I've identified the problem. Now I have to spend a few hours thinking about how to fix it. Spying an empty area in the office, above the cabinets, I think "Hey! that's a great place to store photos!". I am not, nor will I ever be a scrapbooker. I can't handle what I've got, much less make it look pretty. So now, I have to have photo storage boxes. I want covers so that the pics don't get all dusty. Problem? Well, I can't go that day, because I have to pick up the kids, and I avoid going anywhere with all three unless there is no other solution. Boxes can wait.

The next day, I have to go to Costco, because we need milk and stuff (Yes, I go to Costco every single week of my life, including stopping on the way home from giving birth to my youngest, but I digresss...) So I go look at Staples (because I really, really try not to shop Wal-mart, even though I'm cheap as hell!). I hit another problem....Staples doesn't have what I need, although they've come close with a cardboard box that costs $11 a whack...remember, I'm cheap, and thinking that $3 per box (and I'll need at least six of them) is my personal limit. I go into another store close by (did I mention I'm dragging a 4 year old who would rather spin in the office chairs than follow me thru the store?) and find a few boxes, but they are so ugly, I don't even bother to check the price. Bring perpetually hungry 4 year old home, and leave her with her Dad while I run to another store that's 10 miles away. BINGO! Found the boxes at the desired price. We're in the homestretch, right?

On Thursday, I sat down with the boxes and the photos and began to sort. CRAP!!! Why didn't I write down at least the year the pics were taken? The date I had reprints made from the digital camera, or had those goofy disposables processed? It can be YEARS from the actual date of the photo! This is going to take a while. I finally settle for getting the general year right. Which means, I have to remember that we moved to this house in 2002, and put the yard in in November, so if it's sunny and in the backyard, it has to be Spring 2003, unless there is barkmulch in the flowerbeds and then it could be late 2003, early 2004, right? And how old were the kids when we took them to Legoland for the first time? Second? Forget about my Dad or Mom, they've looked the same for YEARS....

So, I made it thru most of them today, and realized that I have plenty of pcitures that WON'T FIT IN THE BOXES!!! They are too damned big! Off I go to Wal-mart (Screw it -they are closest to my house!) in search of a legal size box (I told you the pics are big - some are 10x13!) Luckily, WallyWorld did not have what I was seeking...so off to Staples again. This time, I had to search to find something that would hold the legal size I needed. What I found didn't have a cover, which, if you've stayed with me this long, is the point of it all. I remembered that I have a file at home that will do, and I can move that stuff into the box I just bought, and use the box with the lid I already had!

18 million hurdles for something that I could have done in an afternoon, if I didn't have a family. Of course, if I didn't have a family full of cute kids, I wouldn't have taken nearly so many pictures, would I?

I'm a lucky woman, just tired of spinning my wheels all of the time.