The Spector of August's Goal

Have you ever started a simple home improvement task that snowballs into a major undertaking? For example, deciding to paint a room? Before you know it this turns into multiple trips to the home improvement store for various supplies you need. These supplies are for all of the other tasks that you discover need to be done in this room. Now you are on a runaway train of a single room improvement, and you wonder when it will be safe enough to jump off. This is me.

In August my goal was to straighten up and clean my office space. It seemed so simple and innocent a goal at the time. I knew that it might be a bit tedious and require I use the time when my kids are in school. This was okay with me. I underestimated everything.

My youngest started kindergarten and in the area I live, this means that they hardly attend school for the first two weeks of the school year. An hour one day for testing, a week later they go to school for a half day, and a week after that they finally start school full time. Well, during this time my oldest got sick and had to stay home. The half day came for my kindergartner and I was able to tackle my desk. I could finally see the surface (such joy!). Then as fate would have it, when he finally starts full time, I wake up feeling awful that day. I end up being sick for the next 6 days, during which I make a trip to the doctor and find out I have an ear infection. I haven't had an ear infection since I was.... oh I don't know... 6 years old! However, at least I'm better for my jaunt to FGS in Birmingham. The day after I get back the kids have a half day of school and so starts the Labor Day weekend. Hello September!

During the course of organizing my desk, I realize I am dire need of more shelf space for my ever growing collection of books and binders. My little bookcase is in a sad state of overflow, and the very large bookcase is full. What to do? Well since buying another bookcase is not in the cards, I decided that the simplest solution was to make more room on the very large bookcase. So I have spent this week going through all of the books. Some of them I'll take to the used bookstore, others that I can't part with I've boxed up for now and put them in the attic. I've claimed two of these large shelves for my genealogy/history books, and my overflowing small bookcase looks much happier.

So my August goal has flowed and transformed into September's goal. There is still more to do in the office. I'm not done. My desk is the catch all for tax related receipts, school paperwork, photos, and any other important household documents (not to mention genealogy related ephemera). As soon as it gets clear more stuff lands on it. I've gotten supplies to deal with it all, and soon it will all be in its proper place. I'm close-ish to being done or at least close enough. I want off this runaway train!!

Centralizing and Organizing Your Correspondence

It can be a challenge to keep track of all requests I send out, for various records and information. To help with this I keep a correspondence log in a binder. It's red, to help it stand out from all the other binders on the shelf. Inside I keep correspondence sheets for each surname I'm researching, filed alphabetically. These sheets are not so different than others that can be found online or in genealogy books. However, I did create my own to include a couple of items that were important to me.

For example, I have a space to put the check number or notation for money order. This way, I can track if the check has been cleared and/or form of payment. I also have a space for notes if the request is returned asking for more or other information. Once I receive the requested record, I not only write down the date received, I put a check in front of the row. Why do this? Well, some of the records I request can take weeks if not months to arrive. I have a busy life (like most people), with two kids and their schedules, a husband's schedule, and a house with its own schedule, I have trouble remembering everything. I found myself one time wondering if I sent for a particular record or only imagined sending for it . So I finally created my correspondence binder. It's come in very handy.

I want to make an addition to the binder too. So many websites require a username and password now. They all have different rules to follow making it impossible to use the same username and password, which is probably a security risk anyway. The sites I use often are not a problem to remember, the others need to be written down and kept altogether in the same place. I figured the correspondence binder would be the perfect place.

Mission Organization-Part 1

I've been busy these past two weeks getting organized and as a result haven't blogged as much as I would like to. Some people go crazy spring cleaning every year. For me, I go crazy with end of summer cleaning.

In the spring the weather is too nice for me to stay inside. The end of summer it is just kind of gross with heat and humidity. I live in the South after all. So I've been clearing off my desk (an endless battle), and going through last year's school papers for my boys (writing samples, artwork, etc.).

However, my biggest project is cleaning out the inbox of my emails. I subscribe to various different genealogy lists and blogs. This means I get a lot of emails everyday with wonderful conversation threads, and suggestions of online resources and sites to help others with their research. When I got back from vacation I decided my inbox had reached critical overload. I'm embarrassed to admit I had over 700 emails in my inbox. Time to do something about it.

It has been on my "to do" list to create a word document to store all of these suggestions. Some people have suggested making a folder to put the emails in, or to bookmark them. This wouldn't work for me, as it would get dumped or marked and forgotten. As I've gone through these emails I have cut and pasted sites or sources under appropriate subject headings alphabetically. Then I type a few words of further description if needed. I've been working on this for two weeks now. However, if I'm wondering about map resources or say where to find information on old cars... I've got a list to use that is easy to find.

I still have some more emails to go through, but I've made a lot of progress. My inbox only has 49 messages in it now.

Research Day Preparation

I'll be leaving shortly for a wonderful day of research at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. I can't wait! The focus for today is my Luttrell line from Knoxville, Tennessee. So last night I gathered together my essentials; notebook, research plan, my research log for this family, and family group sheets. However, there was one item I spent 20 frustrated minutes looking for and still can't find. My pencil case. That's right, my pencil case. It's a shiny blue cloth case that zippers, and apparently my 6 year old thinks it's pretty cool too. He was eyeing it fondly the other day and has since made off with it.

A couple weeks ago at the NGS conference in Charleston, I attended a lecture called Organizing Your Research: The Overlooked Step by Ann Carter Fleming. She had a lot of great ideas and suggestions to make organization more simple. I like simple, however the bottom line is, everybody has their own systems that work for them. I've heard about some fairly elaborate ones that involve numbered codes that I would never be able to figure out, let alone remember. I mostly use binders with page dividers, which so far has worked nicely for me. I am starting to branch out into file folders though, since receiving a 120 page civil war pension file that is too bulky for the binder. It is cross referenced in the binder with a page that says, "See hanging file folder for pension file." Simple. It works for me.

So how does trying to find a pencil case and attending a lecture on organization tie together? I've learned that sometimes it doesn't matter how organized you are, there can be larger forces working against you. Like a 6 year old.

Well, I'm off to the archives with my research papers in hand, and my pencils swimming around freely in my bag. Overall, a good start to the day.