The Plan

I've been such a delinquent blogger these days.  I'm not sure if you know this, but packing up a house is insane amounts of work.  

D and I had it easy when we moved into our house.  We both came from our respective parents' houses, and didn't move in until after our wedding.  Everything was new and in boxes already because they were all wedding and shower gifts.  I didn't know at the time, but I was living the dream - moving into a new house with brand-new everything.  I will never, ever have that again, and I want to go back to my old self and shake her and scream in her face "YOU NEED TO APPRECIATE THIS!"  And while I'm talking to my old self, I'd definitely swing by the day when D and I registered and tell myself that I didn't need to register for so many wine glasses.   

But now we have a house that is full of stuff and we're trying to get everything packed up and organized so we can list it for rent.  And the other part of the problem is that I am selectively OCD about certain things in life.  When I have a huuuuuge project such as the packing project D and I find ourselves embarking on, I get 10 kinds of crazy if it's not planned out in minute detail, organized and written down in at least two different locations.  

This past Monday, I was sitting at work all panicked and in a cold sweat because I realized that we are supposed to be packed up and ready to show our house by next Wednesday.  That's a mere week and a half.  We don't live in a mansion - just a 3-bedroom colonial.  But the state of the basement gives me nightmares and we hadn't seen the left half of the floor in the office since before I was pregnant with L.  And I was starting to develop a little twitch in my eye just thinking about trying to get all this done.

Now I know myself pretty well.  I don't have any delusions that I'm something I'm not.  And I know that if I don't make a plan and force myself to commit 100% that I'll be scrambling at the last minute and crying about how God and the world hate me and cursing myself for wasting all that time watching Real Housewives of NY and NJ.  So I knew I couldn't just set an arbitrary plan to "pack for half an hour or an hour every night" and just "slowly chip away at it".  

It was time to get serious.  So on my lunch on Monday, I got to work on my computer and I made The Plan.  The Plan consists of the following:

- The house is divided up into 8 zones; each room is essentially it's own zone (living room, office, etc.).  However, certain areas of the house require less work, and therefore can be combined into their own zones (L's room and the linen closet, for example).  

- Each day, D and I will be responsible for 1 hour each of packing in an assigned zone.  Some days it's the same zone, other days we're in different zones.  It doesn't matter when the packing takes place during the day, but it MUST TAKE PLACE.  Don't cross me.

- The timer must be set for one hour at the start of packing time.  You may stop or continue once the timer goes off, but there is absolutely no stopping before the timer runs out.

I'm running a tight ship here.  Don't mess with The Plan.  Don't try to get out of The Plan.  The Plan sees all.  The Plan knows all.  The Plan means business.

Just so there could be no confusion, I made a very detailed layout of The Plan and taped it to the wall at home.  Page 1 describes what D and I are responsible for each day.  Page 2 lists what rooms make up each zone.  Page 3 is a sheet with an arrow for each zone that we color in with our progress whenever we do some work in that zone.  And Page 4 (though not expressly connected to the plan) is a to-do list of other things we need to get done around the house (like painting the lime green walls in the bedroom).  

When I brought The Plan home, D started cracking up.  He told me I should have been a teacher.  Then when he saw my serious face, his laughter died and he looked at me in fear because he could see what was coming down the pike.  And really, how could he not see?  It was all laid out in black and white in The Plan.  

Tonight will be Night 3 of The Plan and I have to say, it's going well.  It's amazing what an hour of work can accomplish.  If we stick to The Plan, we should meet our target of next Wednesday.  And believe me, we will be sticking to The Plan.  

Also, it needs to be said that last night, after D got home from hockey, he admitted that The Plan was a good thing.  That's the way The Plan works.  It comes in all big and impressive looking and full of itself and you're like "What?  This is ridiculous.  Who does this Plan think he is?"  And then three days later you're all like, "Oh Plan, I bow down at your Footer.  You are mighty and powerful and I come to do your bidding." 

That's right.  You better respect The Plan.