Thursday, January 10, 2013

And this is why I have a multiples problem...

There is nothing I was looking more forward to today (Wednesday) than getting in my scrapbook room. Other than putting class kits together, I haven't been in there creatively for over a month. I started with about an hour of getting the room in order. Then I put a couple of layouts on album pages and sorted others to figure out what albums they need to go in. For my family album, I needed a title page. I had the poem I wanted to use, but now I just needed a photo. I checked my "oversize photo" folders and came up empty. I decided I just need to print one.

When I found what I wanted, sized it and hit print, I got the message that the cyan ink cartridge is out. No problem, you will never find me without an extra ink cartridge. I always have at least two of every color on hand. Weeelllll, turns out, that the boxes that I thought were the cartridges, were only black ones. OMG! I definitely had an FTS moment. I give everyone a hard time about not having extra ink/paper on hand. It never runs out at a "good" time. It's always when you are in a hurry or need something right away. I can't say how many times my granddaughters call me to say they are emailing their homework for printing because their ink is out. There's nothing I hate more than an interruption to my carefully laid plans. "Barb, you need to be flexible"---you say. Well, that's not it. I work hard. I play hard---and that's the reward of my hard work---that I get to play at all. I'm very strict with myself. This was my play day. I pride myself in always being on top of things---annoyingly so---to family and friends, I'm sure. But you can always rely on me. I think it's that oldest child thing.

Just yesterday, Pam said she just can't figure out how I get all the stuff done that I do. Besides the fact that I move fast, I confessed that, really, I think I have A.D.D. I start something and before that's finished, I've flit to 25 other things. You've all seen those emails, you head to the mailbox to mail a letter, get side tracked and 4 hours later you realize you forgot to mail the letter. That's me exactly---except I get a ton of stuff done along the way.

Case in point: when faced with the ink situation today, I sat for a moment to revise my plan for the day. It's 10 a.m. I could continue in my scrapbook room, organize photos and plan a couple projects. Or, I noticed that when I went to pick the picture I wanted to print, this would be a good time to create my 2012 dvd of photos and get them off my computer. I started with that. I have 5000 photos on my computer. Probably 2000 of them are from 2012. I started scrolling through and trashing anything I know I would NEVER need again. In 20 minutes time, I discarded 1000 photos. Just saying--- I preach in my organizational classes about how quickly this can be done, I prove it to myself over and over again.

I stopped and did not finish with the photos right then because I realized if I waited much longer to get that ink cartridge, I would hit the heavy lunch traffic. On my way out the door, I remembered that I need to stop by the needlepoint shop and pay for a fiber that I took last night and forgot to pay for. That reminded me that I needed something else, so I went to my stitching supplies for the fiber card. I realized that I forgot to put my socks in the laundry room, so off I went. Once there, I thought, "well, I might as well run a load." Then I saw the folded napkins from Christmas and figured I might as well put those away. And on it goes. By the time I got out the door, I did hit all the traffic and had a hard time parking.

Now I'm ready for a nap.

Oh, and PS, Office Depot didn't have the cartridges individually, so I had to get another box. You can bet, I'll be ordering some individual color ones this afternoon. Right now, I have about 6 extra black cartridges. Really, I might have a multiples problem with ink too.

4 comments:

  1. You have described the classic ink situation so perfectly! This has happened to me in the past and the only person in the house to share my frustration was Gary the hamster. He's a good listener..

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  2. I find that if you shake the ink cartridge gently and reuse it you can get a few more prints out before you actually have to use a new one. I too am a flitter, but in my case, it means some days are super-productive and some days are super-unproductive. I tell myself that it all evens out - and I don't question my own judgement!

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  3. You made me feel tired just reading how much you achieve! OH, and I had to check out the ink cartridges in the drawer, just to make sure I have some of every colour - thank you for the reminder

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  4. I'm not looking forward to when I run out - it's a business laser colour so you have to buy the whole kit from Dell. Glad you got so much done - as another eldest child I definitely relate. Got class kits to create in the next week or so too, I'll think of you as I do :)

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