The Gift of Organization
I just started a new job and I absolutely love it. I am working for a company that installs and services fire safety products, sprinklers, and alarms. My friend, Todd, owns the company. Todd was the first person I really became friends with at law school. I sat next to him first semester in Contracts and that was the beginning of our group. My study group started out as a fairly large group. There was Todd, his friend John, Matt, Dave, Nick, Gina, and myself. Todd and John knew each other from their ward before law school, and they knew Matt through Mormon channels. Matt and Dave are both Henderson police officers. I'm not really certain how Nick and Gina came into the mix. Nick and Gina are married and had decided to go to law school together. Nick lasted a year, and Gina is getting a dual doctorate in business and law.That was how it all started though, the troublemakers of law school. Most of our fellow students feel that we just don't take law school seriously. Personally, I think they are just jealous that we are having fun. Anyway, the first two years of school, we studied for all our finals together. Once we got past our required courses though, we seemed to scatter. I still kept in touch with Todd and John to some degree, but law school got to be more work and less fun when we were not in the same classes. This semester, John, Todd, and I, are in 2 classes together. Dave and I are in 2 classes together, and Matt and I are in one class together. Its a much more pleasurable semester.
Getting back to the point at hand though, Todd started this business late last year and ever since then I have been hoping he was serious at his original offer to hire me on. When the doctor's office I used to work for closed, he got me a job at an electrical contracting company owned by an associate of his. At that point, I figured he was not going to hire me. When that job turned awful quickly, he hired me on here. Todd is a great person, very laid back, very funny, and he definately has a head for business. His organization skills though are seriously lacking. This is where I fit in. I love it. I came in on my first day to papers everywhere, today, just two days later, I have made a considerable dent. Everything has a folder, with a label, and is organized, and easy to find. I am responsible for setting up all the procedures to ensure our records are maintained and everything is paid on time. Basically, I get to start from scratch. Other than being a lawyer, I don't think I could have found a more perfect job.
Everything in life has a place. If anything describes my outlook on life, it would definately be that. In my life, so many things whirl around me - school, work, Nathan, game, family, friends, pets, our house, money - it just keeps circling. In order to remain sane, I need order, I crave organization. I want to know when I need something, that I know exactly where to find it. It drives Nathan crazy. Nathan is the definition of disorderly. He cannot seem to understand why it would be important to be able to quickly locate our tax returns for the last three years, or our birth certificates, or even our bank statements. He is clueless as to why we should be concerned with whether or not we can easily find that book we bought for my dad 2 months ago on a whim. For a long time, Nathan was convinced I should be in therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder.
Times have changed though. He is starting to see the error of his ways. Weeks before the wedding, we were scurrying around trying to locate our birth certificates so that we could get back in the country from our honeymoon. He was convinced he had his "somewhere." After spending days on end going through a lot of paperwork scattered in different places in our apartment, he finally broke down and drove to San Bernadino one day to get an official copy of his birth certificate. One week later, when we were packing up our apartment, he found his birth certificate. It was in a box under the stairs. A box, I might add, that he had not opened or even looked in since we had moved to the apartment 3 years before.
Needless to say, Nathan has not complained near as much about my need to have everything in our new place organized. In fact, he has actually helped me from time to time. He just may be coming around to my way of thinking. He doesn't go out of his way to put things back where they belong. Surprisingly it has stopped bothering me as much. In the end, it seems much easier for me to put it back myself. That way I am assured that it will be there the next time either one of us needs it.
On a different note, Nathan and I have started going to Dream Dinners every month. While this would certainly not fit into the topic of organization, it does seem to help control some of the craziness of our lives. Dream Dinners is a very different type of grocery store. Every month, they have a different menu of entrees. You sign up for a session date and time, and pick at least 12 meals. Each meal is made based on 4-6 servings and includes all of the ingredients. When you arrive for your session, there are different stations for each recipe. At each station, you prepare the recipe as instructed and place all of the ingredients needed in a freezer bag or disposable baking dish, attach cooking instructions, and pack it in your cooler. When you bring them home, you just put them in your freezer and take one out to thaw the night before you want to cook it. Since we only cook for two, we half all the recipes, so we end up with 24 meals. Most of the entrees still require the purchase of sides of some type. This, however, is simple as well, the cooking instructions include "serve with" suggestions. For 12 different entrees, 24 entrees worth of food, it costs a little over $200.00. With the side dishes purchased at a grocery store, we probably spend about $300.00/month in groceries. The best part being that we get home cooked meals that are incredible and easy to make.
Anyway, going to Dream Dinners has become one of our special things to do together, and we had so much fun last time we went. I was surprised how much Nathan got into it. We are going this Friday for October's menu and then I am hoping to spend the rest of the day and evening with him. Steve is coming into town on Saturday afternoon for a week so my days will be filled with spending time with him and Amanda.
On a final note, I hope that our children inherit the gift of organization. In fact, I constantly attempt to bribe my own DNA into persevering when it comes to the passing on of this one trait. I would be more than happy if our children inherited everything else from Nathan, well...except maybe his nose...
posted by Aimee @ 2:17 PM
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