It’s contest time!
Once upon a time I told you about the cool new scheduler for busy moms that those of you who haven’t gone fully digital might want to check out. The BusyBodyBook has it all; a weekly grid with separate columns for all family members, perforated shopping list pages, an attached bookmark, a contacts list, and then a nice big pocket for all those things you generally just shove in your purse (like receipts, and unidentified objects your children hand you).
Want to win one? The very pretty Joan Goldner (Queen of the BusyBodyBook, we shall call her) has offered to give away one calendar-year planner and one academic-year planner to Want Not readers.
You have until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, May 26th, 2007, to leave a comment on this post to enter. Now here’s the catch: Comments should tell me (briefly!) about your worst scheduling snafu. I shall enlist the help of an impartial judge to select the stories that touch me most deeply (translation: make me laugh so hard I pull something) as the winners. I’ll announce the lucky ones on Monday. Go!
I made the worst scheduling snafus while I was pregnant last summer! And more embarassingly, was forever forgetting things if I actually got where I was going!
I had lost track of time working in the yard with my 3 year old (while enormously pregnant) and remembered his swimming lesson was about to start!
I grabbed his bathing suit and towel, tossed him and everything into the car and raced off to the pool. Only to discover it was the right time, but the wrong day!!!
Fortunately, the pool was open to the public so we stayed for a swim, but I was soooo embarrassed! I just enrolled him in lessons for this summer, I sure hope I don’t make the same mistake again, especially with his baby brother in tow this time! THAT would be even worse!!!
Well, I can’t blame placenta brain (loved that my Midwives used that) or even Mommy brain because it happened well before that when I was in college and I’ll NEVER forget it! It was finals week and like all college students I looked up my finals years in advance, but like most people, didn’t write it down until much later. About a week before finals week, I dug through my stuff to find my Fall schedule guide and looked up each of classes codes and matched them up with the times in the back of the book. I carefully wrote it all out so I know how many tests I had on each day and to organize how I would cram, I mean study for the final. However (and you could smell a however was coming, couldn’t you)? LOL I made a little boo-boo. You see, I was taking Spanish Conversation and Spanish Composition and they met MWF and TTH at the same time with the same professor, so it really was like one class. We had a test in Composition and no test in Conversation. Somehow… how???? I got them mixed up and never found out until… well, I was going to class on a cold December morning – 10 am… I still remember it was 10 am… I was there a little early and the previous test takers were still in session. The test takers leave (and WHY didn’t I have a clue yet that I KNEW all these people in this big university??? Wasn’t that weird?)… and there is the professor and I go in and sit down still clueless and the professor just gives me this strange look… he said, “Melissa, we just finished the exam for composition”… I don’t remember anything except a lump in my throat… OH MY GOD>>> I must have said something trying to explain something, but I was PANICKED!!! There was a silent moment and the professor said, “well, this period now is supposed to be for teh Conversation test and since we didn’t have a conversation test, I’ll stay and let you take the test.” Phew….
Now, did that mean I’ve never, ever messed up schedules again? Heck no… I’m terrible – forgotten swim lessons for DS, forgotten to pick him up at an early day out (they were sporadic at this school) and didn’t even get a clue when i started to see a bunch of school aged kids? You name it, I’ve probably forgotten it at least once!!!!
Melissa
Well, there’s the time I grabbed the kids to go to soccer, got there and there was another team there. I had to actually go home, check the schedule to find out where the heck the game was that day. We got there, although quite late.
There’s also the time I actually arranged for a neighbor to watch my kids so I could attend the PTA meeting, but then forgot to look at the calendar that day. My neighbor called at about 10 minutes after the time I should have been there and said, “did I miss you?” What? “Weren’t you bringing your kids over?” Oh! I totally forgot! Duh!
I’ve also double and even triple scheduled our family for things, not realizing there’s absolutely NO way we could do it all.
So, yes, I could use that cool new scheduler.
Picture this: It’s Saturday morning, about 10am. Your daughter has been excitedly anticipating a friend’s birthday party for 2 weeks. WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE INVITATION (and this part is key), you head to the large city park where you are sure the party is being held. You find the area with (not one, but) three large pavilions, all filled to the brim with birthday parties and a ka-jillion children running wild. Scanning the pavilion for the correct child’s birthday party, you finally find a birthday child with brown hair whose back is to you. As you and your daughter make your way over to the presumably correct table, all eyes are on you. It is then that you realize that you do not know any of these people. You turn around, trying to find the right party. And then it hits you, not only are you at the wrong birthday party, you are in the wrong city park entirely!! You drive back home to recheck the invitation (which should have been in your purse–or planner, if you had one, heh heh), which clearly states the name of an entirely different park. As you drive to the “correct” park/birthday party, you chide yourself and try your best to calm down your child, who is probably mentally scarred by the morning’s events. You arrive at the correct party just in time for your child to smash the pinata and wish the birthday girl a “happy birthday” and leave. At least they saved your daughter a piece of cake. And this, friends, is my story.
Maybe I could use that planner to plan the therapy we will both need after such a devastating morning, yes?
Well I’m not recalling a scheduling snafu on my part, I’m usually right on time to everything. However, there is chaos to my organizational skills. I would love to have a central place to keep track of the comings and goings of everything without resorting to lipstick memos on the mirror and post it notes on the car dash. Please Mir, HELP ME before I start writing on my daughters’ foreheads!!
I’ve arrived for OB appointments at the right time, wrong date, etc… but this time took the cake:
My husband had just come back from the desert (he’s military) and we were flying up to visit relatives the next morning. I am NOT a morning person, but we managed to get ourselves packed and ready for the flight with our 6 month old daughter. Our flight was at 6:20, so we woke up in the middle of the night (why did we even go to sleep?), and got to the airport 2 hours early like we were told. Imagine our surprise when we found out our flight was indeed leaving at 6:20….PM. We were not amused.
I’m a time management junkie. A whore for organization. I’ve
had so many calendars, day planners, time keepers and “organizational systems”, I’ve lost count. Some of them I encountered online, others I picked up in the aisles of Staples and Office Max. All of them promised to organize my life, prioritize my goals, fortify my resolve, ‘make time for me’. I always fall for it.
A couple of years ago, I got a nice cushy job, and my boss said “Go out and get yourself a nice new PDA. A good one — one you can synch with our meeting maker.” I shuddered. I went out that evening and found it: slick, silver, in a leather case with an extra stylus.
For the next several days, I spent all of my time with
it — learning its peculiar written language, filling it with the intimate details of my day, carefully placing it each night on its charger so it would greet me the next day fully juiced. I was tickled….I had found the perfect companion.
I didn’t realized how hoooked I’d become until someone swiped it from a shelf in the office bathroom. I scrambled to recall as much as I could of the dates, notes, commitments, contacts and write them down — but I knew it was hopeless. Each day, there would be at least one call — a meeting I had failed to attend, a call I had failed to make, a deadline I had failed to rememeber.
It got so bad, I felt nauseous as I walked to work each morning. Then I started throwing up. Every morning. For weeks. Then I realized I had lost track of my cycle. And for a couple that relies on the rhythm method, that is not a good thing.
A. is now 18 months old, the daughter of me, my husband, and Palm Pilot. A beautiful scheduling snafu if ever there was one.
I scheduled the new vinyl floors to be installed at our house on the same day my husband was taking his GMAT. I know, sounds like no big deal, except: I needed him to put the toilet back on when they finished the floor. Our only toilet. And he was in a four hour test. And I was at home with a four year old and a barely potty trained two year old. Not pretty. But, they did both learn to go potty outside that day.
Oh I am embarrassed to even share this story. I was pregnant with my last baby and it being #4 I was just sailing away with this pregnancy and everything was just hunky dorey. All of my kids have been c-sections so I knew the drill. It was 2 weeks beofre I delivered and we set the date. I picked it because family could be in town and I could have help with the other kids. I called and made plans with everyone. I finished up the baby’s room and welcomed my mom. She came to help for a few weeks. Well the day before we were scheduled for delivery we decided to hit the malls. We lived in the Tampa area at the time and there was alot of places to shop. We shopped till I nearly dropped and headed home. We I walked in I noticed that I had a voice mail.
Guess who it was?????
Yep, the hospital I missed my schedules delivery. Needless to say I am always teased about being late for even my baby being born. I will never live it down.
Very nice but I have to manage 10 bodies, not big enough 🙁 The 10 does include the dog, who has her own color code on the appointment calendar.
Last summer my trip to my grandparents’ cabin a few hours outside of Anchorage, Alaska was winding to a close, and I was flying home the next day, Thursday. Wednesday morning I washed all of the clothes I had brought on the trip besides the pajamas I was wearing. After the clothes finished, I asked my grandma where the dryer was.
“We don’t have one. We use the clothesline out here.” I was a little dismayed, but it wasn’t a huge deal. There wasn’t time to use the clothesline because we were driving into Anchorage in a few minutes, so I just hung out in my pajamas for awhile.
As we drove into downtown Anchorage a few hours later, I idly pulled out my travel itinerary from my backpack and gasped when I saw it.
“Um, Grammie? I leave today. Not tomorrow. I arrive home tomorrow, um, it’s an overnight flight? My plane leaves in a few hours?” I sheepishly told her.
My grandma (being the woman of action that she is) immediately called my Aunt whom we had planned to have lunch with Thursday before my plane left.
My aunt immediately confirmed that having lunch today would work, and we were to meet her in 10 minutes. I groaned inwardly upon hearing the news.
We were going to lunch. No. Stops.
Needless to say, I was embarrassed as I walked into one of the nicest restaurants in Anchorage in my striped monkey and banana pajamas.
i’m so forgetful that i actually forgot my own induction. i was 41 weeks and totally uncomfy; i had a false alarm on friday, got sent home saturday morning with instructions to return on monday at 7:30am for an induction. around 11am on monday, my doctor called me to see if i was going to be coming in or not. i was so upset because i was so done with being pregnant and my doc couldn’t get me in until wednesday. then i ended up needing two days of pitocin which ended up with a c-section. my kid is even distracted and forgetful… she didn’t even remember or notice that at some point in time, she needed to meet the world! 😉
My story does not top most of the others. They are hilarious. Mine is truly one of the major traumas I had inflicted on my 4 year old child (up to that time anyway) and a low point in my career as a mother. My daughter had talked about her friend’s burthday party, which was being held at the local gymnastics place on the coming Saturday. We bought a present, wrapped it, the whole time my daughter is going on and on about how excited she is, how much fun the party will be, who else will be there. So we get in the car and head all the way across our sizeable city for the party…and arrived just in time to see everyone getting into their cars to go home. TOTALLY missed it. And my daughter cried, for what seemed like (to my guilt-ridden heart, anyway) days. Looking back, I think I was traumatized more in the long run, because I still remember it like it was yesterday, and my 14 year old daughter barely recalls it. Go figure.
I’m so busy that I don’t have time to listen properly or respond adequately to my 10 year old frustrated son tell me about, Brock, his 3rd grade classmate who constantly pretended to poop a black rock from his pants while at school today.
I have done some awful things, mostly involving my kids, as a result of not being organized.
Last year my son’s Basketball team had only five players. No alternates. Most, but not all, of the games were at the same time and place. Well, one Saturday since I *knew* it was a 1:00 game I headed over to the court…only to not see any of his teammates. I waited….and waited….and finally someone came over to me and said, “what are you doing here, your team is playing at the other court today!” AARRGH!! Despite making the 20 minute drive in only 12 minutes we were too late, and his team had forfeited the game! Worse, we would have made the playoffs except for that loss.
Last year we went to an out of state funeral and returned late Sunday night. The next day was my son’s big field trip. I stupidly insisted that I knew what time the busses were leaving and that he would be FINE riding the schoolbus that morning. Yeah. The school secretary called me as soon as his bus got in. The busses had left at 6:00am…just like my son had tried to tell me. Niiiice.
This year I was in charge of our school’s Yearbook. I sent out a beautiful schedule of meetings at the beginning of the year to my 13 committee members. Sounds good right? Yeah. Imagine opening your front door in your PJs, with rubber gloves on, straight from cleaning the toilet. You’re snarly and annoyed because whoever’s ringing the bell just. won’t. stop. Then you see your whole committee standing on the porch. Yep- it’s meeting day! Oops. As if that wasn’t bad enough I “accidentally” scheduled suregery for myself the day before our deadline. I ended up editing the book in a morphine haze the night of my operation. It’s not back yet, and frankly, I’m scared.
They are electing me PTA president tomorrow. (They are pretty hard up LOL) I SO gotta get one of those books or I am in BIG trouble!!
Dawn
*sigh* You asked. This happened years ago but I am still mortified when I recall it.
A recent college graduate, I was lovin’ life. Had my own apartment, a decent -albeit boring- job, a nice boyfriend. But there was this other guy. For me, this other guy was just a friend. I was up front that with him and he understood that although I would go out with him on occasion, we were not dating. He said he was fine with that. Still, I knew he had a horrible, huge crush on me.
So one Tuesday evening my boyfriend arrives at the apartment at 7:00. We were just hanging out with my roommate and her boyfriend. I think we were playing cards, and discussing where we wanted to go for dinner. I’m uneasy for some reason I can’t identify. The doorbell rings. 7:30. Suddenly my feelings of unease intensify and my stomach falls through the floor.
(Yeah, you see it don’t you? You know who is at the door.)
It is the other guy. No he wasn’t there on the wrong night. I had set up TWO DATES for the SAME night. Totally, 100% my fault.
I go to the door, open it one inch, and slither out. With a cold sweat breaking through my deodorant and a face afire, I tell guy-friend that I have another date. Then I walk him to his car and sit with him while he CRIES.
So there you have it: my worst ever scheduling snafu.
I tried to send my son to school in the vacation. He had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, so I called the school to let them know he would be coming in a bit later.
“But the vacation started today!” Oops.
I don’t have a specific schedule snafu, but my son will be starting pre-school in the fall and I know events, school activities will be getting more active and I need to have a better scheduling process in place.
I had never heard of the Busy Body Book, but having personally bought a million planners with all of them never having everything I needed, this planner seems to have it all..even down to the bookmark! I love it!
Well, if you’re looking for funny, I don’t think I have any. If you’re looking for pathetic, I’ve got that! Ever since I started having chronic pain, my memory is shot. I’ve missed planetarium visits, doctor appointments, dance classes, choir rehearsals, field trips, and all kinds of other things. (We’ll skip the part where I keep forgetting to write things on the calendar, ok? or that I lost my BBB for a few months.)
My friend now calls me the night before any field trip or other special activity – and she calls me a few minutes before other activities to make sure I’m coming. I should probably have a better scheduling strategy beyond having my friends and family call me to remind me of things. 🙂
I love my BBB, and now that I (ahem) found it again, it is helping. I’m hoping that somehow I can get a new one for next year – with 2 adults and 3 kids we fill up the planner very well!
Ohh I love this scheduler!
I once packed up my twins, in their winter gear, shoveled teh walk, warmed up the car, put two kids into car seats, drove 25 minutes inteh snow to my doctor’s office, only to find that I had the wrong day.
Sadly this wasn’t the only time this happened.
Okay, How’s this for completely-derailed-by-the-bright-shiny-object?
My hubby and I had just moved into our new home and first house. We had tons of help, were very organized, and were done – done and eating lunch, thank you – within 3 hours.
Then we had to return the rental truck and go clean the apartment.
So… he climbs into the truck, I climb into the car, and we take off. Midway there, I remember that we have to also return the hand truck we’d borrowed. Since this is pre-cell phone era (ours, not the rest of the world’s) I speed up, get in front of the truck. Slow down, turn off and wait for him to follow. He cruises on past. I fly to the next intersection, get in front of him again, slow down, motion out the window, and get him to follow me around the corner. I stop, he stops. I get out of the car and we discuss the issue – he says the hand truck is sitting back at home, in our lovely new garage. Deep breath.
We hop back into our respective vehicles. I drive off, thinking he’ll follow me, and at the next intersection, I turn left, and he goes right. What the ??? I think, “Well, if we’re not going to stay together, then I’m going to stop by the shoe repair and pick up my shoes for church tomorrow, before they close, and then I’ll meet him.”
So I go pick up my shoes. I have to wait while the repair is made (even though they’d been promised to be done earlier that week) and when I’m done, I hop in the car and drive to our apartment.
I’m a little puzzled when I arrive, as hubby isn’t there yet. I start cleaning, and calming down the cat, who we had left locked in a bedroom during the move. I clean and clean, and start to fret a little – where is he? Clean a little, fret a little.
Eventually (an hour later) I realize that hubby can’t join me at the apartment, because I never picked him up from the truck rental place! Ohmigosh! I grab the cat and bolt over to the truck rental where my dear hubby has been pacing (and fretting) back and forth in front of the store for an hour and a half.
That was 7 years ago. I still haven’t lived it down. But I might if it wins me a beautiful new planner.
This just happened back in March when I flew to NY to visit friends. On my last day there, I checked and rechecked my itinerary: my plane leaves at 6 p.m. My friends and I went to lunch and walked around the city a bit, thinking we’d have plenty of time to get back to the apartment to get my luggage and catch a cab to the airport. My friend suggests I call to make sure my plane will be on time. I look up the number on my itinerary and notice that 6 p.m. is not the time I leave NY; it’s the time I will be arriving back home. My plane actually leaves at 4:30 p.m., which was in 30 minutes! I am panicing because I’ve never missed a flight before. I’ve never been less than an hour early for a flight before. We catch a cab back to the apartment and I call up the airline to try to change my flight to the 8 p.m. flight, which is the last one of the day. I am on hold for an hour before they tell me that it will be an extra $100 to change my flight. I am crying at this point, thinking I won’t get home and my mom will have to take off work to watch my son for another day, which is totally not fair to her. So my friends suggest we just go to the airport and see what happens because I should not have to pay extra to change the flight. We get to the airport and, luckily they change my flight with no problems or extra cost. All is well, until that flight is cancelled at the last minute and I am stuck at Laguardia until 11 o’clock at night. I finally get home, but I still have to drive an hour from the airport to my house and my mom’s house is an hour from there. I call my mom to tell her I will be there first thing in the morning because I am too tired to drive to her house. I get home at 1 a.m. and fall into my bed, just happy to be home.
I need to learn to use paragraphs. Sorry.
i am full time working single mom who is at my wits end trying to keep track of sports schedules, meetings, doctors appointments and now home repairs – my shack is falling down around my ears and i have people coming and going giving advice, estimates, condolences. i have accidentally made so many people mad (including my kids!) and i’d love to have some tool to use to get things in order. i’m just too busy to shop for one (i ran out of milk twice this month!). i’m actually too busy to write more – just know my life is in a sorry state and i’d love to have some good vibes sent my way.
Wow, it’s hard to top a story about a baby born of the Palm Pilot!
My husband and I married 9 years ago, each of us with four children (yes, you read that right) from previous marriages. For a while we had a Suburban that we could all travel in but, when it bit the dust, we went to two smaller cars. This meant that we often took both vehicles when we all had to be there. This was back in the day when you could afford to drive to work to earn money to pay for gas. Anyway, one Sunday after church, one child had to be at a function (I think it was a birthday party) so one of us took a carload and the birthday guest and the other took the rest and headed home. 20 minutes later, we both pulled into the driveway, looking at the other with the question on our faces, “What are YOU doing here?” Seems the one of us who had the birthday guest didn’t realize it and thought the other was going to drop him off. Not a huge problem, just inconvenient. The birthday guest had taken a cat-nap on the way home and didn’t realize he wasn’t where he belonged. The topper, though, is that, after a head count and switching of seats, we only came up with 7 kids! Seems we not only got our schedules mixed up, we forgot one of the kids at church! “OH, is that the phone I hear ringing? Yes, honey, I’ll be right there to get you. Mommy’s so sorry” In all honesty, it’s not the only time we’ve traveled seperately and found ourselves kid-shy at our destination. Fortunately, they are all older now and have their own modes of transportation for the most part so the pressure’s off somewhat. I still can’t remember why I walked from one room to another, though, and find myself greatly enabled by paper with little squares and lines to compartmentalize my every waking moment. Thanks.
ooh ooh pick me pick me!!!!
I have been reading a while, but now I finally delurk myself to get just a teeny little chance to win something…
Unfortunately I really can’t think of a good story. Just lots of boring forgetful moments of disorganization. But I do have to organize my five kids & myself & my husband, so I do really need the cool organizer!
I can’t think of a really good story but I still think I should get some consideration…. because my current organzational system is jotting things down with a dry erase marker……on the wall of the shower.
Hmmm…Which one shall I tell you? How about both?…
My son is playing soccer this year in a town about an hour and a half south of us and his games only last about 30 minutes. Earlier this month we were about 15 minutes late for one of his games. We drove an hour and a half to watch 15 minutes of his game, then turned around and drove an hour and a half back. 3 hours of driving for 15 minutes of playing. Nice, huh?
Then there was the time in early February when I told my mother we would drive an hour and 45 minutes north to eat at her favorite restaurant for her birthday. My husband had scheduled a meeting the same time. My entire family drove an hour and 45 minutes then had to wait on us for 2 hours (yes, 2 hours) ate lunch, then drove an hour and 45 minutes back home. Yep. I’m good like that. 🙂
Oooh pretty polka dots! I love to be really organized, often scheduling things months in advance. When my friends found out that my second child was to be delivered by scheduled c-sxn…let’s say they weren’t surprised that I found a way to plan when the baby would be born! LOL
This just happened… I planned a trip to Disney with three other families on the same weekend we were supposed to meet a friend from college and my husband was supposed to help his cousin with his work computers- yikes!!!
I’ve been wondering how to enter this contest, and I’m a little scared to admit it… but I’ll just come out and say it, even though I think it’ll jinx me forever. I rarely miss appointments.
That’s because I’m in love with having a planner. Please reference here: http://damselandfamily.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-which-i-come-out-of-nerd-closet.html
No, really. Please read it. I’ll wait. Just go on back up and clicky-clicky the link.
This coming school year, I will have the following responsibilities:
1. teach five classes of high school science (Honors and On-level Physical Science, Biology, Environmental Science, and Chemistry)
2. be science club sponsor, which means I’ll be fundraising for, planning, and taking at least two field trips and an Earth Day celebration
3. be junior homeroom teacher, which means I’m in charge of planning, attending and fundraising for the homecoming game and dance, junior/senior banquet, prom, two college days, and the wwek-long junior mission trip to Washington, D.C.
4. be a stellar wife to my incredible husband
5. be the WBM (world’s best mommy) to our three-year-old son
6. hopefully, be expecting our second child, which involves making and keeping OB appointments in the town where we live while teaching in a town 40 minutes away, as well as dealing with the INEVITABLE placenta-brain that keeps me from remembering ANYTHING
7. lead a small group at church on Wednesday nights
So… I’m sure I’ll have a FANTABULOUS scheduling snafu story to tell you if I DON’T get that (academic!) planner!!!!
P.S. You are one very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very pretty lady!
You probably won’t be rolling on the floor but here goes. I can’t remember, literally, the stuff I’ve forgotten since I was pregnant and had kiddos, so I’ll hard back to the days of traveling with our dog instead.
We were visiting my MIL and thought our flight left at 1pm so were planning a liesurely breakfast when I noticed it was 11:30 – doh! It was probably about 10:30 by then so we booked on out of there, dog in crate in tow. We arrived to disover of course yesterday’s flights had all been cancelled due to some big storm, so the airport was a madhouse. Lines everywhere and nobody to tell you which line to stand in. I suck at just waiting so I tried to find at least which line we should be in and left my hubby to take care of the dog.
Thank goodness this we pre-911, as he realized he’d left his wallet in his mom’s car. The dog saved us that day! I checked in while my husband was handing the dog over, and as soon as I saw those boarding passes I grabbed them before they decided to check his ID as well. It’s a miracle we made it.
1 – i have a friend named scott and a cousin named scott. i also have a palm-pilot. i ‘programmed’ all birthdays into it and set an alarm to go off 5 days before any birthday, thus eliminating the keeping track of birthdays and re-copying them on a paper calender. for the last 3-4 years i have called my cousin on may 24th to wish him a happy birthday b/c my palm pilot told me to. EVERY STINKING time, he (half annoyed) tells me that his b-day is in sept. DARN IT!! i called the wrong scott AGAIN! may 24th is friend-scott’s b-day!! “why don’t i program in the last name?” you ask, simple, i have, but each time the battery dies i lose the memory!! (and don’t have it backed up to the computer to remember the last name, just can’t seem to make that happen!) that is why i can no longer depend on the palm pilot, and MUST go back to paper
2- i have been trying to go to one specific, and very special (and very 1 hour drive away) thrift store (b/c i love a good deal!!) and gotten there on THREE – tres – trois times to find that it is closed on TUESDAY! all three stinky times were on TUESDAY TUESDAY TUESDAY. i really need some help here! (and for pity i will add that i had toted my colicy baby out w/ me for these misadventures)
I’m just a college student.
Well. I’m a going into my 6th year and I’m finally a senior, but to graduate in May 08 (and oh how my fingers are crossed) I have to take 18 hours of classes. Which will require all the organization I can muster. And the best organizers never seem to be the $5.00 ones. And did I mention that financial aid programs suck in this country? So this girl can use all the help she can get.
Well, my worst scheduling snafu’s happen like this……
almost daily actually……
I wake up with renewed vigor and energy to get all 4 of my loverly children and myself and our home all neat and presentable and headed in the right direction for the day. Then somewhere shortly after that, I get tired of doing laundry and wiping jelly off the table, so I take a seat
in front of my pc and immerse myself in the pretty land of wantnot.net along with a few other fun and inspiring sites.
For just 5 minutes, and then 5 more, and the moments tick by…..while I am on my exciting pursuit of knowledge online….until I find myself late for something or other. At that point I am usually forced to race out the door, remembering to grab the babies and bring them too. Try not to speed to wherever I am headed, and hope that my lounge pant ensemble will come off looking really more like “artsy mama throwing pottery on her wheel all morning” than “rarely finds time to even potty alone”.
So, it is my sincere hope and wish, even dream and desire. That the planner in question could solve this dilema. I am pretty sure, if I just had this planner, my grass would grow greener, the children would not bicker any longer, my dishes would begin to wash themselves and life would be all around perfect at our house. 🙂
How did I miss signing up for this!? Frankly, it’s because I don’t know my head from my other end lately. I have sticky notes most places, but then of course I forget to look at them. ANYTHING that can help my addled brain (I was told not to worry, the other day by someone, that my memory loss is due to peri-menopause. Um, yeah – thanks!)
My world would be sunshine filled and be the envy (organizationally anyway) of everyone with this offered organizer. WHOO YA!
I can’t top any of these…lol
I just know that if I was organized enough to find the planner I would use it.
Well I have two instances of scheduling snafus that were really bad and they both involve funerals!
1- My stepdads grandmother passed away and My mom gave me all the dates, times, places for the funeral and burial. I was always good at remembering things so I never bothered to write it down. The day before the funeral I spoke to a friend about how my car was acting funny. He offered to fix the problem for free and said I could bring the car over the next morning about 9am. VERY happy that I only had to pay for parts I headed over to his garage the next morning. An hour and a half later while my car is in pieces (he was about 2 hrs away from done)I got a call from my mom on my cell asking where I was. Apparently, the services started at 10 not at 2 like I thought. I borrowed his car and sped off in a t-shirt and jeans to meet up at the burial site. The next problem I found? I only knew how to get there from the church which was 20 min away from burial site. needless to say, I missed the whole thing and felt awful for months.
2- Just as I was starting to forgive myself for that one, My grampa passed away. This time my dad gave me the specifics and I wrote them down while at work (as a daytime bartender). Somehow in the business of serving the daytime town drunkards, I lost the paper but, again, I remembered what he he said (haha)and wrote it down again from memory- do you see it coming?
I was an hr off for the service time and I got the direction backwards. I went to cemetery first and when I realized my mistake I headed to the church, which was now empty. Apparently I had passed the entire funeral procession on it’s way to the cemetery and didn’t even notice in my panic to get to the church. I never did make it and ended up in tears at a Stewart’s shop, calling my mom’s cell from a payphone (I didn’t have my cell with me, it was nice and cozy at home on my kitchen table)to tell her I was done trying and I was going home. I’m sure she loved getting that message!
I’ve since forgiven myself but still have minor panic attacks when I have to go to a funeral. I make hubby take down all the info and he is in charge of getting us to the right place on time.
I am an organizer. My entire life is run on-time and from a schedule. That being said, when I am pregnant, I lose all track of time, dates, appointments, etc….
My hubby travels for his job, spending most of his time in airports and hotel rooms Mon-Friday. He generally drives his own car to the airport, parks in long-term parking, then flies out. This one Monday morning, we had the “big ultrasound” appointment, so I drove him straight from the appointment to the airport to save time so he could catch his flight. Since it was a last minute change, I forgot to write it on my schedule to go back and pick him up that Friday. The girls from the office had begged me to go “out to happy hour” even though I would only be drinking Sprite all night. I agreed, and spent the evening in places with music so damn loud, that I couldn’t hear my cell phone ringing. Several hours later, I pull into the driveway, see that my husband’s car is in the driveway, and run into the house to see him. But he isn’t there. THAT is when I remembered that he was waiting at the airport for me to pick him up. Oops.
On Allure Beauty Box day, I not only picked my daughter up early at preschool so I could get online, but begged my husband to put aside his work and try as well, should I miss that magic 12-o’clock hour to log onto the Allure site.
I finally got the site to work at 1 p.m. EST, at which point I forgot I had had an appointment at 12:30.
Help me, Mir. I can’t get your great deals AND have a life without an organizer!
i don’t have the great story, but i have a great need. the only reason my life has not fallen completely apart is my PDA. however, i am the kiss of death for PDA’s. i kill them. when we bought my current one, we agreed that if i killed this one, it was the universe’s way of telling me “no more.” i have been ever so careful and loving, but it is dying a slow and painful death.
dh travels for work with less than 48 hrs notice. i am substitute teacher…middle school….i deserve this if for no other reason than i am willing to spend 7.5 hrs a day with over 600 adolescents. i have two adolescents of my own who need their own social secretary. oh wait….they have me. 🙂 my entire life is “last minute” and “change in plans.”
i love, love, love the idea of being able to sort out each person’s schedule. tried color coding, but it got messed up because i don’t carry around an assortment of pens with me at all times. i could easily see when dh is away….and block out the days that he just must, must stay home….like when he missed ds’ 5th grade graduation…and ds was playing the guitar in the ceremony. now that the boys are older, some of their stuff doesn’t require my presence, only my driving ability. i could keep their stuff separate from my stuff. i could use a column for the school calendar so i would know when i definitely don’t want to sub….like the day of pep rallies or the day before winter break….they are just crazy people on those days….
the doodle section on the left side would be awesome for jotting down directions to appts or the names of students i want to rat on to their regular teacher. i could keep a list of errands to do for the week since i can’t ever plan on one specific day.
oh, glorious and gorgeous mir, please pick me. this organizer has so much potential for my life.
That is a beautiful organizer! Please help the unorganized gal get organized! I am so amazingly organized at heart! heehee.. It is my intent and my motive to be organized and have everything just so. My motives are pure.. the spirit is willing.. the flesh is weak.. I just need the proper tools to get started!
Thanks for letting me enter!
Hugs,
Cathy
I can’t top Laura’s. I am a written/Luddite organizer, despite my techie ways in the rest of my life, but I can’t possibly top losing track of a PDA and the rhythm method at the same time!
Come for the bargains, stay for the comments. 🙂
Ok, I didn’t read many other comments for fear that mine would be too lame.
We rent our house which was newly built a little over a year ago. As the one year mark approached, the builder sent his workman around to take care of any warranty issues. We’d made two prior appointments that were cancelled due to meetings and illness so I guess I didn’t take the third appt. as seriously.
The appt. was for 8 am, the time when I am generally chasing around kids with clothes and diapers getting them ready for the day. The kids had slept a little late on this day which I was all too happy about. As 8 am rolled around, having completely forgotten the appt, I pranced past the door (with clear glass sidelights) in my t-shirt and undies hunting for a clean pair of jeans. Guess who came to the door just as I passed by?? I scampered about throwing on the first pants and bra that I found, desperately praying that he had not seen me.
Thankfully he was far too much of a gentleman to let on that he saw anything. I’m still praying on this one because I see him working on houses around our neighborhood quite frequently!!!
So yeah, I need a better organization system!
I was desperately job hunting, trying to find a new job that didn’t require my driving 30 miles each way. I had an interview at a place that was perfect. She emailed me to set up a second interview, which I gladly agreed to. However, I didn’t read the date well or save the email and showed up a week early for the interview. I was horribly embarrassed. She didn’t have time to meet with me and I still had to return a week later. And of course, I only own two suits, so I felt compelled to pick up a third suit for the ‘third’ interview. The next week, I ran into the interviewer at the grocery store, which was very awkard. Only to go home that night to a rejection letter in the mailbox.
That bit of disorganization was mentally painful AND cost me $400 for a suit that I could hardly afford.