I haven't been here in a long time. The first thing I did was check to see if Tally Sue NYC was here--and you are so I knew I was in the right place.

Maybe if I had kept regular contact, I wouldn't be in this mess. Basically, I started my own business 3 years ago some aspects of which are run out of my home. Then in 2005 I "lost" months of time. Was injured (not too seriously) in a car accident (not my fault!), got mononucleosis and slept away about 2 months, had an enormous kidney stone requiring treatment over two months, had a family member with serious health problems requiring me to take responsibilities for them. WOW- I sound old talking about health problems!

I'm looking forward to a happy healthy 2006 but I am living in a huge mess....I love Christmas but didn't have time to put up a Christmas tree this year because the room it fits in was in the middle of me painting it (still is because I didn't realize I could pick so many ugly shades of yellow), I'm still baking and decorating Christmas cookies (evidently, the fans of my cookies don't care if they are late as long as they get them and I do LOVE making them) so my dining room & kitchen are full of cookies in various stages of decoration, decorating supplies & equipment, my beloved garden hasn't seen me in over a year and is now a weed stronghold, I've got at least 2 laundry baskets full of mail - some opened, some not. My garage and attic are clogged with stuff & cannot be walked into, my tax records are in NO ORDER and scattered everywhere. I have about 9 home improvement & fun projects in various stages of incompletion. Dust is piling up everywhere that is not involved in cookie making (all of cookie areas are kept extremely clean). I could definitely qualify for one of those cleaning up/do over shows.

The only thing I am on top of is the income producing aspects of my business since I must have income to survive.

Overwhelmed is not the word. My life is more stressful from all of the mess. I can't find anything. I lose everything. No matter what I do, it doesn't seem to put a dent in anything. My preference is to stick to one thing until it's done but the best I can do is run from one burning building to another.

I was thinking about trying to make myself schedule time to do something about the top 5 most time-sensative/critical messes every day or every week but it seems like the other messes continue to breed faster than any progress I make.

I need a winning strategy I can stick to that allows me to drop everything and run at a moment's notice for the sake of building my business and earning a living.

Tally Sue, I think of you saying to "do no harm" or "leave no (new) evidence" while I work on the old! (I also still smile at the memory of 'ja-mamas').