(no subject)

[rivka]

I'm having some organizational problems.

Today was fairly typical. I had Long Range Planning this evening, which is a church committee. People from various other church committees have been e-mailing stuff to me all month, and for tonight's meeting my responsibility was to print everything out and make copies for the rest of the LRP committee.

Last night I printed everything out. I left it all next to my keyboard so that I would remember it in the morning. This morning I remembered to bring it downstairs, but when I got to the bus stop I realized, with a shock, that I had no recollection of putting any of it in my briefcase. I looked through the briefcase on the bus and didn't see the papers. So I didn't do any LRP photocopying at work. When I came home, I expected to see the stack of papers on the couch... or the living room floor... or the dining room table... or my desk. Nope. I looked again in my briefcase, and there it was! But too late to make copies at work. So instead I printed out four more copies of everything.

In an exciting codcil, Michael mailed his material to me at the office today. I printed it out and made copies for my committee. Then I left it on my desk, so when I came home I had to log onto my work e-mail and print five copies of that one too.

I'm like that at work, too, and with my personal business. My life these days seems like it's one long string of "oh yeah, I was supposed to do that." I've been meaning to schedule a midwife appointment for the past two months. I haven't renewed our parking permit, and the old one expired on the first.

I'm not really sure what would help. I probably need to replace my Palm Pilot - I bought my current one used from half.com when we were in a broke period, and it turned out to be damaged. The screen has a tiny crack (which the seller described as "a scratch"), big enough that taps in the lower part of the screen don't register in precisely the spot that they should. I used to put up with the hassle, but in recent years I've almost completely stopped using my Palm. Which means that I don't have a reliable calendar that I look at often, or an ongoing to-do list.

Mostly this is a vent of frustration. I'm not especially happy with myself right now, and I don't think that many people who depend on my work are all that happy with me either. Except for the one who, you know, screams until I do what she wants.

Comments

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

If you'd have any desire for it, I have an old handspring visor; I can throw in the keyboard and the flash memory/vibrating alarm as well. I bought a newer Palm, and so right now the Visor is just taking up space.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Very typical for this stage of motherhood.

And man, it goes on for years. Sorry to break it to you.

[boxofdelights]

I'm not really sure what would help.

Sleep.

You are not alone.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

pegkerr is right. You have baby-brain. It will eventually get better, but mostly, you need to be patient with yourself. I suspect it's nature's way of making sure you keep your focus on your baby, since focusing on anything else is nearly impossible.

I've got a fantastic case of it myself. For me, it's manifesting as a complete breakdown in spoken English. Words and entire concepts will leave me. I feel like I'm a stroke victim when it happens. I can write just fine, though. Go figure.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

gaaaah!

And stuff.

Re: You are not alone.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Taking boxofdelights's comment into account, I think that might actually be nature's way of keeping people's focus on chocolate. The SCREAMING is nature's way of keeping your mind on your baby.

Baby brain

[ailbhe]

It's just about inevitable, and although sleep helps, it's not the magic cure-all you'd think. I know women whose babies sleep 12 hours at night who have baby brain.

You went through a hell of a lot in Alex's early days, on top of recovering from pregnancy and childbirth. It could be that now your subconscious has decided it's safe to flake out and recover, since Alex is managing fine.

I know one couple who have stuck their to-do lists to the inside of the front door at night, so that they can check them last thing in the morning. It includes "check keys, turn off lights, close windows."

A.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

I call it mommy brain, and I don't think I'm getting my old one back any time soon. Dammit.

I have trained no one to depend on me. (Except for the screaming one, as you say.) And I've started using a whiteboard in the hallway for my domestic tasks. If I only had a brain!

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to the "mom-brain" syndrome, but my way of dealing with a tendency to forget things is to arrange the situation so that I don't have to remember. If I had to bring a bunch of printouts somewhere in the morning, I would put it in my briefcase when I printed them out. And I would have probably printed out the copies so that I didn't have to remember to do that the next day. I would call to schedule an appointment the moment I remembered, even if it were the middle of the night -- they have an answering machine.

This is the main reason e-mail is so great. You can send someone an e-mail the moment you remember something, and then it becomes their problem. It's not foolproof, of course, but it's better than forgetting.

Palm Pilots and calendars and to-do lists only work if you check them regularly. I don't have enough daily appointments to be checking my calendar all the time. I've never been able to make a global to-do list work for me. I can make lists for the day, but not for the lifetime.

B

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

So I read the original post and clicked on "read replies" hoping that HEY, if Rivka's readers don't have the answers, NOBODY DOES, and I was all happy that I'd get CLUES.

And there were none.

Sigh.

I've always been a visual, lay stuff out so you see it so you can't forget it type of person, so of course I married a guy who thinks his house should look like a magazine shoot with ZERO clutter -- i.e., stuff that looks like someone has been using the room -- anywhere. Job interview information? Gone. Cookbook I was using? Gone. Coffee I poured 10 minutes ago, before running up to change the kid? Gone. Yeah. I think my big solution is to run an upgrade on the spousal unit.

My symptoms seem downright early Alzheimer's. I forget words. Drives me crazy. Then, since most of my LIFE is spent at the computer, I'll go to Google and find a related site and read until I find it, or I'll go to Word and use the thesaurus function. In real life, I'll just stomp my foot and glare at the husband and wonder why he doesn't know what I'm talking about.

But yeah. The kid? Always fed, nursed and snuggled. So I do keep the important stuff up to date.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

It's terrible, that.

But I think like most changes in brain function, we adapt around it, for the most part.

Yesterday, I did 2 loads of laundry, picked my dad up from the train station, packed 90% of the kids clothes in three discreet levels of access, dressed them twice apiece, made sure they got dinner, got pictures of them at this place, made sure my dad got a nap. On, and on. I was astonished I mostly managed it.

The thing I forgot was getting myself lunch. Which is bad, because it has reprecussions like me wanting to shove malfunctioning cell phones up people's noses.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Hey - I married that guy too!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Sadly, when I remember that I need to make an appointment or print out papers or whatever, I'm usually holding a squirming, babbling baby.

But you're right, putting off things that could be done right away is asking for a lot more trouble than necessary.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Thanks, John, but given that the problems with my current palmtop are largely due to age (it's not just the crack), I think that if I start using one at all I should get a new one.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I thought of that as I was typing. Could you put your to-do list on her butt?

B

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

This does sound very frustrating! I hope you find ways to both decrease the amount stuff like this happens and to go easier on yourself when it does happen.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Nod. I figured; even the cheapest of the new models are light years ahead of it. Still, I figured I'd offer, because every time I look at the darn thing and think of throwing it out, I think "but... but it used to be such a wonderful little machine!"