Organizers Anonymous

Our Computer printer and DVD player died in the same week. The entertainment value in this house plummeted! My oldest daughter could not print her list of "Top Ten Names for My Horse" which is a horse that she does not have yet but dreams about daily, and my little one could not watch Little Bear 74 times a day. It was a bleak bleak week around here let me tell you.

Last night when my husband got home he suggested we head out to Best Buy (Victoria's Secret for men) and purchase both printer and DVD. I got giddy-it was like Christmas! I especially like when my husband comes with me to make these purchases because I hate to spend the money on something, bring it home and have him say "Why did you get that one?" My answer of "because it was pretty" never floats.

He was in charge of installing the DVD--which meant that he heaved and hauled the 1000 lb. Attic Heirloom TV hutch away from the wall and plugged it in. I was in charge of making sure it worked. The first try was a failure... all the people were pink. The next try was successful and we were able to watch a movie. I won't even tell you the title of it because it was so bad.

This morning my husband asked if I was going to install the printer. Now, I have installed all things that have to do with our computer. Even when things have "died" within the white box on the floor, I have called technical support, tried to understand what the technician was telling me to do (for reasons that I either could not understand him through the accent, or I simply do not know what a yadayada-bite is.) and have basically rebuilt the computer with my own two hands. All this with just one computer class in college~I am an amazing talent!

Everything was going fine until it told me to install the USB cable from the printer to the computer. Well, apparently you have to purchase USB cables separately. They should tell you this on the box-like they do with children's toys and batteries! I called my husband (who leaves the house when I start installing technical devices-much like I leave the house when he starts a handyman project) and asked him to go buy said USB cable. Well... organized husband to the rescue! He told me to look in the closet in a plastic tub that he keeps (next to his stash of fast food napkins that are there in case of emergencies) and said that there should be something that will work in there. I found this plastic tub and it was like he had a stash of drugs in there! There was a cable for any situation possible... and they were all folded tightly and secured with either a rubber band or a twist tie. I rummaged through and found the cable that I needed. I was amazed! I can't even take the time to wrap the cord correctly around the vacuum cleaner and my husband has somehow organized all the cable cords north of the Mason-Dixie!

I went back to the closet and found a plastic tub of batteries, another of nuts and bolts, and one with staples, safety pins, and paper clips. I kept looking hoping he would have a tub full of chocolate... but that is more like something I would do. I have always known my husband to be very organized. He keeps all of his things in a certain order and the garage is so neat that some days I walk out of the chaos of our house and pull up a lawn chair and sit in the middle of it. The shed is color-coded and Lord help the child that goes in there and pulls something off the shelf and leaves a mess behind them. I once spilled some bird seed in the shed and you would think that a bomb went off and he was on his hands and knees with his shop-vac in no time. I blamed the birdseed on the kids--I am not stupid!

Seeing these organized tubs I started to think of how much my husband has sacrificed by being married to me. I am organized-to a point. I basically do not like clutter--or rather I don't like to SEE clutter so I just stuff it in a drawer, or I throw it away. If you walk into our closet, you will see his side so nice and neat-pants all together, shirts, jackets... and don't even get me started on his shoes (some he still keeps in the box!) My side looks like my 9 year old son has hung everything up. The shoes are in the spot in which I kicked them off and sweatshirts and jeans are haphazardly tossed on the shelves. He rarely complains though. Some days he even goes in there and organizes it for me... but after 3 kids he has started to just give up I think. All he has control over now are the tubs in the closet full of cables. I better pull that cable tub out again because I just stuffed everything back in when I found what I was looking for. It is the least I can do...