The Weekly Hiss and Purr - July 31 Version

Mrs. Frugalwoods, of my new favourite blog Frugalwoods, writes a semi-regular column entitled the Weekly Woot & Grumble, in which she talks about one good thing (a woot) and one bad thing (a grumble) from the previous week.  Because I love stealing other people's ideas needed inspiration for today's blog post have enjoyed reading these posts, I thought I'd give my own Weekly Woot & Grumble post a try.

Given that I'm a cat lady lover, I decided to go for a more feline-themed title, hence the Weekly Hiss and Purr.  (Callie and Hobbes approve.  Or maybe they're just embarrassed to have been caught in such a compromising position.)

The Hiss - Paperwork:

Being on vacation, I really don't have much to complain about.  Should I whine about the difficulty of fitting reading, tv watching, and knitting all into one day?  About having trouble falling asleep at night because I slept in until 10 am?  About my Mom not answering her phone when I'm calling to make plans for a picnic?  I'm sure that all of these things would garner tremendous sympathy.

Really, the only thing causing me any significant distress this week (other than bloody, itchy, wake-me-up-in-the-middle of the night mosquito bites) is all of the paperwork and other details that need to be sorted out before I go back to work.  College registration, malpractice insurance, automatic deposit, new pager, new dictaphone, new identification badge, etc. etc.  It seems like every time I open my email there is another request for me to fill out a form (and usually provide a cheque or credit card number).  The worst part is, no task can ever be completed in a single step.  A request for a cheque reveals that I've run out of cheques, which requires me to open my online banking, which reveals that my online banking address is incorrect, which requires me to email my banker, which reminds her that she has ten things she wants me to do for my new business account, which causes me to bang my head against the wall in frustration while letting out a guttural moan.

Really world, all I want to do is binge watch Arrested Development on Netflix while finishing off the sock I started knitting in February.  Is that too much to ask?

(Yes sock, not socks.  I've only knit one in six months.  Based on the number of times I've sworn at said sock, I may never knit a partner for it.)

The Purr - Organization:

As I've previously mentioned, I forced myself to spend the first week or so of my vacation getting my apartment organized.  Papers from medical school were recycled; ill-fitting clothing was packed up for the thrift store; and similar items were gathered from across the apartment into single locations (Me to girlfriend:  Six boxes of lard?  Why do we need six boxes of lard?  No, I'm not throwing them out.  I'll put them next to the twelve bags of raisins.).

It was a huge amount of work, and I frequently resented it during the process, but I am so glad that I did it.  Multiple times every day I look around the apartment and am amazed by the amount of empty space I can see.  I can find things easily.  I can cook in my kitchen without first having to clear counter space for myself.  It seems like such a small thing, but it fills me with joy on a regular basis.

Now the challenge is to maintain some semblance of organization once I start working again...