I’m not yet qualified for Hoarders on A&E but I do tend to be a pack rat.  Especially when it comes to things my kids have made.  I love to save them.  My problem lies in not knowing what to do with them when I get them so I just pile them up on a desk.

This is where they tend to get piled.  And guess what?  It looks like this after I have moved them to the living room to organize.  I’m not a neat person.  It’s something I struggle with daily.

However, I did get an idea from a friend to do with the projects that are special and that I want to keep ~ Mother’s Day cards, hand and foot prints, notes, things like that.  I bought some 8×11″ scrapbooks on sale and I let the kids pick out the style.  Monkey chose blue and Little Man chose baseball, even though he’s never played the sport.

So I started sorting and adding to the books.

This works out nicely because I can close the book and put it on a shelf.  No more pile of papers.  The downside of this is that many of the projects that were made don’t fit in an 8×11 scrapbook.

So, I still have piles.  Yuck.

I know this may seem a little unorthodox, but I firmly believe children ~ at least my children ~ cause Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.  Seriously.  Why would I make such a wild accusation?  Simple.  Any task I start is almost never done completely anyway.  I’m one to start something then in the middle of that something, see something else that needs to be done so I’ll go do that something then while I’m doing that something, I’ll get distracted by something else I see that needs doing.  For example:  everyday straightening up of the house.  Here’s a typical day:

Head to the kitchen to clean up the dishes but before I start, I notice the dishrag is starting to get stinky so I take it down to the laundry room.  I decide to go ahead and throw in a load of laundry but there are still some clothes in the laundry baskets upstairs.  I fill the machine with what I have and head to collect the rest.  On the way, I pass the living room which still has a few toys so I grab the toys to carry back to the kids’ rooms and drop them off.  I grab the laundry from Monkey’s bedroom and pull it in the hallway, then walk down to our bedroom.  There’s a laundry basket with clean clothes that need folding so I start folding clothes since I’ll need that basket downstairs.  I finish and take a glass from the night before to the kitchen and start washing dishes.  I take some papers from the kitchen counter down to the office and set them on the desk and start going through other papers.  I find something that has to go to the bedroom.  On the way, I trip over Monkey’s laundry basket, which is still in the hallway.  I grab our hamper from the bedroom, add her clothes and go back to the laundry room.  I add more to what’s already in the machine and realize I still have some in the dryer but the clean laundry basket is still upstairs from when I was folding them before….. it’s a vicious cycle for someone who gets distracted from a project easily.

Now, this is what happens when the kids are home:

Head to the kitchen to clean up the dishes but before I start, I notice the dishrag is starting to get stinky so I take it down to the laundry room.  On the way, Little Man asks if I can help put his transformer back together, so I go to sit on the chair, where I have good light, and spend the next 5 minutes making a robot into a car.  I finish and head for the stairs to the laundry room. I decide to go ahead and throw in a load of laundry but there is still some clothes in the laundry baskets upstairs.  Monkey comes looking for me because she has a question about some random topic and we stop to talk about it while I fill the machine with what I have and head to collect the rest.  On the way, I pass the living room which still has a few toys so I grab the toys to carry back to the kids’ rooms and drop them off.  Little Man has a lego rocket ship he built and he wants me to see it.  Monkey is trying to build something else and they start fighting over it.  I go referee the fight before I grab the laundry from Monkey’s bedroom and pull it in the hallway, then walk down to our bedroom.  There’s a laundry basket with clean clothes that need folding so I start folding clothes since I’ll need that basket downstairs. I have to chase the dogs off the bed and they grab some random toy of great importance as they run down the hallway and Monkey starts yelling at the dogs to drop it.  They don’t listen to her and so I chase them down to the dining room and finally get them to drop the toy.  I go back to the bedroom and start back on the clothes.  About half-way through, Little Man wants to show me his lego mountain so I go to his room for a minute.  I find an old sippy cup of water and take that to the kitchen, never finishing the laundry and start washing dishes.  The kids come in wanting snacks.  I finish the dishes and Monkey and I put together snacks.  While they’re eating, I take some papers from the kitchen counter down to the office and set them on the desk and start going through other papers.  I find something that has to go to the bedroom.  On the way, I remind the kids to clean up from their snack and turn off the light. I trip over Monkey’s laundry basket, which is still in the hallway.  She walks by asking another random question about a playdate.  We talk about how her other friends are in school, then she remembers we have Girl Scouts that afternoon, which I had forgotten, and so she goes to get her vest. I grab our hamper from the bedroom, add her clothes and go back to the laundry room, rushing now, because we have to get to Girl Scouts. I add more to what’s already in the machine and realize I still have some in the dryer but the basket is still upstairs on the bed, still with some clean clothes that I haven’t finished folding from before…..

See?  This is why it is my scientific opinion that having children cause Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.