I found it!

One of my new year's resolutions this year was to organize my schedule, my desk, my home, and finish the scanning/organizing of photos.  I originally wanted to go through the crap stuff on my desk including drawers and do something with all the keepsakes and stuff I insist on keeping "in case I need it".  The problem with that is I have that kind of stuff all over my house so I incorporated that into my resolution and then added my schedule and pictures because it seemed like it all went together.  I really don't know what I meant by my schedule except perhaps making the time to do the organizing.

Recently my husband added my old scanner to my computer and was annoyed at what he considered a mess on my desk.  This translates as "he has nowhere to put the scanner thus he considers this a mess", which is annoying to me.  We argued, and because it was midnight and eight hours after the time I originally required this job be done, I went to bed.  He did the job and left the scanner sitting in the middle of my desk.

Today I began to tackle the job so that I might score higher than normal at my two-month resolution check.  I began by moving things around so that the scanner had a place and then sat and contemplated the arrangement of my desk.  It is designed for two people so there is plenty of room, but really there isn't plenty of room for all of the stuff I have.

Tom:  "It's only because you are filling the empty spaces with crap. Empty space? Cara will fill it...with crap."

Me:  "All of my stuff is important and your desk isn't so clean either."

I sat and surveyed the area and then remembered my resolution of getting rid of stuff.  I began with my two level file box.  In the first level were important papers like the newspaper articles and program of my trip to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers.  These are things I plan on incorporating into the Steelers room.  Perhaps framing them with my ticket.

Other papers included a drawing Madison did in the 5th grade. Also planned to frame, but it was too big for most frames, and I was thinking about what to do with it; a newspaper article with interesting recipes I obviously planned on trying; an envelope full of pictures and stuff for work reunion I had worked on twenty-five years ago and had recently found; and a newspaper article on how to buy a car.  I cut out the recipes I thought I might try and added them to my folder of recipes that is in my filing drawer.  I put the other stuff in piles to be looked at later when I had a better idea of what to do with them.

The second tier of the filing box contained school stuff from Madison's two years of high school like the student code of conduct and information on the IB program.  These I chucked into the trashcan.  There was my new camera box which I put aside, some samples of Paul Mitchell conditioner which I put into my bathroom, an article on preparing for a disaster which I filed in the same drawer as the recipes, and a folder of old school work from Darcy's 5th grade year and Madison's 7th grade year which I filed in the filing cabinet in their respective grade folders.  I also found an envelope of swimming ribbons, a folder containing information from when I produced and directed some shows at the girls' school, a folder containing our new insurance information, a $10 unused Itunes gift card, and on the very bottom of the stuff I found...are you ready?...

The TRAVEL NOTEBOOK  (take a few minutes to click on the link and familiarize yourself with the details)

At first, I didn't know what it was.  I opened the notebook to find this on the first page:

I assumed it was going to be more school stuff from long ago, but on the second page was the headline, in Kelly's handwriting, "Community Journal - Trip - 11/19/06" and immediately I knew what it was, and I began shouting and dancing and skipping.  Actually, I just gave up on cleaning and sat down to write to my blogging readership that I FOUND IT.  I FOUND THE TRAVEL JOURNAL THAT I HAD LOST and written about here, and here.  Now I have things to blog about for the next few days!  Yay!