I've got a ton of scholarly projects I want to get started on, but it's been difficult given the limitations of available work space.

I live in a very small apartment with my boyfriend. By some miracle, all of our stuff manages to fit in the place, but it's not in good order. And it's impossible to be in good order given my limited storage space.

I can live with big comforters on the floor and assorted stuff sitting on the floor along pretty much every wall, but I can't do any of this self education I want to do because I can't figure out how to carve out a decent work space. I have a great desk, but my computer takes up most of the space on it and I refuse to put my CPU on the carpet given how much dust and dirt would end up gunking up my processor.

I wanted to work on my vocabulary project last night. For this project and to do it the way it needs to be done given what I want to get out of it, I use a lot of large books. The largest is my compact OED which takes up the entire writing space on most desks. I ended up making my attempt last night by piling the OED, the reading glass required to read it, my Webster and an Etymology dictionary in my lap. I discovered very quickly that it's very difficult to concentrate when you have to keep switching out books in a pile while your somewhat burly boyfriend is next to you on the love seat working on a laptop.

I've considered trying a study room in the library, but that requires the transport and carrying of these multiple large books to the library on a regular basis. Call me lazy, but that's a lot of trouble for something I do in my spare time.

I don't have a kitchen table anymore, which was where I used to do such projects. If I did, I certainly wouldn't have room for it.

Do any of y'all have any magic suggestions of how to remedy this problem? What do those of you with limited space do?

I love working on this project (and all my projects) and it makes me feel great about how I'm spending my spare time. I just wish I could figure out how to do it without breaking my back or getting too bogged down by discomfort.

It's that time of year when those of us who use wall calendars start a new one.

This year I've been spoiled for choice thanks to 3 calendar Christmas gifts (hmmm, I suspect my family knows me too well).
- One has scenery of Italy with dates but no room for comments
- Two has photos of the Northern Lights with lots of room for writing appointments etc but public holidays etc for Canada, and not our Australian holidays.
- And three is the calendar I'll be using as the 'all major family appointments go here' collection point. It's a Doctor Who calendar, which hasn't got a lot of space for appointments but more space than calendar 1, has the major public holidays, and is a bit unconventional in design.

So, do you have a 2012 wall calendar?
Did you choose it or did life choose it for you?
If your calendar inspirational, pretty, intriguing or sensible?

Hi there,

Can anyone tell me how I can close my account please?

Thanks.

I've been surfing for some new accessories to use with my 2012 planner and found these two that might be of interest to this crew

Giant Rubber Bands #KC30-620315 These fit around my Large moleskine monthly planner firmly and would be a good substitute if the moleskine elastic ever breaks. Love the turquoise blue, but the fun black/white stripes remind me of BeatleJuice.

Brass Paperclips. The Midori Brass Number Clips are numbered one through 12 and measure 31mm x 17mm in size. I'm still looking for someplace that has these in stock - they seem to be sold out every where.

Just some ideas for the new year,
Happy Surfing
AAS

I just got the Franklin Covey Christmas catalog in the mail. It seems they've expanded their formats and actually have a few that would work quite well with GTD. Couple that with the fact that I just got a new bottle of ink in the mail (Diamine Ancient Copper) and I think I may be about to go back to paper....

And on top of that ... my thought for the day email was something to the effect of focusing on the day to day tasks instead of goals leaves you really attached to the tasks ... seriously paraphrased, of course. So, I'm thinking of retiring Astrid (I love Astrid) and going back to paper.

Back on the organizer see-saw...

Any words of wisdom? How 'bout an intervention? Is it too late for an intervention?

I didn't request a password change but I got the message below. The good news is that I was able to change the password using the provided link, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a phishing expedition but I thought I'd ask if that request was generated by DIY Planner itself.

Did anyone else get a password reset email?

Thanks,

Cath

CathMac,

A request to reset the password for your account has been made at D*I*Y Planner.

You may now log in to www.diyplanner.com clicking on this link or copying and pasting it in your browser:

I did. My office building (in downtown DC) shook for a few seconds and then they evacuated us for about 30 minutes. I saw no damage.

As many of you know, I've fallen off and been chasing the organizational wagon for over a year now. I need to buckle down and get back in control.

I'm looking at a hi-bred system of paper and iphone/computer. I've just printed out a couple templates from here and also from DavidSeah.com to get me started.

Based on past attempts, I know I have a problem with repeating tasks and going overboard with planning out a week only to get nothing from the list accomplished.

I hope that returning to this site more often will help me reach some level of "organization sanity".

Does anyone have any advice on restarting? Any personal experiences? Anyone find the perfect planner system yet?

Thank you for always being here, always inspiring me and always being supportive!

"Not everyone knows that shelters euthanize more dogs than usual in the days leading up to a holiday. With most staff gone for the holiday, shelters must reduce their inventory to no more than a skeletal staff can handle. That's often only one person."

This phrase came from the blog written by Ellen of the St. Louis Senior Dog Project, which a non-profit that pairs up senior dogs with people in their senior years.

Families also step up to become new dogs parents.
On her shelters run, Ellen saves dogs of all ages, what's important to her is the "run out of time" date.

Due to many factors, nowadays, much more dogs are relinquished to shelters, dumped on the road or even taken to vets for euthanasia to be "gotten rid of, right away".

Animal control agencies have to deal with pets left to fend for themselves after the owners got sick, went to a nursing home or moved out in a hurry.
Hoarders, whose pets are suffering from neglect and puppymillers, "getting rid of inventory", add to the influx of pets at county shelters.

Every rescue, in every state, is in need of adopters, foster homes and sponsors for pets with medical issues.

If you are a person or a family who has the space and the mean to add a dog or cat in your home and your heart, please do so.

If you can foster, please do so.

If you have the means to sponsor a pet or a bunch of them, please do so.

I have a feeling that pets in need of owners or families is a worldwide occurrence so what I just wrote also work outside of the U.S.

In a couple of days, it will be the anniversary of the passing of my beloved cat of 17 years, she left in 07.

Feisty as she was about everything, including the fight against the cancer that took her, I think she just put her virtual paw to my brain and my heart and said "don't you think about going to sleep before talking about my fellow pets who need homes and care"

So here it is.

I found out about the plight of shelter dogs and cats right before a legal holiday a few days ago.

I feel it is my duty to share since Labor Day is fast approaching.