She's on Time Again

The next question comes from anonymous reader who calls themselves "tc" who wondered about staying organized and asked:

This is maybe an odd one or two...

You seem very organized, or the both of you do. So my question/s is, how? Do you utilize to-do lists? A smart phone app perhaps? Does he check up on the things you were to have done via such lists?

And I think I remember that you are to keep him informed when you go somewhere, run errands etc... If so, how on earth do you remember to? I just can't get this one down and am repeatedly in hot water for it.

.I admit I have selfish reasons for asking.

Well the reason doesn't matter -- it's still a great question that falls nicely in line with our expectations and firstly mouse isn't organized or at least not very well organized in the great scheme of things. When it comes to things she alone touches, she can be almost anal about it. For example, her desk at work. She can open a drawer and pull something out without looking. But other areas of her life have never been so organized.

Daddy is that way about everything. If the man went blind, he would still be able to find the black socks in his drawer. Because he puts the black socks on one side and the navy blue socks go on the opposite side.

The secret for mouse has been alarms for daily things set on her phone. For example, mouse must make sure the kids are up at a certain time, so there's an alarm set on her phone. Other alarms keep her from being late to collect them (because if she's working or even at home there are days when she's surprised that it's that time already. Also various other activities on certain days of the week, that might slip her mind. Like it's really Tuesday when mouse has walked around all day thinking it was Wednesday.

Now while there are things people hate about Apple products, there are a few things they do get right. They have a 'Reminders" app, that just rocks. It's attached to his laptop, mouse's phone and iPad. This way our calendars, daily todo lists, shopping lists and other random lists are all coordinated between devices.

If he adds something to his laptop calendar, it goes automatically to all of mouse's devices. Same if she adds something, he's aware too.

If mouse leaves the house and does something out of the normal routine, she must notify Daddy. If he knows that she's going grocery shopping, she usually lets him know when she gets home so he won't worry. If she forgets he will ask her if she's home yet via text message. Admittedly, sometimes she'll get distracted by something, heavy traffic will delay her or reruns home to find vomit on the floor from a sick animal. He understands those things -- which is also why he'll send a text.

Once he sent her a text to warn her not to get on the freeway, he'd heard of a huge accident. It was worrisome for him because mouse didn't reply. He ended up phoning, which she could answer because of her hands free device in the car. He was relieved that mouse was fine, but was already stuck in that mess. Another time, mouse was so stuck, she was able to text him -- on the freeway. Traffic just wasn't moving at all that day. It was miserable. He rearranged his schedule to pick up the kids. Seriously it took more than an hour to go a few miles.

If an errand is completely unplanned, mouse must ask his permission before leaving the house. Now, this assumes it's not an emergency like the house on fire or rushing someone to the hospital. This is when she opens the refrigerator and realizes that she's out of fresh thyme and needs it for a recipe -- or the chuck roast she planned on cooking is still frozen solid. Once she opened a package of chicken and it just smelled foul (not fowl), obviously she's not going to cook potentially rancid meat to her family. Usually we have some back up things mouse could cook, but once in a while there isn't either enough time or there just not anything.

Daddy will text back and ask how important something is -- "must you have fresh thyme?" Now if it was something that she forgot or neglected to get when she was shopping, it will mean a demerit (unless the store had none). For some reason mouse always seems to forget to buy coffee. Seriously! It's not like she ever forgets to make it in the morning, but she'll go to the store and it seems leave it without coffee.

If he is busy, she has to wait and if she recieves no reply, within a reasonable a out of time, she's to assume permission is granted. If dinner is messed up (like when we lost power due to a storm), he'll offer to just pick up take out or mouse will ask to just pick up some sausages or even pizza. We don't have those often so Daddy usually says it's ok.

If there is an emergency she is to contact him as soon as possible -- even if it's not until the crisis has passed.