Recently the Catholic Mom, Lisa Hendey, introduced a new video segment “Casual Fridays” on Faith and Family Live.

I think she must be very organized in her life, because her office doesn’t appear that “messy” when compared with many others I’ve seen.

Whether you work out of the home part-time/full-time or from the home in any respect, do you keep your personal life organized separately from your work/volunteer projects? Having an office away from home makes it easier to keep my work & personal lives separate, relying on the bag I carry daily for that “important stuff” I can’t leave behind: calendar, books to review on my sometimes non-existent lunch hour, manila envelopes holding necessary school papers, and work-related papers I optimistically hope I’ll get around to reading at home after dinner.

While I maintain a decent sense of organization at the office, the home suffers greatly. The dining room table serves as the ultimate “catch-all,” home to last year’s schoolwork waiting to be filed, not so carefully separated from this year’s newly received school schedules, class syllabus, principal letters, and lunch menus. Ten years worth of research on a book I’ve been “writing” taunts me from a cabinet. Bills pile up on the kitchen counter, books grow on the bedside table (and floor), and Pastoral Council files hide in plain sight on the sideboard.

There are no written or printed prayers in my office, just a copy of Noel Coward’s poem “Nothing is Lost.” After watching the video, I’m going to be on the hunt for one that speaks to my heart about my daily work.