Power Drills and Antique China

A BBQ we had at our house on Memorial Day prompted – as per the usual – a thorough and frenzied cleaning spree.  The expectation of company always gives me new eyes (and fresh anxieties!) with which to look at my house and see all the cluttered nooks and crannies!  I can usually manage to keep the floor clear, the dining table clear, even the kitchen counters and bookshelves clear.  But the corners?  The cabinets?  The shelves?  The closets?  Overpopulated with stuff.

If these cluttered corners could talk, I think they’d be saying things like:

• if you haven’t missed me in the two years you’ve live here, do you really need me? -OR-
• you know that thing you “lost” three months ago?  voila! -OR-
• why’d you buy another one of those?  you have three right here!

The clutter in our house is the result of a perfect storm of challenges:  we moved here when our youngest was just three months old – which means I’ve been raising a young one and not cleaning closets; this house is twice as big as the one we moved from – which means more space to FILLFILLFILL!; and…well…there are a whole lot of people living here!  People = clutter.

When I confessed recently on Facebook that the corners of my house were mocking me, my mother gave this encouraging bit of wisdom:  give it up!  Your house will never be what you want it to be while you have kids at home!  I understand the truth in this, and am happy to embrace it on most days (which is why I will probably never have a day without a load of clothes in a basket or a load of dirty dishes in the sink).  But it’s gotten under my skin recently, and with a huge garage sale coming up, my 2yo able to play a little more independently, and the kids soon home from school and able to help, I’ve started tackling all those drawers, cupboards, and closets that have gathered untold treasures (and trash).

Just today I cleaned out a kitchen cupboard that contained:  two oil lamps, a Zhu Zhu Pet, a box of matches, a nightlight, some antique dishes, a power drill, a handsaw, and some vases. 

Yeah…that pretty much represents the majority of our organization efforts thus far. 

Now can you blame me for wanting to get it under control?

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