rough around the edges

I've lost a bit of control over my house. I am by no means a meticulous housekeeper, but I like things to look presentable. I'm well acquainted with the difference in the spirit of a home when it is hard to live in because of clutter. I don't like the other extreme, either and would never want to live in a museum or a model home. Right now though, things are piled up around the edges, pushed out of the way so we can sit down and eat and sleep. I'm just off my routine. I haven't properly sorted mail all week, which has given rise to a ragged mountain range of piles on my dining room table. Blegghh. Sorting papers is not my best thing, so having a lot at one time to sort will be hard to get into. I made a start of rescuing things this afternoon, but I my bed sucked me in when I was attempting to make it at about 2pm (that tells you how things have been lately) and I didn't wake up till 4:30. I needed it, but it was definitely a trade-off. I've been puttering around tonight while Eric and the boys watch Eric's new DVD collecttion of the original Mission Impossible TV series-one of his Christmas gifts. I'm cleaning up in small doses between reading, blogging and knitting and I've gotten a fair amount done. There is still more to do before I'll feel better, so I'll have to make time tomorrow. Probably not till the evening, though as I'm running 10 miles in the wee hours, then I teach one quick lesson, then have a baby shower to attend for my friend who is adopting a baby boy from Guatemala. I am skipping my seminary in-service to go because this is the culmination of about a 3-year odyssey that deserves celebrating. I am intrigued because it is not a typical shower with games and cake; it is a house concert by a local musician named Ken Kolodner along with a catered lunch. It will probably be really yummy Latino food, too, which grand and diverse category is probably my all around favorite type of cuisine. Anyway, I will take notes for the next shower I throw, because I like the idea of something a little different.
Okay, I'm off to make some cookies for the MI watchers and then back to trying to excavate Mount Postal.

9 comments

Corinne1/12/2008 7:45 AM
That musician looks awesome! I can't wait to hear how the shower goes :)
holly1/12/2008 5:47 PM
s i g h . . . . I too have not one peak but a good mountain range of mail and paper to sort through. it's interesting how the cycle goes: behold! a clean horizontal surface; a little bit of paper piles up, sort through it that day. a crazy week(s) or weekend(s): small piles begin; messy counter/table that blends in and soon it's a mountain range with named peaks. then the space is needed NOW so an earthquake happens and it all gets SHOVED, restacked, repiled, etc until the previously named peaks have to be renamed.

so, how about that filing system? what did Julie Morgenstern say about "zones" again?!?

thanks for your thoughts, Kel. good luck excavating/climbing!
Jann1/13/2008 12:03 AM
Thanks for sharing this post. After being in bed for a week, my house could be declared a national disaster.
Tracy1/13/2008 12:06 AM
I'm so glad I'm not the only one with piles of mail all over. That baby shower sounds fun! We have a lot coming up, so take good notes! How nice you got a nap.
Christie1/13/2008 8:31 PM
So glad to hear that I am not alone in the paper clutter, good luck taming the paper tiger!
Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish1/13/2008 8:51 PM
We are dealing with similar pile issues here. Sometimes I am just tempted to throw it all in a big box and set it on the curb. Nice image to go with your post.
Deb1/13/2008 10:12 PM
holly took my comment. :)

paper is my worst clutter problem. it drives me crazy! so good luck in your excavating.
Heather1/13/2008 11:22 PM
Lucia's comment made me chuckle, because for every move we've made (I belive that's 8), we have at least one box labeled "Papers to Sort." Needless to say, they never get opened. Kind a makes you wonder how important all those papers really are--after all we've survived just fine these four years without them! :)

That baby shower sounds awesome!
Cami1/14/2008 7:48 PM
Oh paper. No matter how much you organize it, it always comes back. ARGH!