What's So Funny About This Picture?

I promised you an opportunity to feel superior, I didn't tell you it might be mixed with very uncomfortable embarrased sympathy.

I returned from vacation renewed, even though I have a bad cold. I had spent 10 days in the homes of others, one good friend in particular who doesn't appear to own anything but furniture designed to hide the things she owns so well that you can count on your fingers the items in each room. I was so impressed by the clutter-free living, I had new fresh eyes as I returned home (which I'd "cleaned" hastily before I left).

I realized three main things:

1. Before leaving, my "everything in its pile" system had degraded to an "everything in a pile" system.


2. I clearly was depressed prior to leaving for vacation.
   

Lo, the bedside "table" (really a set of drawers)

I say "depressed" because I didn't even notice this before leaving, and I do have a weird tendency in a certain, too-common mood to approach obvious breaches of household sanitation standards with a sigh and a, "Oh, I just can't even deal with that" mentality. Friends who know me, don't be alarmed, this has been my normal state for 20 years and apparently has led to nothing worse than a messy house, some inconsistent parenting and a few extra pounds here and there.

But on to the subject of this picture. As I did actually work through this pile today, I got some good laughs, as this pile contained:

1. Various books that took me literally seconds to gather into one bunch onto a shelf and cut the pile in half.

2. Underwear, which simply belong in one of those drawers, yet somehow managed to sit for days in a pile on top of it.

3. It gets better: An unread copy of Martha Stewart Living, and,

4. The top prize--that tiny little yellow corner to the left of the green measuring tape (not used since Day 5 of the New Year's Resolution)?

That is a pocket-sized copy of "Organizing for Dummies."

Stay tuned for tomorrow, I'll post a new and improved picture. A little vacation beats Prozac any day...

Note: Camera issues: no updated picture and it's not perfectly clean, but it looks much better.