Clutterbugs

I confess. I am a clutter bug.

Let me be more specific. I am not a hoarder...in fact, I am almost too good at throwing stuff away (let's review how I missed Andrew's Halloween parade, because I threw out the "new and improved" parade schedule.). But the stuff that I have just doesn't get put away very well. I'm not good at immediately putting things into their appropriate locations. And I am terribly bad about not noticing boxes, etc. for MONTHS. Once it is set up against the wall, I literally just forget about it.

Usually the clutter issue is remedied every few weeks when I have guests over and need to make space for them. Or when I have stepped on one too many toys and go on a disgruntled cleaning rampage. But some things just become part of the fabric of our lives. Like the unopened baby gate that has been sitting in our upstairs hallway waiting to be installed for the last 2 1/2 years. And now that we don't use gates, since our youngest doesn't really need them...it will probably sit there another 2 1/2 years until we figure out who to give it to.

But now that Michael has become our first ever table climber, the situation has become dire. The clutter that has normally been spread evenly throughout the house has begun to accumulate in the few spots left that he can't reach. What seems like a very light dusting of clutter becomes a heaping mound of clutter very quickly when all piled up.

And now I will give you photographic proof.

Exhibit A: Kitchen counter

You can see the "L" of our kitchen counter. There in the back is the dog biscuits that Michael likes to snack on, the tissues that he likes to rip out of the box and into a million pieces, the pens/paper/markers that he likes to eat and/or draw on the table with, the 7 billion sippie cups drying out because our dishwasher doesn't have a dry mode (and apparently neither do I). There are the ceramic Halloween bowls that we store the kids' loot that Michael could easily shatter on the ground. There are countless papers sent home from Andrew and Lily's school, that I feel sentimental about for 24 hours until the piles start sliding off onto the floor and Michael rips them into a zillion little pieces. There's the dog leash that he wraps around his neck and a box of crayons and the tray to his high chair that he throws to the ground with a clatter, giving me a heart attack several times a day. And the cereal that I just hadn't put away yet.

Exhibit B: Microwave

Over on the other part of the kitchen, we have the area that I hide things from Lily. This is the only place left that she cannot reach, but Andrew can. So this is where we stash the gum that Andrew likes to chew, Andrew's school party treats, post cards from family, more school papers that I felt sentimental enough to move over here until I decide what I'm going to do with them permanently. My cookbooks, and electric can opener from the previous owner that I have never used even once, and the annoying singing ghost that seemed like a really fun idea to buy until I brought it home and owned it for 3 seconds. And I'm pretty sure my pie plate is buried under there somewhere. Yah, I don't make many pies.

Exhibit C: China cabinet
Moving into the computer/living/catch-all room...Here is the china cabinet that my Memere gave me, along with her beautiful tea cup collection. You'll see that there is a new pitcher to replace the old one that Michael shattered when he managed to pull it out of the only cabinet that it fits in. There are the remaining tea candles that were originally stored in this cupboard...Michael chewed up 5 of them before I got to him. There are CD's from Jeff's car that I think he brought in so he could put some of the music on his iPod. The blue bag is the stuff that came with his iPod when he bought it over a month ago. The big box is Waterford Crystal that my in-laws brought back from Ireland with them in August that I'm too afraid to move anywhere else lest someone find it and break it. And under it all are the picture frames from Jeff's office that he wants refilled with more current pictures of the kids so that everyone doesn't think he has triplets that are 6 months old.

Exhibit D: Top of computer desk

And up on top of the computer desk are more overflow from Jeff's old office, extra pads of paper that we don't want Andrew getting all at once, CD's to burn, and, ironically, an office organizational tool.

I didn't even photograph the top of our desk...Yikes. I do occasionally filter these things into their appropriate places...especially in the kitchen where stuff piles up extra quickly. But, seriously...bad huh?