July 2013: Cleaning the House, July 13, 2013

After a morning fiasco, I decided maybe I should concentrate on the shelf in front of my front door.  My front door enters into my living room, so originally I tried to section of an area to be the entryway.  Now I'm thinking I'd rather not have such a big area, but for the meantime, I am using what I have to work with, which includes a long shelf.  And the top of it is an easy dumping ground for whatever is in my hands as I walk in the door--or get the mail.  My morning fiasco included a situation where I was going to a graduation for my second-cousin, once removed.  (Which sounds odd, but my second cousins on that side of the family are like first cousins, based on how much time we spent together in our childhood.)  I've been to her house many times, but only with my parents.  I didn't know where she lived--which as it turned out, was good, because I couldn't go straight to her house.  The party was held at her grandparents' house!  My other two graduation invitations were together in one spot, but the one I needed today was not.  It was a frantic search through previously mentioned shelf, and quite panicky before I found it.  Even at that time I put a few things away, so the before picture isn't totally accurate!

Yikes.  Why are there cat toys there?  And those M&Ms from going to Rachel's tonight could easily be somewhere else!  So, I got to work. 

I realized after I took the picture that this was a really bad angle, but I'm not sure there's a better angle to take the picture without getting distracted by the background, which would defeat the purpose of the picture.  It doesn't help that the file bins are taller, so you can't see that the other side isn't really that full of things.  Sorry about that.  Maybe someday my whole living room and kitchen will be clean, and I'll be able to take a better picture that won't be distracting.  I need serious help in the cleaning department!!