Before, After

Just continuing to keep it real -I've been trying to return the house to some semblance of order. Do you get crazy (and lazy) like I do after a trip? Here are some examples - for me, the empty spaces just beg for clutter. And, unfortunately, I oblige.

This area is by our mudroom door. Mail, remnants of travel, receipts, it's all bad.





The after is still looking kinda cluttery. I think maybe I need to go through the phone books and directories and pare it down.







This is my coffee station. Now I don't know how the pb & honey got stuck there, not to mention the entire box of stevia or the bag of dried chilies. All I know is that I'd ignored the area far too long. Oh, and neglected to put things away after I was done using them. Ooops. Um, empty printer cartridge? You do not a delicious cup of coffee make.



I got out my covered glass sugar dish that I do not use often enough and put stevia & turbinado sugar packets in there. So much better. Ahhh. Oh, and I moved the coffee maker so that it covers the outlet. Nice.





The last area is my fireplace mantle. Hello, Bibles, Cubbies goody box, etc, etc. And putting the goody box there was a mistake. There was a small bottle of bubbles in there that leaked all over the mantle, and now there is a nice stain. Good thing it hasn't been painted & primed yet. Yuck! (for the record, yes, Frank needs some attention - we've been gone for a couple of weeks - and the mantle piece is under construction - still needs some additional trim sections. I'll post a picture when it is complete!)
















I would like to thank my napping children, without whom I never would have cleaned up all this mess. Check out the times. We are talking a matter of minutes to clean this stuff up, and yet, I neglect to do it on a LOT of days. Am I the only one??