A mothers work is never done

Tuesdays is the main cleaning day at our house. Everything except the bedrooms get the once over with dust cloth, vacuum and mop. It is also laundry day for everything except bedding. Needless to say, that's a lot of work. What struck me as amusing today was that no sooner had I finished a task then someone came along and undid it! I had just emptied the pencil sharpener when my son zoomed past to sharpen not one but a whole handful of pencils! The trash can by the computer was emptied for all of five minutes before I noticed that there was trash back in it. The white rug just vacuumed and looking all floofy was met with a stack of books that smooshed the fibers back down. I had no sooner finished wiping off the kitchen counter when a science experiment was begun. The kitchen floor and breakfast cleaned up when it was time for lunch! No, my work is never done. Even more amusing is when I do this to myself. I had already cleaned the landing and vacuumed when I realized that I had not watered the fern. Water the fern always results in a profusion of dead leaves falling onto the carpet which in turn requires me to vacuum! The age old adage

Organizing bookshelves

Thus began an afternoon project! I was reading a book called The House Always Wins, written by Marni Jameson. In it she described the process of having a decorator come to her house. One of the areas that the decorator changed was her bookshelves. Inspired, I spent a delightful hour following the principles of bookshelf decorating. I did not think to take a before picture so what you are looking at is the finished project.

The principles were as follows; books are first separated by hard back and paper back. Never should the two meet on the same shelf. Then books are arranged from tallest to shortest. The books should be slid out to the front of the shelves not placed against the back. Photos or knick knacks should not be on the same shelf with books, but if all possible placed on a separate shelf. The over all look is much more organized and there is the benefit of dust falling behind the books where it is not seen. No dusty lip in front of the books. However, I do miss the books being organized topically. It bothers me to not have all the nature books on one shelf, history on another. I might have to go back and see if I can't be more topical within this system. For now I think I will just enjoy the new look of my shelves!