Seasonal Clutter

Have you ever noticed, if you are clutterbug, how your clutter takes different forms at different times of year? I even have garden clutter, something which should technically be impossible since it's all nature, right? Em, no...not when one has a dozen strawberry plants, a rhododendron, Pieris, and golden spirea, plus 3 heathers, sitting at various points in the yard waiting patiently for planting. And, I don't think empty plastic pots from other plants who have finally met the earth count as garden sculpture.

My house is cluttered. There, it's out in the open, and I've admitted it. It is only a few weeks since I undertook the mammoth job of organizing all of our correspondence and filing all the old bills, tax information, and other miscellaneous-but-must-keep bits of paper. I proudly got 90% of it put away, and the other 10% is mouldering on my almost-clean desktop. Fortuitously I have one of those pull-down secretariat desks, so it is hidden from view and presents one of the few facades of cleanliness in our house. However, the mail is beginning to pile up again on our remaining green kitchen countertop, so doubtless I will do my best to clear that up before we attack everything on that side of the kitchen with an orbital sander this weekend.

Still, there is an element of appropriate seasonality (is that a word? *L*) in our clutter. Next to the mail is a pretty green glass vase, just a cheapie from IKEA, but it's filled with plastic Easter eggs. Seems pretty "spring-y" to me. (As an aside, this is where I stashed some of DD's eggs which I filled with good European chocolate chicks...I love our local market for stocking them, although my waistline probably doesn't need their ample assistance.) DD has added her Easter hat to her favorite dress-up toys, so it is regularly a feature of the living room landscape. I've even tried to keep the dish towels mostly spring pastels, although I confess a Christmas one snuck out the other day when I needed a towel RIGHT NOW and it was the first to come to hand. My current sewing project, a Roman blind for the guest/kiddo bathroom, has pretty flowers on the fabric. All right, so it's just draped near the sewing machine, but eventually I will get to sewing. Its presence reminds me of the project, so that one afternoon when God smiles on me and the kids are both sleeping or behaving, I can get going with it. I'm guessing Thanksgiving. ;)

In any case, I am tempted to hunt up my "seasonal" decorations and festoon my one hung shelf (again, IKEA) with a garden gnome, a totally non-functional mini tricycle with rear basket (all ready for fake flowers which I have never arranged in it), and my faux rose wreath for the front door. I could clear up all the clutter, and have artfully arranged seasonal accessories that make my main living spaces feel inviting and spring-like.

Enh, who am I kidding...it would just be more clutter. Maybe next year.