Clutter or ...

just the stuff of life? Last week, I was impressed by how pristine and uncluttered  Kym's bedroom and bathroom photos were. I know that whenever I take photos I always have to move stuff, sometimes lots of stuff. So, I decided to be a little bit brave and take some realistic and honest photos without removing anything to try and view things as they might appear to others.

The kitchen table is a handy repository for lots of things. Plants are on the table because it gets too cold at night for them on the windowsill; there are smoke alarms sitting there because I can't figure out why they won't stop chirping despite multiple new battery changes, and of course I need to keep a book and my to-do list close at hand.

This corner of the kitchen might be a little cluttered, but it seems like a good place for chargers. There are multiple phone chargers, ipod chargers, and the rechargeable flashlight for electricity outages and taking walks in the dark. The dictionary on the microwave is also a necessity because we often get into discussions about words and their nuanced meanings at dinner, and what better way to resolve them than by having a dictionary at hand?

The mud porch is where we take off shoes and jackets, and it also houses my plants in the winter.

Justin has size 14 feet so his shoes and boots take up a lot of room. The refrigerator is usually too full of clementines in the winter, so the unheated mud porch is a good place to store the extras, along with the "winter crate" full of hats and gloves. Where do you keep your turtle shells and interesting sticks that you've found in the woods? We keep ours on the mud porch!

 

John thinks my knitting area has too much junk, but I'm betting you'll agree with me
 that he's just plain wrong.

Here is some of his "junk", the many shed deer antlers that take up the coffee table. A professor gave Justin that microscope and we can neither bring ourselves to get rid of it nor think of a good use or better place for it.

I saved the best for last. Here is the real site of most of the clutter, the dining room table.

I've got presents all ready for three February birthdays, cards ready to play euchre, empty toner cartridges to take to Staples, folders to work on taxes, and a tuner that Justin is selling on ebay. Anybody need a tuner for their diesel truck? He'll give you a good deal!

Down at this end of the table we've got seeds ready for spring planting, AAA guide books for travel planning, and an electronic coyote call. (Don't ask, it's not mine.)

It's impossible for me to look at my house with unbiased eyes, so clutter or not, it's ours. It's all important (well, maybe not the deer antlers and coyote call :-) ; we use most of it, and some of it even brings me joy, so it's not clutter to me. House Beautiful and Country Living will just have to call ahead.