Tackling Stuff

I made it my goal today to clear off all the books littering the top of our kid level bookcase and culling through some of the books so that the shelves weren't two books deep...  The 18+ inch stack of books on top all have a home somewhere, but a child has pulled the book from a shelf and not been able to find it's home...  Now most of the books (with the exception of all the ones on top) are adult books (no not THAT kind :))- ie. marriage, finance, bible study, travel, organization, etc.  Books that I have been given, married and paid good money for and have sat on a shelf, some for almost 15 years- those are the marriage ones :)  So after an hour+ my shelves are dust free, organized and presentable to the new babysitter coming Thursday.  I read a couple of the chapters in the few that no longer have a home in our home and 'got' what I needed to out of them.  Only my shelf that deals with parenting and adoption is still two books deep, but I have enough room on another shelf that I could divide and conquer, hopefully.

So sorting out is half the battle, and the other half is actually parting with them...  It seems that I can sort and have determination and then the stuff sits in my garage and I then want to reclaim it.  It's a dark secret.  lol.

But why am I even concerned about having a clean bookshelf when the babysitter comes?  I have boxes in my dining room STILL!!!!!

One of the books on my shelf boasts of how to organize your house and your life.  It's one of the keepers and I've even read it.  The author doesn't have six kids though.  This author does boast that your house is a reflection of your life.  If your house is cluttered, then your life is cluttered, etc.  I can grasp some of this concept, but again the author doesn't have SIX KIDS! lol!

My bookshelf is reflective of my life though.  It looks great right now, but within a week (or maybe even a day) a noticable amount of dust will have accumulated.  It's easy to be in my comfort zone and let dust collect on my inside.  Don't ask when I actually had a quiet time last or when Mr. Incredible and I went on a date. It's something I want to do, but right now I am still living from fire to fire, what is essential gets done (essential being defined as feeding, clothing, schooling, bathing and mothering kids)  And just as children rearrange the books on a shelf, I have a tendancy of jumbling my priorities and letting outside issues cloud my judgement.  (Like being concerned about a bookshelf and not a quiet time)  This is not something that is always in my control.  Having to drop everything and run for an x-ray is never something you plan.  Neither is a child getting sick, but when it happens how you handle the disruption testifies to your maturity (or lack thereof).

So before I have to run and put out the next fire, I think I might go have a quiet time while the kids are watching cartoons.