Before...

Where does all this clutter come from?  I mentioned recently how I was feeling very snowed under, and this is a prime example.  I took today off from work and I have tomorrow as a vacation day as well.  Now "vacation day" is a bit of a misnomer is this case.  There has been nothing vacation-like so far today, and I expect it to be the same tomorrow.  I have spent the entire day thus far cleaning.  Now, don't get me wrong.  My house is clean, but all things are relative.  There are certain areas that tend to be the catch all for stuff (for example everything else in my living room is pretty neat--but my desk...well...you can see for yourself).  And the stack of papers to the left are months and months and months worth of bills waiting to be filed (the job I am dreading the most actually).  I have spent all day working on my bedroom.  I have moved furniture, pulled things off the top shelf of the closet, vacuumed under the bed--you know, scary cleaning.  This has also meant shifting books around.  I managed to rearrange my books in such a way that three full stacks were relegated downstairs to the book room (to be incorporated into their various areas later).  There is a bit of a hierarchy with my books.  The books in my bedroom are those most in favor (I have every intention of getting to them as soon as possible...).  Then there are the shelves in my bookroom (which happens to be just to the left of my desk there).  Those have books already read, or books that I will get to eventually (just not right away...okay in some cases they have been languishing down there for *years*).  Finally there are the books that have ended up in the closet of the book room.  Nothing personal, you know.  I probably will read, them.  I am just not ready to give them away yet. So they are hidden away in the closet (along with the cookbooks, but I just love to cook so much...Ha).  I also managed to fill three paper grocery bags full with old magazines and catalogs.  It always feels so good when everything is sparkling clean (or as sparkling clean as you can get in a really old house) and all the nooks and crannies have been thoroughly cleaned!  Now, I wonder what things I will find under the mess on that desk...