A sudden craving for Swedish meatballs

You know how easy it is to get used to a situation if it happens gradually. There's that old story that says if you drop a frog into boiling water, he will immediately leap out to safety. But if you put a frog in cold water and turn the heat on, he'll stay as the water gradually heats up and kills him.

Whenever I hear this story I get distracted wondering why anyone would want to boil a frog, and then wondering how anyone could do such a cruel thing. So I usually don't think about the larger meaning of the story. But today it occurred to me, as I was looking around my living room, that my house, once merely simmering with messiness, has become a boiling cauldron of disarray and clutter!

Our habit of indiscriminate book acquisition is partly to blame. But it's not just books. Newspapers. Garden catalogs. On top of the bookcase, there's a jumble of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, discarded after coming home from work. There are old board games tucked away underneath the armoire. Be careful before you open the armoire, though - the Christmas wrapping paper will fall out.

Okay, this area is particularly disgusting, with Mr. Lumpy's dog-bed, with half-eaten dog biscuits on it. The DVD player is set up on one of our outdoor side tables, since we got the new TV. There are shoe-boxes with family photos. The paper star lantern is leftover from Christmas.

Time for some organization! Time for shelves and bookcases! Time for attractive containers and boxes! Time to go to IKEA...for some Swedish meatballs!