Housekeeping Ain't No Joke

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but sometimes things happen in threes and you just need to follow the thread... My cleaning lady came today. Every other week she comes and does all the chores I hate--well, really I only hate cleaning the bathroom, the rest can be extremely satisfying--but I work hard at the office all day and I allow myself this indulgence. Of course, I always spend the night before R. comes cleaning so that she can clean, straightening up the mess. I run around collecting newspapers and magazines and catalogs to throw into the recycling bin, I put clothes away or in the laundry basket, and I clean up the kitchen. I am not naturally neat and I have a lot of stuff. I have fantasies of being orderly and organized, but I'm too lazy to keep it going. Coming home from work after R. has been here is one of the highlights of my week. How fast will I mess it up again, though?

Looking for a inspiration to write, I scanned my collection of Domino magazine issues, neatly stacked (and recently dusted!) in my bedroom bookshelves. Domino always had a quote printed on the spine, and tonight one jumped out at me--the title above, from Louisa May Alcott. The issue's themes were de-cluttering and organizing to "express your personal style." I so miss Domino. It was such a smart, fresh stylish magazine. I think if it had been able to hang on another 6 months or a year more it might have been able to morph into one of the new online magazines that keep popping up. I'm going to try to mention these new publications in future postings, and just today I got an email alerting me to a new issue of one of my favorites, Covet Garden. I love how each issue focuses on only one home and its inhabitants, and all their collections and quirks and, well, stuff. Talk about personal style!

Which brings me to number three. I have a box of magazine tearsheets, and still without a theme for tonight, I started sifting through them and found an editor's letter from the also sadly defunct House and Garden. Dominique Browning often wrote heartfelt, smart essays for H&G--the one I'd saved had a particular resonance with me. It was titled "Loving the Mess." I hope you can read the attached scan of her letter, but I particularly loved the closing lines:

We all worry about what our houses say about us. I can tell you one thing. If you are too organized, your house will say nothing about you. And that's the worst possible message.