madbaker | I Believe... In Entropy

I don't like clutter and disorganization. This is not to say that I am always neat and that my home desk is clear - it isn't. But my tolerance for messy rooms, counters, etc. isn't high. This has caused some tension over the years as my threshold is much lower than the wife's; left alone, she will leave dirty dishes in the sink for several days or an empty bottle on the floor. It just doesn't trip her notice the way it does me.

This is not a particular knock on the wife, just a set of the stage for yesterday. She has been working really hard on Project Reorganize and making tough choices on what to keep and what, realistically, is just taking up space. Yesterday she pulled out all the remaining stuff from our Ikea wardrobe/shelving unit to choose and reallocate in the new space. It was spread all over the place.

However, she then went to a class and I was home alone in the shambles for several hours. I think what caused me to have a near-meltdown was that every single room had crap all over it - there was nowhere to get away from it. No refuge. Intellectually, I know this is temporary and that increasing entropy is necessary to do the reorganization. But emotionally, I apparently need at least one room where I can not be overwhelmed by mess.

We had a discussion when she got back. Again, I was trying to not come across as assigning blame. Just that even if it means we go more slowly, I apparently have to have a single room that is not an utter disaster area to retreat to.

In other Project Reorganize news, the wife had an interesting idea. We're going to pick up a narrow (~32") single-cabinet wardrobe this weekend. We had originally planned to put it next to the three-cabinet one in the study where the bookcase is now. (The bookcase moves to the current Ikea cabinet space.) However, she proposed a different option: placing the wardrobe next to our chest of drawers in the bedroom, moving the antique sewing machine cabinet there now (which just has a fan and some hats on it) to the current bookshelf space in the study. That would allow me to put my work clothes in the wardrobe, closer to my side of the bed, and leave the full closet on her side to her.

I don't know if there will be enough space in the wardrobe; I'll have to look at what's there now and cogitate. But it might be a more functional solution.

I Believe... In Entropy

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