Crash Landing

I’m an “everything in its place” kind of girl, and I’m trying to teach my boys to clean up after themselves and to put away toys when they are finished playing.  Ryan is also pretty good at cleaning up his messes, after living with me for ten years now.

But there’s one spot in our house that is a constant source of frustration for me, and that’s the landing strip.  Here’s what it looks like on a random weeknight.

This is the edge of the kitchen bar that hangs over into our living room, and it’s the first stopping point once we enter from the garage, the door we use most often.  It’s a natural landing strip and catch-all for our keys and other clutter.  I prefer to keep my purse and jewelry in the bedroom, where I can easily access them as I’m getting ready, but Ryan likes all of his pocket stuff here, since he puts it on before walking out the door.

When we redid our kitchen last winter, I bought the cute little bird dish from Pottery Barn, specifically for Ryan to use, but his things soon spilled out and over the sides, so I added that second basket (the one with the wires hanging out).  If you know Ryan, then you know he’s always attached to some kind of wire (phone, laptop cord, headphones, etc.), so it’s no surprise that the cords end up on our counter.  You can also see his sunglasses, glasses case, wallet, and handkerchief, in addition to the day’s mail and the remote control, purposefully out of the boys’ reach.  (And the Wheat Thins were only on the counter to remind me to send them to school with Rhys the next day.)

I straighten and organize this little spot multiple times throughout the week, and it always ends up like this.  Part of me thinks I should just give in and accept it, since it’s certainly not a hill to die on.  And then the Type A part of my brain takes over, and I take a picture and write a blog post about it, just for fun.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

But he does bring me flowers all the time, and that more than makes up for it.