Reading nook

Looky-look! It's a little nook! With a kid reading a book!

It may not look like anything much, but this little spot has been a source of contention in our house for a year, maybe more. I'm a crazed book addict, it's really true... and my husband is decidedly not. I particularly LO-O-OVE children's books and have such a knack for finding the best of the best out at thrift stores.... no wonder our shelves are overflowing. There's been a big pile of overflow sitting in the corner of this room for a ridiculously long time now. Matt thinks we should limit the amount of books we own to what will fit on our (current) shelves. I know he is probably right but it seems like we are fighting against what simply is... this is the collection, pared down by me to the bare essentials (and believe me, I've tried and tried to pare it down beyond this and these are the absolute must-haves) (there's way more in the bedroom too). Now I may be no expert on clearing clutter and organization (though actually I am... I've read plenty of books on the matter, as is my wont, though unfortunately the house does not in any way reflect my expertise) but I do remember reading that wagging a finger at yourself and saying, "Now Kami. You always put the mail on the kitchen table when you walk in the door. You've been very bad. You need to start putting it in this basket over here instead, " is just no good if you can't force yourself to change your habit. Better to just put the basket where you naturally lay down the mail rather than lambasting yourself for your inability to overcome your muscle memory.

So anyway, I'm so proud! I quick-built that shelf out of some wood a friend was clearing out of their shed, and now the books have a home. And I was extra-specially proud because I made this gigantic pillow and guess what I filled it with. That's right... Virginia Fleck's plastic bags that I had such good intentions for (and which of course have been sitting in the corner of the shed, yet another source of contention)! Now the box of plastic bags is gone, and a fluffy-crinkly-soft-cozy big pillow is in its place. Necessity, the mother of invention, and all that. I actually had been planning on making something like this but it called for something called EPS beads which is, I believe, kind of ground up styrofoam or something and quite a good way to recycle styrofoam but I couldn't figure out where to get it. The project languished, and then inspiration struck. Voila! Nook accomplished.

Now see, I think a big part of my clutter and mess problem is that I prefer the making to the cleaning up/putting away.... if we can combine the two, we might be on to something.