The 4th of July, Independence Day, is just around the corner. This is the day we celebrate our nation's birthday. It's also a 3 day weekend!

This year I've determined that the 4th of July will have an added significance for us. It's going to be a not only a remembrance of freedom from British oppression, for us it's also going to be a celebration of freedom from clutter.

I've determined that we are going to have (at least the first floor- after all we're only human) our house cleaned up, straightened, squared away, and presentable by the 4th and that we're going to keep it that way from now on.

We don't have much company at our house and when we do it's usually immediate family. A big part of the reason for this is that on the rare occasion that we get more than one room at a time cleaned up, it doesn't stay that way for long. Junk piles up, clutter accumulates, mess multiplies, and chaos abounds.

Before I go any further please let me make it clear that I claim no less (and conversely no more) responsibility than anyone else for this situation. I have always been a little deficient in the tidiness department. My desk at work is a mess as was every dorm room I ever had and all my school lockers. I have determined, though, that it is time to break this cycle.

I don't want Isaiah to be held back by this same weakness. I want to teach him that it's worthwhile to keep his environment presentable if for no other reason than that it makes the home more enjoyable to live in.

I've been kind of tired and short tempered for a couple of weeks now and I think the main reason is that the mess has reached critical mass. It's kind of like radiation or mercury- it accumulates in my system, unfelt and unknown, until a certain level is attained and then it begins to affect me adversely.

We don't quite need an EPA team in hazmat suits around here, but it's going to take some work and some commitment. We spent about 2½ hours on general foundations tonight. The dining room looks much better- almost finished actually and I made a good bit of headway at the scene of most of my clutter-crimes- the computer area. The computer area looks 100% better, but it's still got a bit of a way to go. The rest of the living room will be about 60% complete when we get all the laundry off the chair and couch and hauled upstairs. Someday, hauling the laundry upstairs will also mean putting it away in drawers and closets, but like I said above- first things first, we're only human.

It's a brutal and relentless enemy that we'll be battling the next couple of nights and perhaps on into the early parts of VJ (Victory over Junk) Day, but the battle will be won and when it is we are going to k e e p this place clean. Period.

Praise the LORD and pass the paper towels.