Absolutely, Kat! I'm also feeling that overwhelmed sensation--pull everything out to move and sort and you have a huge mess of clutter!

HOWEVER, I had one of those marvelous Aha! moments this afternoon, creeping on since yesterday. (Don't you just love those?)

This month's Martha Stewart Living had been rather disappointing, it didn't seem to provide much in the way of useful ideas. Who has the money and time and fancy patio or Long Island yard for her elaborate family picnics, after all? But something kept nagging at me. There was a photo of a distressed pie safe (they refer to it as an armoire, but you can see the hammered tin pattern inside the left open door) in this photo*. Anyway, I have a Kitchen Queen that has been filled with stuff that I don't use--but it sits next to the big dining room table. Aha! When I have company over we always pull out extra silverware, plastic picnic plates, serving stuff like platters, tins for cookies, cups and mugs, wine glasses, etc. This isn't the everyday stuff, but I am working to empty out the stuff I don't use in the KQ and put in it the extra stuff right there for big meals! I keep my cookbooks in one of the upper cabinets and some wine glasses in another. This is shaping up. I moved some of the kitchen gadgets to one cabinet of my Dad's that I am keeping in the kitchen, and I need to put other extra kitchen gadgets in a garage sale.

All of this opens a couple of other possibilities, and I thought I'd poll the group: Now that I've taken a lot of stuff out of the big L-shaped cupboard (and put some in the KQ), what ->should<- I keep under there? And as a bonus question, what do you keep in that stupid little cabinet over your fridge that you can't reach unless you're on a step stool and you empty off the top of the fridge before you can even open it? I took a couple of platters out of it for the kitchen queen, and I wonder if I should even bother to put anything back up there.

So, the house is a mess, but it is going somewhere and by this evening should be looking good. I'll post a photo if I get the KQ in order.

Kat, keep the tarp handy and if you get too bogged down, chuck stuff back under the tarp. You're in charge, don't let the clutter creep up on you!

Maryanne, my yard has characteristics a lot like yours--it needs work, and there are times I say phuck it and just go outside and dig around and get it out of my system. :)

SRS

*If it doesn't work, go to , go to the magazines tab, and look at the contents of the July 2008 Living issue. In the table of contents, look for Departments/Entertaining, and click on "Set for Summer."