Sole Searching

A rare free Saturday.

Time to start reclaiming the spare room... Argh!

Spring cleaning had begun the previous week when I tackled and conquered the bookcases and craft mountain in the study. Disposing of several bags of recycling/rubbish in the process.

Today I began with the chaotic bookcases.

"Shouldn't take long" I announced 

"They should be sorted in about an hour..."

Except they do not just hold books, 

but also serve as a repository for a million craft items. 

The books themselves are so jumbled up 

that I find it difficult to even know where to begin to locate any volume when it is required.

There was only one way to tackle the problem. 

Remove everything from the shelves and return it in a much more logical order

 - resources on one shelf, 

 - prayer books on another. 

Theology, Adrain Plass and general fiction was relegated to the study. 

This made way for some of the more regularly required craft supplies to be relocated to the spare room.

At times in the proceedings ink pads liberated themselves from the shelves, as if fired from a catapult. I noted that 50% of the time the lids stayed on and half the time they parted company. 

I stepped over one open ink pad several times, 

making a mental note to pick it up BEFORE I trod on it. 

I continued to move things around, 

Genesis 22:17

using the window cill as temporary storage. 

Then I noticed the floor...

inky footprints from my slipper!

Argh! I had done that which I had vowed not to do 

and trodden on that open ink pad...

Unfortunately I was unable to take a photo of the ensuing pattern, 

as, at this point, I had misplaced my phone in the chaos. 

I later found it hidden in a pile of books...

Having put the lid back on the ink pad 

and removed it from the danger zone,

I quickly removed my slippers 

and went to get the last wipe 

and cleaned the ink from the floor. 

As  I sat contemplating the pattern on the sole of my slipper, whilst removing all traces of the ink

I wondered why I had never considered using this as a background stamp for Christmas cards

...or as an illustration for the story of Abraham...

One of the blessings of spring cleaning is the gems you uncover, that you have completely forgotten about - like this drawing by the KHT

Meanwhile DH caught the spring cleaning bug, and decided to move half the furniture in the study around and hoovered the carpet. Miracles are a pleasant surprise...

Several hours later and I have reached the point of lets shove it all back in somewhere... which rather defeats the object of the exercise, but there is a limit to how much tidying a chaotic person like myself can take!