Moving to Seattle: A little out of control

About a month after we moved into our apartment in Seattle, we had our living spaces relatively organized and considered ourselves "moved in." There was one exception to our "organization," and that was the top of my dresser in my bedroom. This 4.5' x 1.5' flat surface was cluttered with stuff, and I made a conscious decision that I would be comfortable with it cluttered with stuff for the duration of sabbatical. Everybody needs a place to pile junk, and my dresser top was my place to happily clutter odds and ends with no intention of ever organizing or cleaning it. In fact, all of the stuff provides a "protective layer" so the dresser itself is probably not collecting any dust at all. I have to admit though, after seven months, it has gotten a bit out of control. There are a couple of things sitting there since the day we moved in - the video camera that doesn't have a battery charger (we left it in Baltimore), the ditti bag housing my toothbrush and toothpaste, and the camera instruction booklet that after five years is still unread. My dresser has also become the place where I put toys that I take away from the kids (toy timeout) and also things that I don't want Jonah to reach (Advil and water cups). I also put my favorite drawings from Genna up there as well as some other special things that Genna makes for me. There are a half a dozen bottles and items that I use on a daily basis (moisturizer, sanitizer, cotton balls, wet wipes) as well as a few bottles that I've never used such as the peel masques that I thought I'd be using weekly to pamper myself on my 9-month vacation in Seattle (ha!). There's also some sunscreen - I might as well just throw that in the trash or ship it back to Baltimore. Today, in an effort to clean up my dresser just a bit (again - not because I want it organized, but just so that I could find things more easily), I realized that it has really gotten out of control. It's amazing that I can look at my dresser multiple times per day and not even realize what I'm looking at. There are some Christmas cards on top, a couple of Noah's birthday presents, a checkbook (which I've looked for a couple of times), some crayons and ribbons and even a pine cone. I know that Noah thinks that it is my mess on the dresser, but it is really everybody's junk. We all use the comb up there as well as the nail clippers and the Seattle public transit guide. Yes, my glasses are sitting up there, but so are Genna's keys, Jonah's chapstick, Noah's utility knife, and everyone's orphan socks. I even think there are some bungee cords that belong to my brother-in-law. I looking forward to throwing everything up there in a box to be moved back to Seattle. Perhaps I'll never unpack that box back in Baltimore... or maybe it will be the first box I unpack.