I used to hate doing dishes. And sweeping. And, well, picking my clothes up off the floor. My friend Rebecca told me that she loathed cleaning too, until she read Home Comforts. I picked up a copy, and it changed the way I felt about caring for my space. The author, Cheryl Mendelson, is a lawyer and a homemaker who learned housekeeping from her Appalachian and Italian grandmothers. She’s developed an inspiring reference guide, and in some respects a manifesto, that finally made me see the artistic side of keeping order. Everyone likes a clean space, but most of us don’t relish the act of cleaning itself. But if we wait until things get crazy and do an eight-hour overhaul–then let things devolve again until they’re unmanageable–we never get a chance to live in a comfortable, peaceful space. Mendelson points out how much happier and healthier we can be in a clean environment, and how a clean home can be an expression of love for the people we live with. And I must admit, it’s much easier to clean up than to catch up.