Addendum: 40-Hour Lent

OK. Y'all knew it would take longer than 40 hours to put everything back in order after the landlords painted my apartment, didn't you? So my 40-hour Lent has extended to 120-hour Lent, as I try to organize and rearrange books, cupboards and closets that had been tipped out for the painters.

First let me say that the apartment looks lovely and fresh. The blindingly white paint used originally on the walls has been replaced with a warmer off-white. The floors and cupboard tops have been thoroughly cleaned. And it's forced me into a Spring cleaning mode, which is not a bad thing.

Organizing the cupboards and closets and rehanging pictures on the wall were no-brainers. Everything's neater and in its proper place.

However. The books. I say that every time I move. What is it with all these books? They had been in such disarray to the point of my not being able to find a darn thing. Plus, it was becoming increasingly obvious that I needed a good book clean-out. Here is my landlord-given, God-given opportunity to sort and straighten my 2 tons of fiction, non-fiction, and trans-fiction real-time books.

So while others are giving up chocolate, taking on good works, reading and meditating during this holy time, I'm trying to decide whether The Collected Works of Eudora Welty belongs on my shelf of Southern literature or with the classics. Stay tuned.