Dust Love Bunnies
I have to disagree with you (and in doing so, come to Gretchen's defense). A neatly stacked pile of coasters is only ready to hold one drink in a somewhat elevated position (a precarious and possibly dangerous setting, depending on the drink involved). On the other hand, if the coasters are conveniently arranged in a variety of positions in easy reach of sitting areas, then they are instantly ready to safely accept your beverage of choice with no wasted movement. The key is to pick coasters in neutral colors, as I see by the video you have done. This allows them to be at home in any surrounding on any surface. Only coasters in hideous neon colors need to relegated to tidy stacks in the corner, out of eyesight.
Now, as to the magazines being stacked, you must keep in mind that magazines, unlike coasters, do age and become out of date. The stacking concept would naturally lead to the following unacceptable situation: 1. Reading habits of people in the household would tend to favor the magazine arbitrarily placed on top, because of convenience and the appeal of the cover story. 2. Magazines, further down the pile would tend to be ignored. At some point they would either be removed and discarded (mostly unread) or simply remain in the stack and add to the stress on your coffee table, possibly precipitating a collapse which would ruin not only the table but some of the magazines and possibly an innocent coaster.
On the other hand, magazines left enticingly around the living room encourage a balanced reading list and make it easy to spot 'yesterday's news' and remove it in a timely fashion (unlike fish, magazines do not putrefy as they grow older. Visual clues are your only means of determining a magazine's expiration date.) I hope this helps you and leads to a more harmonious existence with others in your life who tend towards a less regimented lifestyle.
(Dan Redding)
This was sent in response to my latest GnomeVIDEO. To be fair, I gave Gretchen this entire week to finish the laundry, clean out the bill cubby, and straighten her desk. When I came home tonight, only the laundry had been (partially) completed. I wound up having to do everything else myself (including putting away the already-dry clothes). The dishes have been done, the counters have been 409'ed, and the loft is finally in order. She has a part-time job now, but she had all of this morning (and part of the afternoon) to complete every task. Took me a total of an hour to do everything that needed to be done. I stand by my original complaint: when it comes to housework, my wife is beyond lazy.
