Love the decorating..hate the "house preparation?" I think the worst chores are the stacks of paper, magazines, mail...it is enough to paralyze my energy. Take the U Out of Clutter: The Last Clutter Book You'll Ever Need is on your side. Mark Brunetz of Style Network's Clean House can boost your enthusiasm with such chapters as "Your House May Be a Mess, But You Are Not" and my favorite "You Are the Expert." One of his suggestions is to "hone your decision making skills versus your organizing skills...to deal with clutter in the long term." He ends each chaper with a list of affirmations. After "Your House May Be a Mess..." one of these is "I have the clarity to see that every item in my house has a story." So do my holiday ornaments and I have too many of those too. That's what I said last year. Happy decorating!