I've been a neat freak almost since birth, so naturally my karma attracts unapologetic slobs into my life -- my ex-husband, for example, who never tired of referring to my habit of picking things up off the floor and stacking them on shelves as a "useless compulsion to convert vertical mess into horizontal mess." Sounds like the seed of a new theory of simple living . . . until you confront some simple realities, such as gravity, which requires most of us to walk from room to room even when we'd rather float breezily through the house like an astronaut, never making contact with the dangerous terrain of horizontally strewn household debris.

Now, I live with the teenage daughter of Mr. Vertical Mess, who, if anything, is even worse than the original. But I refuse to admit defeat. When the folks at UK company, Mocha, contacted me about their new organizer, called Harry, at first glance, I just didn't get it. It's a wire contraption that you can stick on any flat surface and shape however you like. Then, you can stick a myriad of little objects in it every which way to keep them in place. As far as I can see, it's an organizer that creates the illusion of mess. What's the use of that?

It took a minute or two (or three) before a lightbulb went off in my head and I realized that this is a brilliant idea. It's a great gift for that person in your life who's not only messy but is downright sanctimonious about it. I'll trick my daughter (poor thing just can't concentrate amidst excessive tidiness) into being organized by sticking these all over her walls, even on the ceiling, and then sigh and throw up my arms in disgust every time I walk by. Simply diabolical.