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Saturday, December 21, 2002

By Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Evelyn Parker was the grand prize winner in the Pittsburgh Professional Organizers' Messiest Space Contest.

	Organizer Leslie McKee gives a cheer after taking a card table apart in the home of Evelyn Parker, winner of Pittsburgh Professional Organizers' Messiest Space Contest. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette) Book offers organizing tips

But she felt like a loser.

Her kitchen, a photograph of which she entered into the contest earlier this fall, was so cluttered that it embarrassed her.

In fact, the day organizers Patty Kreamer and Leslie McKee arrived at her East Liberty house to donate several hours of their expertise and elbow grease, the 81-year-old woman thought they'd turn tail and run. But they don't call 'em clutter busters for nothing.

At about 9:30 a.m., the two pros squeezed in and got to work, helped by Parker and her son, Tom.

"It's a good situation," McKee said cheerily. "We're here!"

All four attacked the piles, with the pros and the son urging Parker to throw away or give away things she doesn't need and working to sort and put away the rest.

McKee: "Where did you put those [fabric] remnants?"

Kreamer: "Over here, in 'Crafts.' "

By 10:30, they'd cleared and folded up a card table, opening enough floor space for the two to tango. Parker joined them in laughing, saying, "You have to have a sense of humor with this job."

Her kitchen got so messy because of a number of factors: She's a natural saver and she's busy with volunteer and family pursuits. It had gotten so bad that she didn't even want to be home and couldn't make good use of the kitchen when she was.

As she would say later, "I found a lot of things I didn't know I had."

	Patty Kreamer and Leslie McKee of Pittsburgh Professional Organizers get to straightening out the kitchen of Messiest Space Contest winner Evelyn Turner, with help from Turner's son, Tom Parker. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

Classic symptoms, the pros will tell you. Parker certainly isn't alone. This contest attracted 26 other messy spaces -- everything from offices to garages. The Pittsburgh Professional Organizers, an alliance of 13 independent organizing specialists, picked four runners-up who will get help, too.

Also benefiting is the Parental Stress Center in East Liberty, which got the $10 per submission entry fee. Kreamer says the professional organizers will hold the contest again next year.

"It really feels good to give something to somebody who really appreciates it."

By the time Kreamer and McKee had wrapped up Parker's kitchen around 2:30 p.m., there was a lot less mess, and more things organized in drawers or on shelves they'd cleared out or built. There still was a lot of stuff, especially paperwork, for Parker to deal with on one side of the room, but a good half of the kitchen was clean.

Parker was tired, and she knew "it's going to take a lot of plugging" to finish the kitchen and continue into other rooms of her home.

But for that first evening, she could walk into her kitchen. She could make a sandwich and pour a glass of orange juice. And she could eat at a table that was completely cleared except for one thing:

An artificial rose in a ceramic Serenity Prayer vase.

The Pittsburgh Professional Organizers Web site is www.pghproorganizers.org/.Bob Batz Jr. can be reached at bbatz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1930.