To clean or not to clean - that really is NOT the question!

This summer I've really been working on getting things cleaned up and organized. I am wanting a smooth teaching year, so I am working on lesson plans and getting materials ready - etc. Well, a lot of my friends are giving me a hard time because I am spending a lot of my summer break in my classroom... HOWEVER, I am so horribly un-functional with clutter. In fact, here is an example of what my classroom desk usually looks like:

Definitely not the poster for classroom perfection. In fact, I prefer to run like a well-oiled machine... and when my desk is like this I tend to run more like a jalopy that backfires. ha! I do prefer to have a much more clean desk - but without well-planned lessons it doesn't seem to work out that way. Here's my class when it is clean and ready to go :)

So, I don't get too offended when everyone gives me a hard time about where I'm spending some of my summer days... Because I figure I need the preparation to keep receiving messages like this - where "Mrs. Magers Rox" (: haha!