Feel better about your mess

Since moving to Santa Ana from a much larger Hollywood apartment, my home life has been a constant battle against clutter and trash, a struggle I generally lose. I can't invite anyone over to visit due to the shame of my omnipresent pile o' crap.

But I feel a whole lot better about it after reading today's Register story that highlights a home in Villa Park:

Sixteen live cats, four dead, a 3-foot pile of feces in the middle of the living room and a urine-soaked floor...Officials found cat feces in the living room and debris inside the home, across the street from Villa Park Elementary School on Center Drive. The kitchen was reported to have no running water, and baths and toilets were semi-operational or not working at all.

Four dead cats were found inside the home – two behind a piano. Several of the cats found were also suffering from burns on their paws, believed to have been caused by the urine on the floor, Amormino said. Animal Control officers confiscated 14 cats, two kittens and found two cat skulls.

My crushed beer can "collection" suddenly doesn't seem so bad.