Mom and I tackle the "junk room"!

For those that know me, you all know I’m a pack rat. For those that don’t, just ask someone who knows me. I keep every paper clip, piece of ribbon, partially used notebook, and “free” potential craft item that anyone will let me have (or that I find in the trash). I even cut out pictures from magazines and store them in notebooks (when I get time to go through the magazines) when I see a good craft or decorating idea. I plan and buy crafts with great expectations and then I get overwhelmed by all that I bought and where I put so I eventually don’t even get around to starting, much less completing it. I could probably start my own A.C. Moore store…seriously.

What started out as a craft room with floor to ceiling bookshelves on one side, and cabinets for organizing scrapbook supplies on another, in quickly turned into a, well, a pile of useless crap. There are only 3 places in the entire room that you can see enough carpet to step in. And if you can’t keep your balance or perform a pirouette don’t even attempt to go in. You’ll end up under some yard and sheets of foam in a bloody mess. Even my cats would cry out when they were trapped inside.

Well, I think you get the picture. So Saturday morning, at 10am, Mom and I started the task of cleaning out the junk room. We placed trash in plastic bags and threw them out the front door. We boxed up craft items to give to the local daycare in the hallway. And the kitchen collected items for Goodwill or friends & family. 6 ½ hours later, we had 2 car loads for Goodwill, 8 bags for the trash, four 18 galloon totes for the daycare, and 4 piles for friends & family. And all that got cleaned was the floor and the closet of bins. We’ve still yet to go through the shelves, stuff on the desks, and stuff in the plastic and wooden cabinets. In fact, Rocky came home and demanded to know why we didn’t accomplish anything. Mom had to plead our case about how the floor was now open and there was nothing left to go back in. So progress was made…I promise.

All in all, we had a fun day together and I bet if you ask her, Mom will say she’s very proud at how easily I gave some stuff up. I think she was expecting more of a fight. Luckily for her, my morning sickness took all my fight and there was nothing left. She left the house exhausted, I’m sure, and her allergies warranted swift medication when she returned home. As for me, I really didn’t do much work. Mom did it all. So I was tired but just tired as usual. And to top it all off, my ecstatic neighbor Sarah called me over last night to show me the spaghetti noodles she made with her new pasta machine she bought at the Goodwill for $3.99…the same pasta machine that was sitting on my bookshelf just 2 days earlier before the big “clean out”. How great is that!