If you are keeping up with me, you know there is only two days of school left. TWO DAYS! I am both excited and horrified at the same time. Around this time every year, when I am not up at the school as I was this afternoon helping Sarah's teacher pack up her classroom because she is leaving to go to another school (that's a story for another day though), I am trying to get excess clutter out of the house before the kids are home for the next couple of months.
Usually about this time, I go through the art closet or cubbard or cabinet or whatever it is, and clean it out. Like throw out a ton of stuff. Stuff that the kids never remember that they drew or colored or won or received as a party favor. Things that have just sat for months just waiting to be thrown away. When I do these clean outs I have learned to have very little mercy. If this stuff isn't gone by the time the kids are out of school then it will be there all summer long and the new clutter that they create will just pile on top of the old.
You think I'm kidding? Today I threw away or recycled shoe boxes colored with marker, other shoe boxes decorated with paper, fuzzy pom poms and foamy stickers, Valentine boxes that were still filled with candy (amazingly even Amanda's little Valentine bag still had candy in it), candy, McDonald's toys, and about 100 sheets of paper with some form of coloring on it. I also chucked bouncy balls, plastic toys that had absolutely no redeeming value, rings, bracelets, flowers and dogs made from perler beads (the ones that you iron and melt so they stick together) and more candy.
I distracted Amanda with t.v. while I did all of this on the built-in bookshelf behind the couch, with her occasionally turning around to see what I was doing and being very hurt that I was getting rid of some picture that she made probably six months ago. All in all it took me at least an hour but the bookshelf looks a million times better, is way less cluttered and now actually contains things for the girls to do this summer instead of things they have already done.
I usually like to do the same thing with the playroom, but this year I just wasn't fast enough. Most of the toys are in the basement but there are a few baskets and bags in Sarah's room that need to have their contents visit the trash bucket and Amanda has a few boxes and a toy box (not really a box, it's awesomely shaped like one of the Fisher-Price Little People). I might be able to get to those on a nice afternoon when I can send the girls out in the backyard, but again that may need to wait until fall.
The basement itself is a huge undertaking because when we unpacked it we just put everything wherever there was room. It's time for it truly to get organized. Plus if there are things the kids don't want anymore it's time to get those ready to sell or give away. That may be a several day project when it's just me, myself and I.
So I feel a little better that I was able to perform my annual cleaning ritual and that at least the bookshelf is ready for summer. If I have time on Thursday I will address the cabinet where we keep all the markers and crayons, more than some small schools have, and once that is in order we will be ready to go. We won't be here to use it much, but that's not the point. As long as I know we could use it if necessary, then I'm ready for summer to begin.
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