My oldest daughter went away to camp this week. Having her out of the house has brought sunshine and lollipops to the household. Actually, I exaggerate, it just brought a little less squabbling among siblings and more food for the rest of us. While the child is out of the house I decided to descend into the forest of crap that is her room and try to bring some order to the hovel.
I was so overwhelmed with the disaster that I decided to make a little list of some of the more bizarre items I came across while cleaning The Room.
-- Crab claws under the bed. Yes, you read that right. Crab claws. Some even had a twine tied to them. Okay?
-- Half eaten Girl Scout cookies under the bed. I guess I should count myself lucky that they weren't gnawed on by rats. They were a little stale and dusty, but otherwise in okay condition. I didn't sample them, by the way, I'm only assuming they were stale.
-- The long lost Toy Story DVD that my boy really wanted to watch about 6 months ago but nobody could find. I returned the DVD to its case after wiping something sticky and booger-like off the back of it. The Boy was no longer interested in watching it and suggested I put in Snoopy Come Home instead.
-- Partially digested cat food. I'm not even gonna go there.
-- Several stacks of kindergarten worksheets, unworked, rescued from the trash on the last day of kindergarten in 2005. I can only assume she had hoped to practice over the summer break and decided otherwise.
-- Hard boiled Easter eggs. Eww.
-- Socks. Millions and millions of socks. She comes to me every couple of months begging me to buy her new socks because she has none to wear. I wonder why.
-- A pair of underwear brand new in the package that Santa left in her stocking in 2006. Alas, she no longer wears toddler sizes.
-- Rocks. In every nook and cranny. She went through a phase where she liked to pick up every pretty rock she found. She stashed them in every little space she could find.
-- Empty soda cans.
-- Half empty soda cans.
-- Cheese. I think.
-- Bedazzlers that never made it to the bedazzler. Did you know they're quite painful when pressed against a knee?
Altogether, I filled our garbage dumpster with trash and the back of my mini van with donations to the thrift store. I'm still puzzled about a few things I found that I can't quite classify and I hope to present to her when she returns home. I'm satisfied with the results. I can actually see the floor and the bottom bunk is now sleep-over ready, for the first time in 8 years.
Next on the agenda is The Boy's room. Wish me luck!
Lisa On Location Photography
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