oh yeah, the cleaning of the room

Tonight we tackled that hell-hole.

Jay's been working on Tim's room, so he's been relocated to the guest room where Joe and Heidi lived this winter.

Wheee.

You can imagine.

There's a thing called The Gray Layer. It lives in nooks and crannies, under couch cushions. You know it when you see it. It's Barbie shoes and Starburst wrappers, popsicle sticks and legos, all bound together with a bit of dust and dog hair.

Sick.

It's all much better now, but as I kept chastising them, "Your hands are empty. You cannot pick up with empty hands," it was all just so darn familiar.

heidi and julia, definitely not today

Back in the day I'd tell the kids to clean their rooms. John and Dan would announce their room was done in like ten minutes.

Come on. It would take fifteen Merry Maids half a day to clean this room and you've done it in ten minutes?

Sure. Flush the toilet. Shove everything else under the bedskirt. Voila.

Gawd.
john and kirsten, 2006

But the girls were the opposite. Two hours later they'd still be dressing the Barbie dolls in matching outfits, complete with shoes and purses, sorting all their nail polish by color and height of the bottles, sitting on the top bunk cleaning out remote bins from the closet.

No, no, no, no. Do that on your own time.

But it's done now, and my car is entirely filled with what's going to the Goodwill. Tim was wiping tears at one point, freaked out about a monkey I'd thrown in a bag. He found it. This is good. Kirsten still brings up a bear I donated like fifteen years ago. "His name was Beau. He had a pink satin bow tie. I used him to hold my Easter basket."

Sigh. I really, truly am sorry. I had no idea. Obviously, if I had, he'd still be here. Apologies don't bring him back though either, and I am sorry about that also.

(Sometimes hoarders have help. But I do regret eliminating Beau.)

Anyway, you know what tomorrow is!

Friday!

Best day of the week.

Party at my parents tomorrow. My mama's turning a year older and my dad's grilling and she's already made banana bread and something else I can't remember.

that's her in the dark velvet shirt. she and me been buddies almost 50 years now. i'm keeping her.

On one of those funny surveys last winter it asked favorite place to eat. I'm sure they were referring to a restaurant, but instantly: MY MOTHER'S. That's my favorite place to eat.

Anyway, today was spent cuddling Heidi's baby, hanging out with her, and playing with b.g.

Tomorrow is Friday, spring is here, a kid has a very clean room,and someone we love is anticipating a good recovery, whew. It's all good. Better than good, it's great. love always, Val