Monday, January 31, 2011

Boredom Leading to Productivity Leading to Angry Child

Remember I said I was going to clean out Popcorn's drawers yesterday?  Remember I said I was going to make her help me clean out toys?

 Well, I got both girls drawers cleaned and closets straightened.  However, Popcorn's room is daunting at best.  I enlisted the help of my husband for the first time ever in cleaning her paraphernalia.  To say he was surprised to see things such as this is an understatement!  This, my Gentle Reader is all too typical of things I find in her room.  That, as I'm sure you can see, is a chicken bone in a cup of shape bands with a magnetic bookmark, and various other treasures such as a retractable pencil and a Littlest Pet Shop collar!





Now what about this lovely treasure?  Well, that would be a cow tooth.  Yep.  A cow tooth.  Of course, Studmuffin has only himself to blame for this one.  He extracted it himself from a skull he found in one of the pastures.  He carried that very skull home with him so that I could put it on display in our flower bed or garden, of some such other classy place.
  

Yes, we are redneck that way. Don't hate me next summer when I have shasta daisies growing out the eye holes of my very own cow skull!


So, I'm sure you can imagine I was not at all surprised to find this lovely rubber fish that is really intended as a lure gracing her nightstand, proudly displayed for all visitors to see.  There was also an assortment of rubber worms, lizards, and even craw fish!  Oh, the wonderful things that we have seen!  
When we put our house on the market in South Texas, I decided to do all of the deep cleaning and decluttering that only occurs in the event of selling a house and moving.  I found a perfectly complete cardinal nest with feather's included in her bedroom window, hidden behind her blinds and curtain.  I was rather dismayed as I had specifically instructed her over a year before that "No, you may not bring that bird's nest in the house.  Birds carry mites."  Silly me.  I thought those instructions were perfectly clear and easily carried out.  I did not realize that a five year old translates that to "Hide the bird's nest in your window so your mother won't find it."


Obviously her collecting things is nothing new.  She has brought home complete mouse skeletons that an owl regurgitated.  That was just too precious.  Let me tell you. Maybe almost as precious as the countless turkey feathers she has brought in.  Or how about the fake aquarium she made out of a gallon Ozarka bottle?  She had her daddy poke holes in the lid, filled it with water, and suspended glow in the dark fishing worms on string and put fake rubber plants and some pebbles in the bottom.  She tied little pieces of plastic to the ends of the string so she could make the fish bob up and down in the water.  Paula thought they were dead fish floating when she first saw that lovely creation.  Silly me, I didn't think to photograph that before it finally got tossed.                        
The lovely little cups you see perched on her doll trunk are cups she endeavored to rescue from the trash after our Christmas Eve candlelight service.


Our cleaning spree led to the realization that no matter how clean Popcorn's room is, and how many party favor toys and kids meal toys I tossed out, her room was over crowded.  This called for serious measures.

Drastic measures to be exact.


We decided to tear apart the bunk beds in Bookworm's room and move the queen bed out of Popcorn's room which always serves as the guest room. This was a sad task.  It was like saying goodbye to a piece of their childhood.  No longer will they be climbing up the ladder when company comes over and hanging upside down off of the top bunk to share secrets.

Or fighting over who has to sleep on the top bunk.... 

 
This is the final result.  As you can see it's a relatively small bedroom.  

My daughter had an absolute fit and said I completely ruined her room.  Apparently she feels she will be too confined in a twin size bed.  I do not doubt this as I've found her completely sideways in her bed when I woke her in the morning.  And I ask you, what can possibly be done to ruin a lime green room?  There is so much personality in that color alone!

And when my mother called to check on the kids today, and ask if I was feeling better, I told her all about my feeling betterness and the productivity it led to...

She replied, "So where will I sleep when I come stay?"

I just can't win.

Gentle Reader, I informed her that we had already discussed that when our parents came, they could have our bed and we'd take the air mattress, and anyone else under the age of 60 should be okay on the air mattress. We are also hoping to buy new couches soon, perhaps one with a sleeper sofa.  After all, our couches are only 13 years old.  However, if my children do not get well so I can actually go to work, we will not have money for new sleeper sofa couches!

And, no, I do not appreciate further complaints from family members who may be planning on staying with us. 

Just for future reference.

And for the record my mother informed me that they will NOT sleep in our bed.

I will end this post in the wisdom of Charlie Brown:

Oh good grief.

6 comments:

Freckled Hen said...

The joys of cleaning out kids rooms! Your girls have pretty rooms, I love the beds. Hope your family is feeling better than the last post!

Unknown said...

Oh no. Parents cannot sleep in the bed where marital activities of their very own flesh and blood may have occurred. That, however will not prevent them from offering up their own bed. Where you probably won't want to sleep for the same reason.

I have two nests from outside in my house. And they probably had mites. And I love the cowtooth! And now I want my own cow skull....

Me said...

Andi, you never cease to make me laugh loud and long!!! Thanks. I too am amazed at the things I find when I clean out my oys rooms. Or the things I cannot find... My one son's room we call the Bermuda Triange. He loses everything in there!!!! Ugh!!!!

Sarah Kamolz said...

Haha! I just knew there was going to be a company sleeping concern! Haha! But the room looks great and you know that I do not a problem with an air mattress! You gotta do what you gotta do! P.S. I love the ending Charlie Brown line!


Oh and the word verification for me today is nonarive.... wow! an almost real word! Haha!

NaomiG said...

My girls room is a very similar green. :-) I'm contemplating painting it... just not sure what to change it to. The problem is that green is the only paint color that will go with how their room is currently decorated, but will completely clash should I ever want to change the decorations.

Organizing kids room's... ugh. One time I butt-dialed my husband by accident while I was in the very worst part of organizing the girls room. I thought it strange when I got a text message from him offering in a tip-toe-lightly-around-the-crazy-woman style of speaking if I'd like him to bring home pizza for dinner, and we could have a relaxing evening, and blah blah. Ha! Apparently he'd put me on speaker phone thinking it'd be entertaining and been rather horrified at how unhinged I get when organizing the childrens room. Oops.

I am very jealous of your cow-skull. I want one with horns very badly.

Marilyn said...

Well, I just guess I will bring the camper. And I had not even thought about any activities in the bed. I am the mom, not the sister. I am from another generation.