Keep or Toss?

I've been sick and out of commission for the past week (believe me, you don't want to hear about it...things weren't too pretty on-site last week). Now that I'm at least capable of taking a shower I figured I'd tackle the mounds of paper, junk and clutter that have jumped to center stage here at home. That maybe wasn't the smartest strategy since rummaging through crap all day is likely to get me sick again.

I made the executive decision (because I'm such a great executive here at home) to wrestle with the piles in my bedroom first. Jared admits himself that he has a "high tolerance for mess", and I believe that to be true to the depths of my soul, but when his tolerance level has been reached the man is like a Storm Trooper on a mission to destroy every paper, toy or rag doll in sight. So when he starts complaining about being forced to move a stack of papers before he can sit in a chair and threatens to toss everything into the trash, I figure I've just identified my next household task. Because even though I've obviously not needed anything in that stack of important documents for who knows how long, I wouldn't consider throwing a thing away until I've personally gone through it all piece by piece...something about control no doubt.

So the tedious process began and the results of my inspection produced a bunch of useless receipts, a magic wand (which I "magically" waved over the piles covering my bed...didn't do anything), and masses of my children's art work, cards, and notes. Ahhhh, treasured art work--the representation of countless hours of effort, as well as a child's pride as she smiles and gives the nod of approval when the final touch has been added. So I ask myself, how have these masterpieces, created by the hands of my beloved children, somehow become a curse in my life?

I believe it all started in pre-school when the girls started coming home with art work that neither they nor I could seem to part with. I had no idea how this small stack would multiply by thousands in the coming years. So last year, or maybe two years ago (who knows or cares), I got one of those plastic containers for each of the girls. You know the ones I'm talking about. They come in all different sizes, shapes, and colors and we buy them by the stack because we're going to get organized and then they end up storing stuff we should have gotten rid of in the first place (please tell me I'm not alone!). Anyway, these two containers are to go under the girls' beds and they have to decide which pieces of art work and school work are going to make it into the box. Because when the box is full, the papers get tossed. If they need to make room for a paper they can't part with, well then they'll have to get rid of something in the box first. You get the idea.

This system worked like a charm for the first little bit, but then the girls started getting clever on me. When something wasn't quite good enough for "the box" the girls started writing a little "To: Mom" thing on their creations and then it was right back on me to struggle with that wretched decision of "Keep or Toss?" yet again! Early on, they equally divided their gifts between Jared and me but they quickly realized where all of Jared's treasures went one day when they saw all of their stuff in the trash bag he was taking out.

Today I parted with some of those graciously bestowed gifts and I'm not even hyperventilating. So even though some of their designs were laid to rest this very day, a few of them are memorialized right here for all of your viewing pleasure:

Leah has been going through a phase where she labels every single thing she draws on her pictures. This one captures that phase absolutely perfectly. The "botrfli" (butterfly) has its identifying label above it, each wing of the "brd" (bird) is labeled "wing", the turtle is appropriately labeled "trdl", next to the turtle she wrote "Trox is my nam (name)."

Brita & Leah got the idea for our family to be "secret agents" to each other. We drew names out of a witches hat and had to do secret things for that person. Brita obviously drew my name - she tidied up the family room (because don't we all know that's mom's job...duh) and wrote sweet notes to me that were on my bed when I woke up the next morning. Do you see what she wrote there? That I'm the best person she ever knew?! If she really thinks that, then I wonder why she takes frequent opportunities to let me know I'm the worst mother in existence. Hmmmm, very mysterious.

The infamous Bored (or rather "Board") List. The week before school let out for the summer, I suggested that Brita create a "Bored List" so that instead of claiming boredom all the time, she could look at her list when she needed some ideas of how to keep herself entertained. This is the list she came up with: 1.read 2.draw 3.bike 4.computer 5.tv 6.dolls 7.PetShop 8.outside 9.pj party 10.cook with mom 11.make library cards 12.make a book 13.make a workbook 14.make a journal with pictures and things 15.make a coloring book 16.color 17.make a color book 18.make a number book 19.with the books make a library.

The first couple of days she exhausted quite a few of these great ideas and she hasn't even peaked at the list since. It was a good idea, it just didn't work for whatever reason. We had a rough couple weeks getting adjusted to summer break, but I'd say we're all adjusted now and I can't believe I'm watching myself write this, but I'm kinda sorta liking summer myself.

I'm so glad to have one enormous pile out of the way now. Hopefully I can make future keep/toss decisions before the piles start interfering with our lives again.