Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A is for Atrocity

My apologies to Sue Grafton -- for my cavalier lifting of her clever letter-based titling mechanism and for "borrowing" her method without even having the decency to read one of her books first. One admission down....

Last week, appalled by the detritus adorning the interior of our microwave, I blogged it; and then...I cleaned it. By day's end, not only was our reheater of choice less tainted, so too (to a degree) was my conscience.

Back in August, I alluded to the fact we were amidst a "big project." Double Daddy has dubbed it "Operation Enduring Nightmare." Why? Little byproducts like this...

For Sarah and Darren's 7th birthday, we moved them from the small nursery-cum-big kids' room they'd shared since birth, into "Grandma's Room." In architecture/home design terminology: the guest room. In reality: the receptacle for all the stacks and piles and boxes that accumulate when one places too-low a priority upon plowing through and purging.

In order to accommodate two loft beds, two student desks, two dressers, a new kid-selected carpet and all the accoutrements two first graders need, the area needed a clearing out that would have challenged the crews that work HGTV.

Well, the kids have happily transitioned to their new room (they still wanted to share; we're okay with that) but the spaces formerly "live-able" are packed to the gills with the former contents of "Grandma's room." Their old room now houses a collapse-closed treadmill, stacks of books, their old toy box, a TV and just enough room for Daddy to iron his shirt in the mornings. Our "office"...well, that's the office in the picture above.

Like the microwave manifesto's illustration, the image above is now a mere documentation of the past. Immediately after taking the picture, the camera laid gently atop the laundry, I descended to the basement to begin the loads. Of course the towers of tomes are still there...and wait...is that dust clouding the cover of The Andy Warhol Diaries? Suppose my inadequacies in housekeeping could comprise a blog all their own.
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PS - The image above seems almost a rebus for one of my favorite blogs, ThreeUnderTwo's Lit and Laundry . If you ever want a less-lovely image for your header, you're welcome to this one, ThreeUnder. Then cinching the personal perfect storm mandating this post, an adorable first-time participant in today's Way Back When-esday, Kimberella apologized for a meager mound of laundry behind her babies. Feel better now, Kimber?

12 comments:

Unknown said...

If it makes you feel any better, you can come visit my bedroom...I can't post a picture, though, or the board of health may pay me a visit :) Seriously, our addition was done a month ago...we are all moved in, but my bedroom is the only room I still can't show people..clothes and trash are everywhere. I go to sleep every night saying..tomorrow...tomorrow I will clean the bedroom and then tomorrow comes and I rationalize..well, I need to do the laundry before I start on the bedroom, and of course I can't every get the laundry completely done. But, seriously, tomorrow...tomorrow I'll start :)

Laura said...

My walk in closet.
I straighten it.
I mess it up.
I straighten it.
I mess it up.
I straighten and vow to keep it neat.
I mess it up.

Sigh.

Threeundertwo said...

Hmmm, how did you get a picture of my garage? LOL!

Books and laundry just go together, don't they? Multiplying behind our backs.

Grandma Faith said...

I linked over here from Lit and Laundry and I'm glad I did. You are a very witty writer. I enjoyed your musings. Take care.

Laural Out Loud said...

How would I ever get the satisfaction of organizing a space if I didn't let it get to this state first? If we had a spare room, this is what it would look like. As it is, there are small piles all around my house.

MereCat said...

My office? You can't even walk in the door. Good thing I no longer really need an office.

Anonymous said...

It's adorable they still want to share rooms and will be even more interesting when they don't. My guest room looks like that too.

Gail said...

Cheryl, for what it's worth, I think we all have rooms that are like this. We call ours the "library", but not only does it house shelves of books, it also has boxes (of books) still packed from our move into this house 3+ years ago, all of my sewing/craft stuff, an assortment of musical instruments, the teenagers paintball gear, and Lord only knows what else. lol! Thanks for sharing this with us. It's always nice to know that we creative Mommys share all sorts of things. :)

Jen said...

I think it's great you got the kiddos moved! I hope they are still loving their new room!
Good luck with the mess... it took me a whole day to clean Hannah's room. But, don't feel too badly because if you remember, her room was worse than that! Good luck!

cat said...

That looks exactly like some parts of my house!

Tracy said...

I fear my grandma's room is quickly becoming a dumping ground. Or forget about that, let's take a picture of my basement! Ugh. We need a bigger house.

Tonya Staab said...

I think most rooms in my house look like this at the moment. Everything is covered in half finished craft projects ... from a woodworking project on the kitchen bench (try cooking around that and not burning the house down), to the cross-stitching and knitting projects in the living room (needles - kids, not a good mix), to all of the photo frames and photographs all over my bedroom floor