Tuesday, November 24, 2009

It's like an epiphany. A sucky one.

As some of you may recall from some writing I did before - and for those of you who were not around then - I will start by saying:  I'm a slob.  Although I absolutely hate that word. It just sounds so...so...slovenly.  Okay, sorry - I'm not making sense. Let's start again.

I have never been neat.  There, that's better.  My room as a kid was always layer upon layer of crap. Clothes, toys, games, Barbie clothes, etc. You get the idea.  As an adult, I am sorry to say, I am not much better.  Slightly, perhaps.  I do have my fits and spurts of cleanliness.  It does get to a point where even I cannot take it.  Today, for example.  I have the day off - childless.  Ah, the freedom to Get Things Done.  I came home from dropping the Pixie at daycare and started right off and cleaned my car.  That was a really good feeling.  Very proof positive of a job well done kind of thing.

Then I decided to tackle the Wonderboy's room.  Here is where the epiphany part comes in.  Oh.My.God. My kid is just like me.  I started in the closet pulling out all the accumulated crap.  Stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in months? Donate pile.  (And one that will be boxed up and in the car before he ever sees it.)  Cheap, horrible McDonald's toys? Garbage.  I cut a swath.  Next to the shelves! Taking everything off so I could dust(!) and put things neatly back.

Okay. Now I'm onto the toy box. *shudder*  On a side note.  Wonderboy is big on Legos. His uncle, my brother, is a Lego genius (seriously, he was once a finalist for one of their jobs at Legoland.) So I was kind of psyched when WB showed an interest in Legos. They're cool and I dig the family history thing.  But holy shit, the Legos!!!  EVERYWHERE.  I had started by using quart containers for them and eventually just dragged out a big bin and started throwing them all in there.


People. I have been at this freaking room for almost three hours.  Then I lift up the bed skirt and find out just exactly how much like me this little punk is.  Here is proof of all the stuff I pulled out from under his bed.  From the last time he "cleaned his room."



I thought that whole thing about "When you grow up, I hope you have a kid just like you!" was for when they were teenagers?  I am f*cking doomed.

16 comments:

Octopunk said...

I feel like telling you to embrace your inner slob, but I think you're way ahead of me (yuk yuk).

I will admit that when I was last at your house (October) my eyes popped at the random appearance of single Lego pieces in the most disparate of places. A single 1x2 tile on the window sill over the sink, a few pieces assembled into a robot leg (?) on the living room bookshelf, etc. It sounds like you already arrived yourself at the one bit of advice I had on tap: have one BIG container for Legos that holds ALL the Legos and ONLY Legos. In theory that will make the ritual of putting them away more functional, or something.

Nah, you're doomed.

(Seriously, though, do that. And make it a container that still has a lot of space in it, because more will come.)

carissajaded said...

Well, as a fellow slob.... I have absolutely no advice for you. My room looks the same exact way that your sons does, and also the same way it has looked for the last 25 years. I try and try to change but just can't do it!!

I feel for you, and this is just one more reason I'm scared to death of having kids!!

Steam Me Up, Kid said...

As soon as I saw that photo come up on my reader, without knowing the topic of this post, i started thinking about how I would organize all that stuff. Squee!! Let me!!

Also, is that the pop-up dinosaur book? I love that book.

Logical Libby said...

Is that a human head?

If you don't let Steamy organize it, let me. I loooove that stuff.

Anonymous said...

When I ask my son to clean his room, he just dumps everything in the hamper. Toys and all.

Christy said...

I'm sorry, but I think this is really, really funny. I'm laughing! Hehehe! WITH you, not at you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Susan said...

When one of your organization-loving readers is done at your house, there's always mine.

Zip n Tizzy said...

Every time I read your blog I believe more and more that you and I were separated at birth.
I'm with you there honey.
My problem is I sometimes believe that I can learn to be a compulsive cleaner. Now that's funny.
I have a whole post brewing which may or may not get written. If it does, I didn't steal your idea... just expanded on it. You beat me to it, but I'm right there with you.

minivan soapbox said...

I HATE HATE HATE the McDonalds crap. I have piles of that shit - and she WEEPS when I try to chuck it...Like It's GOLD! That obnoxious giraffe thing that talks...Kill. Me. Now. Good for you for tackling this.

Carolyn...Online said...

I always think that the best gift of my sloppiness is that it never bothers me when the girls rooms get wrecked.

for a different kind of girl said...

Sigh...I am a neat freak. Alas, I start a cleaning project and get antsy and end up making a bigger mess than what I started with because I tackle another project while in the midst of the original one. Then I walk by the boys' rooms, or just open the garage door and see the bane of my existence (thank to my husband's job...well, that and his abject refusal to clean anything, dammit) and I start to shake. Seriously, I think the chaos around here is sucking the life out of me. We have too much and not a thing of it is worth it.

So, hmmm, I guess long story short, I am of no help to you!

bernthis said...

My sister is exactly the same and so are her kids. It makes me crazy. I literally have a hard time hanging out there

msprimadonna67 said...

So, seriously--how is it that every blog post I read of yours sounds exactly like my life? We are living parallel lives, my friend! Or living in alternate universes. Or, as I have said before, we are twins separated at birth. At any rate, every time I read your posts I am reminded that I have a true kindred spirit out there in the world.

Captain Dumbass said...

I'm mostly slob myself, except for a day or two every six months or so when I go all Martha Stewart. My house looks like that picture.

Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy said...

I MAY be a little bit like that myself, but am trying REALLY hard not to be. And my stepson is totally like that and it drives me CRAZY! lol. I am practicing tolerance as well.

anymommy said...

Another neat freak here. But, if kids really do end up like their parents as cosmic punishment, I am in big trouble in the teen years.