So ... I got to thinking.
Probably time to do some of that spring cleaning!
Not the tearing down of all the drapes and curtains or blinds. Not the washing of all the windows. Not the cleaning of all the cobwebs from the upper corners of every room. Not the baseboards or garage - NOT THOSE THINGS - YET!
All the energy I could muster was ... the cleaning of Alexis' bedroom.
I had put the deep cleaning off since late fall and her room was certainly due for a top-to-bottom overhaul!
I gave myself three days.
I knew it was going to be a project!
I worked clockwise around the room - starting at the door.
I worked hard and I did it!
The bookshelves went from being a disheveled mess to being organized by size and color and groups. The dressers and cabinets and drawers were dumped and sorted and folded and stacked and lined up and re-boxed and they look fabulous. The closet was a massive undertaking and now it is orderly and functional and clean. Under the bed and couch and cabinets - all cleaned out. Every surface has been dusted and shined and polished. All toys have their new place assignment and the dolls are stored away with their shoes and clothes and furniture and hair accessories and all animals have new homes and are adjusting well and behaving nicely.
It is a CLEAN ROOM!
Every time I walk by, I look inside and feel pride over the amount of work I put into making this room so ORDERLY and CLEAN! I can't stop smiling.
That is ...
UNTIL MY NIECE AND ALEXIS DECIDED THEY WANTED TO PLAY IN THIS EXTREMELY CLEAN ROOM!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I heard the words come out of my mouth - very loudly - when I saw the two little mess-making-darlings-messing-up-this-extremely-clean-room-that-it-took-me-3-days-to-clean-up!
"Playin'," Alexis says, in a little mouse voice - not sure what the heck she and her cousin could have possibly done wrong.
NO, NO, NO - you can't play in that nice clean room ... are the words racing around in my irrational mind!
I want to scream it.
I want to make them leave.
Make the room off-limits - save it for as long as I can ...
But I can't.
I know this.
So ... I say, "Oh, okay," and see the immediate relief on their confused faces as I turn to walk away.
On the upside ... I'm a bit of a control freak. I have been told that I also have slight OCD tendencies (*off in the distance the sound of hysterical laughter from author's mother, sister, brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, friends, friends of friends...*). I think these things are true - okay. If I had done what my mind was whispering when I saw those little mess-making-darlings-messing-up-that-nice-clean-room-that-took-me-3-days-to-clean-up ... I'd also have been given a new label as well, but I didn't! I showed great restraint and tolerance and love - I walked away. Later in the day though ... I walked into my bathroom and there written in lipstick on the mirror above my sink were the words REDRUM ... REDRUM ... REDRUM ...REDRUM ...
*No, not really - author is confusing her life with that of a movie she saw once - what was that movie - what was that move ....?*
(The Shining - for those that don't get this stupid joke - it is a joke - I'm as crazy as they come sometimes, but not as crazy as all that!)