Monday, August 17, 2009

I feel a purge coming on . . .

Know what one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to when the kids go back to school in a couple weeks? Restoring order to my house. I am up to my ears in clutter and I am nearing the end of my tolerance level with it all. I have found myself fantasizing lately about dragging a large garbage can from room to room and purging. Dressers, closets, toy chests, you name it. And what makes the fantasy all the more enjoyable is knowing that I'll be doing it behind my kids' backs. Is that bad?

Why is it that life never looks like the Pottery Barn Kids catalogs? I set up this wonderful playroom for the girls, with a retro pink stove and refrigerator, oodles of play food and dishes, a book case full of books and a cozy chair to sit in with those books, and I pictured beribboned girls serenely playing house, serving each other fake tea and cookies on their pretty plastic dishes. Although they do play house, it usually involves climbing inside the play refrigerator, turning all the little chairs from the little table upside down and draping the covers they tear from their beds over the chairs to make a fort, and strewing the 2,964 pieces of play food from one end of the house to the other. My kids, for some reason, do not play with toys. They disassemble them. They do not play board games. They scatter them. They do not play serenely. They run through the house screaming like lunatics, leaving in their wake flotsam and jetsam that makes me all clenchy.

I need to restore order for my own mental health. My chi is off, I tell you. Purge, reorganize, scrub. They've had their fun, and time is running out. It's almost my turn.

5 comments:

Cate said...

you and me both, lady. there's a dumpster at the house next door and I have been eyeing it longingly.

Kristin said...

I am thinking about doing the same thing. You call it purging I call it nesting. As long as I get this crap out of my house I will be happy.

Jen said...

Are your kids my kids? 'Cause aside from the fact that they're a different gender, it sounds a lot like 'em. Mine don't play with toys either. They throw them. They actually prefer the couch cushions; they play with those all day. Violently.

I've got the purge feeling too. Must have something to do with the back-to-school time of year. Time to get down to business.

The Beers Family said...

OH I LOVE A GOOD PURGING OF STUFF - even better I LOVE to eBAY what I purge - up until now its been my husband's old electronics and computer stuff. I have also found freecycle.com - its on Yahoo - not sure if you have that out in CA or not. Especially kids stuff!

Lisa B said...

I SO second your feelings! I count the days until they are both in school 8:00 am until 2:20 pm when I can tear through all closets, drawers and toy bins and PURGE to my heart's content without them in the way, clutching their supposedly loved things that they have not played with or worn for over a year! And then of course there is the fact that the structure will be restored - no more days with them getting on each other's (and thus my) nerves as they destroy my house - couch cushions, bedding, games, ball bin overturned - I am coming unglued!! August 31st is just around the corner :)