Clean and organized... that should be a good thing, right?

I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning out Maddy's room. I took out three huge bags of trash, and about the same amount of stuff to donate. Maybe it's a girl thing... but wow, she loves to collect little tiny things. I can't even describe it. Just handfuls and handfuls of little things. Little shoes. Little hats. Little animals. Hundreds of little plastic toys. Coins. Balls of fuzz. Magnets. Shells. Pine cones. Stickers. Paper umbrellas. Hair bows. A miniature radio... and I mean miniature, like the size of your thumb nail. Why? What playing value could that possibly have? Where does this stuff come from? I don't think she ever throws anything away... especially if it's tiny.

And stuff shoved into hiding places everywhere. Behind the closet door, behind her desk, in the skinny space between her bookcase and the wall. And don't even get me started about under the bed. I know kids like to shove stuff under the bed. Fine, a person expects that. But you don't expect to find an old backpack chock full of hangers she was too lazy to put away. Or every new shirt I have bought her this summer balled up and shoved in the corner behind her dresser. (Mystery solved.)

I like to think that I'm going to give her this wonderful surprise of a fresh, clean, brand new room. Surprise! Isn't it wonderful! Hooray! In my fantasy world I waited til she was at her dad's to do this so that I could surprise her. She will walk into her new room with a face of awe and wonder. A wide eyed, open mouthed smile.

But in reality I did it while she was gone so that I could actually get it done. If she had been there it would have taken twice as long and been half as efficient. We would have spent the entire weekend neck deep in half done art projects arguing about whether or not she was actually going to finish coloring the rainbow. It wouldn't have been cleaned out. It wouldn't have been rearranged. It would not be on it's way to a big girl room. We would have both ended the weekend ready to ring each other's necks.

So hopefully she likes it. But I have a feeling she won't.