Sanity Break

Whew. I'm taking the gas mask and HazMat suit off so I can take a break from the pit that is our playroom. I cannot tell you how many times I've organized this room, but M., my little Captain Chaos, has been at it again. As has J. the Pack Rat.

The fog of my little slump has finally begun to lift, and now that my energy is coming back and I feel like doing more than just the normal everyday keeping up with the mess, I've begun to try to head off the disorder IN THAT ROOM once again. I am sorely tempted to go in there with a bunch of garbage bags and just get rid of it all, but I guess we're not there just yet, though I'm tossing way more than they'd like!

Here is just some of what I've found while attempting to bring some order once again to the disaster area during the whopping 20 minute nap that R. took this afternoon:

• Rocks - lots and lots of plain, old, ordinary rocks. Both J. and M. think these are treasures, apparently.
• Legos - I'm sure that piece J. has been looking for will turn up in all these pieces. It just has to. I'm beginning to wonder if Lego pieces get together and mate and have babies. I'm sure we didn't have this many before.
• A pink M&M. Does this mean it's been there since the Easter candy was opened? I'm surprised Oliver the dog never discovered it.
• Sticks - see rocks. And if they happen to see one of these sticks in the trash bag before I can smuggle it out of the house, I hear, "But that was my gun! I use that!" Sigh.
• Sunday School papers from months and months past.
• Scraps of paper and broken crayons.
• Match box cars - I think they've had babies, too. How in the world do we have so many?
• Tinkertoys - someone gave M. an old set, and he manages to scatter the pieces all over this house. I find them everywhere except in their nice round jar!
• Lincoln Logs - again, I find them everywhere except in their box.
• Various sizes of little tires. I can't throw them away, because I might find the Hess truck they belong to. Thanks, M. for this contribution.
• Various and sundry "Kids' Meal" junk, I mean toys from kid-friendly, yet nutritionally vapid meals. Those have been going straight into the trash bag.

And these are just from the toy box and half the closet. That's only one corner of the room. I'm still working my way around the rest. I've filled one large box for give-away and one large bag for trash. Now I'm ready for round 2. Just as soon as I feed the baby and get her settled. Unfortunately, there are way too many small pieces lying around for her to go into the playroom with me, so this job is taking me a bit longer than I'd like. Is there something inherent in little boy DNA that prevents them from a.) throwing anything they've ever touched away and b.) putting like pieces with like in their designated containers (i.e. Legos, cars, Lincoln Logs, etc.)?The just pitching it all idea is looking more inviting all the time........