New Heights in Home Decorating

One of this week's chores has been to help Spencer organize his room. Spencer is ordinarily the most organized among us in this household, but a few days (minutes) of Colin had a major impact on poor Spencer's life. You see, there is a door between their rooms and at some point Colin thought the best way to clean his own room was to move his stuff into Spencer's room. Somehow Colin convinced Spencer to help.

Both rooms suffered greatly.

Colin is, well, messy. He can take a room from clean to neglected-for-centuries in under five minutes. It is a special talent.

And I don't really mean to burst Colin's reputation. Those outside our house seem to be under the impression that Colin is organized and precise. This is simultaneously wildly amusing and completely incomprehensible to his parents.

So, anyway.

I will confess that I have been ignoring the bedroom situation for weeks. I just knew that entering the zone of destruction would take me to a mental place to which I was unwilling to go. This isn't the first time this has happened, you see, and I've been known to crumple into a weeping heap of sorrow and despair. James knows I am a delicate flower and he boldly offered to go in for me.

The plan was to remove every thing from the room except furniture and sort it all out on the upstairs' landing. We would then do a scrubbin' and move about 10% of it back in. The rest goes to charity or the trash. Spencer agreed to this plan with great relief.

Thursday the room was cleared. At some point I mustered the strength to help and I sat on the landing sorting. Legos, rocks, bolts, game pieces, crayons, Star Wars guys, Star Wars guys' equipment, stuffed bunnies, books, cars, trucks, animals...all of it.

Last night we went in for the sterilization process. After sweeping and vacuuming and stripping the beds, it was time for the walls. I knew the boys had taped a few posters to the walls and we had already had the lecture. Now it was time for the tear down. What I didn't know is that Spencer had not limited himself to posters. Just around the corner in the little gabled area, he had taped up his science collection. We're talking entomology, friends.

Little strips of Scotch Magic Tape held up roly-polys, snails and feathers.

Friends, my little boy's room is now the scene of bug torture: death by taping.

It just goes to show that you never really know everything that is going on under your own roof.