The Road Less Travelled a.k.a. Cleaning Beanie's Room

Beanie's room was clean... Once... About 10 months ago. That's when we moved Beau to the Man Cave in the basement, moved Beanie to the big room, and Bun got her nursery. Everything was moved out of the big room and it was clean! I mean, new paint, shampooed carpet, even the blinds were scrubbed! Then Mess Master moved in and that was the end of clean. Two weeks ago, I'd had enough. Enough of trying to remember if Beanie's bed was next to the wall or the window, enough of being awakened each morning by Beanie asking if I knew where her clothes were, enough of the shame that comes from a room that may or may not house a family of pigs. I'm not calling Beanie a pig, I'm just saying that OTHER pigs might think she's a pig. I did it. I hired grammy to come watch Bun the Danger Magnet (She couldn't very well GO into her sister's room while I cleaned, she might be bitten by wild farm animals or something!) while I spent the day attacking the room of doom. I knew my eldest daughter was incredibly creative, but little did I know to what depths her creativity ran! She does all the typical I-cleaned-my-room-but-really-everything-is-just-stuffed-under-my-bed but in addition to that I found countless cleaned-my-room surprises. For instance. I found a plastic jar stuffed into the back of a drawer. I opened the jar and found- pajammas, a feather boa, a giant fake coin, a bib, a sock, a poster marker, a t-shirt, some fabric, a ponytail holder, a pixter game, and a couple other things I can't identify! I have to admit, I was a wee bit worried at this point. Does Beanie have some hoarding disorder? Um no. She had to pick up her room, there was a jar, she shoved everything on the floor in it, put it away and VOILA room "cleaned." We had a little chat. It went a little something like this, "Beanie?" "Yes Mother?" (Hey I said a LITTLE something not exactly.) "Beanie, I cleaned your room today." "Oh THANK YOU!" (That part was real.) "And Beanie if it ever looks like that again, I get to pick out your clothes for a week!" "I promise it won't!" (With fear in her eyes! What could be worse than MOM dressing me?! Just wait daughter!) "And Beanie, if you still make messes after that, GRANDMA gets to pick your outfits for a week!" (Now she's tearing up- the HORROR!) "I PROOOOOMMMMIIISSSSEEEE!" And that was that. After 8 hours, 6 black trash bags, and several hundred deep breaths the room was clean. And I mean it, if it goes to the pigs again I'll be posting pictures of Beanie wearing mom jeans and an applique vest!