Had I thought about it, I would have taken pictures. On Monday, our household held the annual "Red Up the Playroom" event. Yes, I've lived in Arkansas for nearly twenty years, but I still say "red up." It's a Pittsburgh thing. It means "clean up."
This year was different than in years past. This year, I told the kids that we were doing it "Clean Sweep style." If you are not familiar with the television program, let me fill you in. People have messy houses. A crew comes in, and empties the contents of a few rooms to be made over. The stuff in the rooms are placed in one of three piles: Keep, Sell, Trash. So that's what we did. The kids got to put anything they wanted into the "Keep" pile.
Shan had to conduct a training at school, and she was VERY worried that I was in charge of the cleanup. I know she was afraid that once I entered 'the zone,' I wasn't going to let the kids keep anything. I opted not to go that route and instead let the kids decide what they wanted to keep.
Everything else went into the "Sell" and "Trash." Oh, there is one catch. Once the entire room is done, the "Keep" pile must be cut in half. Well, that's how it works on the show anyway. At our house, I let them keep it all. Why? Because they worked their tails off and really thinned out the stuff in their playroom. I was very impressed.
So, what are we doing with the things that are in the 'sell' pile? Well, some of it is going to be listed on eBay and some of it is going to a local charity that takes clothes, toys, etc for needy families.
Now that the playroom is cleaned out and ready for this year's Christmas, I am going to work on the shed today (Tuesday) to see what else we can "sell, keep, or trash."
I know what you might be thinking: Dave is...CLEANING!? Voluntarily!? Yeah... Call it getting into the Christmas Spirit, I guess... :-)
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