Cleaning out the closet..

I probably shouldnt post this. But this is what happened when I went to work for 4 weeks. Total chaos. Decay. Filth. A breeding ground for disease and bacteria. Disgustification. Jayde's room.

Last week I finished four and a half weeks of full time teaching and right afterwards I was faced with this. This rotten mess is what happens when I am not constantly nagging and pointing at checklists of cleanliness that must be maintained; when I am not sergeant-majoring my little worker-ant children to battle their messy ways; when I spend all my time making creative and inspired lesson plans and neglect domestic duties. I am the mother of pigs. This is ironic, given my love of all oinky and snoutish things.

I think it reached a stage where she just gave up trying.

Since I have an assignment due later this week, I decided to fix this problem- (I'll do just about anything to avoid tackling the mountain of academia waiting to drain out all my brain juices).

3.5 garbage bags of rubbish, 2 garbage bags of too-small clothes, 2 boxes of too-cold clothes, and 2 bags of give-away toys later (at this point I was too dirty, dusty & sweaty to pull out the camera), I could walk in this room without fear of getting salmonella poisoning or some such thing. (Salmonella you say? Surely karina's exaggerating again. Im not. I found half a stale peanut butter sandwich wedged in amidst the chaos...nasatay! [really bad joke I know]). I'll admit Jayde's room does cop a lot of extra 'stuff'. She gets all the board games & a lot of craft supplies shoved in her wardrobe, but she has plenty of room for it. I think I got rid of a whole trees worth of paper out of that room. I was impressed (tragically enough) that there were no cockroach or mouse poos anywhere...and that the closet didnt mount a counter attack and suffocate me in an avalanche of clothes and dirty underpants that Jayde was putting back into her drawers!!! eww!

Much better. Note the empty shelves and the way the drawers close with ease. Does this mean Im allowed to go shopping again? The best part? This picture was taken 4 days after the clean up. It is staying clean and tidy...well, the wardrobe is at least.

And upon reflecting on the good suggestion to rennovate her room, it occured to me that yes, there was a spiritual lesson here. When we neglect to be in Gods Word and neglect to daily seek His will and submit to Him, it is very easy to end up in a messy spiritual state. Dirty undies start getting thrown back into the wardrobe, drawers are busting out and can no longer function, rubbish piles up everywhere....and it all starts with neglecting to do the little things. That childrens song *sing* 'read your bible, pray every day (x3): and you'll grow, grow, grow' is so true.

Now Im off to look for Jayde's AWANA shirt...I have an awful feeling that its been gobbled up by the boxed-up summer clothes.