Monday, May 4

Stuff. Stuff. Stuff.

We have too much stuff. In fact, our stuff has stuff. Our stuff's stuff has even been getting busy with our stuff and had a little incestuous affair resulting in grandbaby stuff. Stuff. Everywhere.

We live in a 1000 square foot townhome. All this stuff poses a bit of a problem. As in, sometimes I look around and wonder if this is our house, or if we have moved into the stockroom at Toys R' Us. Stuff. Everywhere.

Once in a while I get tired of looking at all the stuff and I do this wondrous little cleaning thing where I take the stuff crammed into one place and shove it into another place. Alexis' room is frequently the destination for the stuff since 99.9999999% of the excess stuff is her stuff. The kid hardly uses her room anyway (I refuse to acknowledge that she seems to be broken of her need to sneak into our room at night because if I acknowledge it she will immediately revert to her old ways). She really doesn't care if there is a six foot tall tower of toys being held in place by Cookie Monster's nose. Or maybe there were a couple of those towers. OK, there were at least a dozen. WHATEVER.

Anyway, the key word there is "were." You see, we are house hunting, and the process is reaching the point where I can almost smell the need to put our place on the market. It smells a little bit like fear and panic because OMG WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. This weekend I reached Level 10 on the Panic Scale and decided to tackle Mount St. Ridiculous Amounts of Kid Stuff.

Mr. Husband helped me out in the best way he possibly could--he kept Alexis downstairs while I shoved every toy I could get my hands on into plastic tubs. I packed. And packed. And packed. And conquered all of the piles. Guilt was pouring from me as I stashed toy after toy that Alexis really does play with. The damn kid plays with just about everything in this house, and often. It's sort of like she knows how to manipulate me into never getting rid of a single thing. Ever.

When all was said and done, guilt was replaced with a new wave of fear. What was Alexis going to say? It's not like I could expect her not to notice that three aisles of toys had magically disappeared. And you just know she could pinpoint the exact location of baby doll #714 in that pile of stuff.

I figured I was screwed.

Yet, bed time came, and Alexis didn't seem to notice the giant void in her room where once the stuff stood. I thought I might just be off the hook.

Oops.

Apparently the kid had a delayed reaction to all of her stuff disappearing. Tonight, a full 24 hours later than expected, Alexis walked over to her bookshelf. And froze in place. She looked down at the floor then she looked at me. She glanced towards the wall then glanced at me. Her head spun round and round before she finally looked me straight in the eye and said, "Where's all my stuff?"

Good thing there is still a Christmas tree up in her room. "Hey, look! It's shiny lights!"



She's definitely my daughter, because that little trick totally worked.

31 comments:

  1. OMG it's hilarious that a full day later she was all "Where's my stuff?" My daughter would have instantly reacted - instant!

    At least she's easily distracted.

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  2. I like to take lots of my kids' toys, put them away and then switch them out with other stuff a few months later. Then they don't notice the old stuff I took and are excited about the 'new' old stuff--it worked at least til they were about 5 ;)

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  3. Heh. Just call it getting a head start on Christmas THIS year.

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  4. Anonymous11:19 PM

    A friend of mine was having a similar problem with her son. I found a solution that still works for her years later. I told her son about the poor kids who's mommy and daddy didn't have enough money to buy them toys. He was sooo sad for them because they didn't have any toys. I asked him if he had any toys he could give them? Maybe some of the ones he doesn't play with much anymore. Worked like a charm. They went through all his toys and she was able to give about half of his over crowded room to charity. It has become an annual event that theydo the beginning of every December. That way the poor kids can get Christmas presents too!

    Mia~

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  5. Christmas tree in her room...brilliant!

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  6. Oh...LOVE the new look!

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  7. Mia-The problem is that she plays with EVERYTHING. I don't have to rotate out her toys because she does it herself. Plus, she finds a way to repurpose every single little thing. For example, she dug up a teething ring and is now using it for her doll because "her mouth hurt." I swear if I even think about getting rid of something, that night she will take it to bed with her and proclaim it her most favoritest thing ever. She's good. Very good.

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  8. I was doing the annual shuffle of stuff from one room to another when I came across a box of toys from Christmas, of 2005. I wonder if I can use them again for this Christmas? Cost savings, right?

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  9. Hee hee! Glad she's that easily distracted! I'm trying to get rid of stuff now too or I will move and leave it all behind.

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  10. I have to admit that I totally lie to my child regarding his stuff. I clean his room out when he's at school and if he asks for a specific item (doesn't matter which one) I tell him the dog chewed it up and I had to throw it out. He gives her an evil look, tells her she shouldn't do that and then moves on. I'm pathetic, I know.

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  11. I thought my house was the only one with "stuff".
    It drives my crazy!

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  12. This time. It worked THIS time. I'd have to play the honest card with her and just flat out say "we're getting a bigger, better house and your toys are already on their way there. Just think of all the space you'll have to play with all your toys in our wonderful new home."

    And it'll be So.Fun. to hear her ask three times a minute when you're moving. Now? Now? How about now?

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  13. @Karen--You are so right. I'm totally using that line.

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  14. I love the Christmas tree!! It would totally distract me too.

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  15. Awesome. We try to do a once-a-month (or at least, every other month) cleanup of some section of the house, sorting things, trying to admit to ourselves when we really haven't used something in a year or so, and decide to get rid of it. It sort of works. We still have too much STUFF, but it's at a semi-manageable level. We have at least one room in the house that isn't drowning in stuff, anyway!

    One time we moved Abby's books from one shelf to another on the other side of the family room, and she went to the wrong shelf for weeks, maybe months, confused where her books went. (Granted, I think she was only 1.5 years old at the time...)

    Yay for the Christmas tree in her room! Ooh, shiny!

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  16. Love that story. I have so much crap to get rid of two. think of Alexis' stuff times two. I have two girls and both insist every single toy they own is "special" and they will "miss it so much". My 8 year old has outgrown so much but my 6 year old still plays with it all. They would notice immediately if I put it all away. I've been tempted too though, many times. I've actually started and have been "caught in the act" so to speak. Just wait til my youngest goes full time at school this fall. Heh heh

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  17. LOVE the new header by the way. . .

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  18. Funny, funny, funny!!!

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  19. You have a Christmas tree up, in May!!!HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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  20. Our house is about the same size, and we have about that much stuff. I'm hoping to do some secret packing before my son's birthday party next month - 9 kids total. It's supposed to be in the yard, but what if it rains?!? I'm counting on it NOT raining.

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  21. Anonymous10:52 AM

    LOL But how long will it last? Yikes. I hate to even think about it.

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  22. I can't believe you got away with that. I thought for sure you were in for a foot stomping, I want my stuff back time. Oooh...twinkle lights, ok that would totally work on me. (Hugs)Indigo

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  23. Can you come over and get rid of my husband's stuff. He's got stuff he hasn't played with (or use or worn) in YEARS.

    I rotate the kids' stuff, and give away what I can. If they take it upon themselves to rotate something back in (like they did this weekend), then I rotate something else out. And then HIDE it.

    ciao,
    rpm

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  24. No one ever tells you just how important shiny distractions are when you have kids!

    Good luck with the house hunting!

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  25. ha good job with the distraction!

    That smell of Fear & Panic? TOTALLY HAPPENING HERE too. I've been so wrapped up in looking at OTHER houses that I didn't really think too much about actually putting ours out there. GAH.

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  26. Glad to know we aren't the only ones whose small house has been overtaken by kid stuff!

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  27. @Erin--It's the age-old debate. Nice house? Sanity? Nice house? Sanity? I choose sanity.

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  28. I just went through a giant purge before we participated in our neighborhood yard sale. I got rid of a bunch of stuff (and made a little money), and put a lot in our storage room. I'm still ready to pack up more stuff.

    But a word of warning about all those plastic bins. Don't. Let. Her. See. Them! The Pumpkin saw a bin of the packed away toys before they made it to the storage room and flipped out. Luckily, "hey look, shiny" works for her (and me) too.

    Love the new look, especially the multiple pics in the header! Also, is that a nightgown that Alexis is wearing? If so, where did you get it? I'm looking for some cute ones like that for my girl.

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  29. OMG! Hilarious! I get distracted by the shiny lights all the time!!!

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  30. So when you're done using Cookie Monster to hold back your towering piles.... can you send him down here to the desert? We could certainly use his strong little nose to hold some of OUR stuff back!

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  31. I love that all it took were shiny Christmas lights to take her mind off the facts that her "stuff" was gone. So cute, hopefully she doesn't come full circle back to her stuff being gone any time soon.

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