Never underestimate the power of a clean floor

You know what I love about being 40? All the time I spend in front of the mirror, plucking chin hairs. Seriously, nobody could give me a head's up about this twenty years ago so I could appreciate being young and awesome?

Also: Finding a hair that's like INCHES long sticking straight out of my chin/neck and getting to wonder how many people saw that damn thing without saying a word. Probably feeling sorry for me. I don't need your sympathy, people! Tell me, for pete's sake!

So this weekend we made some (unintentional) progress on the minimalism front. I got a wild hair on Sunday and did some major spring cleaning. My bathroom? Is a thing of beauty right now. So is my kitchen floor. I digress. Anyway, I'd set Johanna to cleaning her room and made a side comment to Eric about moving her dresser into her closet to give her more floor space... and the next thing I know, he's in there leading a major overhaul expedition. AWESOME. I was thinking maybe this was a project I'd tackle next weekend, but hey, I am not complaining.

Johanna's bedroom floor BEFORE (P.S. if you want to be
depressed, go look up "Landfill Pictures").

And after. That's JUST FLOOR, which is totally the point.

And since Johanna was in there with him, she felt like she had some control over his ruthless tossing. She filled three paper bags with clothes and toys, which is major as she really loves her stuff. (I was trying to explain that since she has a very small bedroom--it was supposed to be Eric's office--we need to cull whatever isn't totally needed. She argued she'd be moving into Abby's bedroom eventually so it would be okay. Um, she gets the big room when Abby goes to college... in about four and a half years. We're not waiting that long.)

P.S. It turns out she has a lot of leggings after all, so it's kind of unfortunate I just bought her three new pairs at the outlet mall. It's amazing what Eric unearthed in that closet...

Abby also filled a bag with clothing and random objects, but that's not quite as impressive because she's okay with getting rid of things she doesn't need or want. Which is impressive in itself, I guess, so never mind, she rocks. Also, is it normal for a teenager to keep her room so neat? Oh, there's clothing scattered across the floor by the time the weekend rolls around, but using memories of my own teenage bedroom, I think we're getting off fairly easy.

Best project of the weekend: He had the girls (Abby LOVED this, just kidding, you could have cut the angst with a butter knife unless there's something out there duller than a butter knife, that's the level of angst we're taking about) sort the crayons, colored pencils and pens into three different groups. Anything not working or broken was tossed. Since we have a collection that began when Abby started kindergarten (i.e. nine years worth of stuff), and the effects of said school supplies were pretty much everywhere, this was quite genius. And then Eric was all, we are not buying any more of this stuff, ever. When they need stuff for school, we're shopping this first, and I was all, now that I can get behind.

So cross Johanna's room off the list. I am still trying to steel myself for the laundry room, but I haven't got depressed enough to do anything about it just yet. Next week! Um, maybe.