The Teen and I spent the day together. Annually, it seems, we spend one day together doing the unthinkable….cleaning out her room. I know, I know, she’s old enough…yada, yada, yada… but the truth is…she needed help. Just to set the record straight, The Teen is a caring, funny, smart, fashionable girl… here is a random picture to prove it. 
She is also a bit of a …squirrel, which is a nice way of saying that things tend to disappear up into her room. She also hangs onto everything…e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!!! Stir into the mess a size-able portion of ADD and her room becomes a disaster. So, then we plan some Mother and daughter time…to de-clutter, de-mess and unearth her room….with a bit of laughter, a bit of muttering, a bit of frustration and gnashing of teeth…and then…ta da…she has a somewhat organized clean room… I say somewhat because I have learned when to quit and that she is not me (lighting bolt-news flash) and needs to do ‘it’ differently.
In fairness to her, she did just (18 months ago) move and wasn’t quite sure what she should keep or throw away. Well, now…we threw ‘it’ away… envelopes, water bottles, school spiral notebooks, other people’s school spiral notebooks, granola bar wrappers, granola bars, candy wrappers, homework (2 years old), partner-less shoes, hair bands, Easter candy, junk mail, and a school lunch. The Teen hasn’t been in school for 6 months, so at best the lunch was 6 months old, but I have a sinking feeling that we might have moved it.
Items we put away in their proper places…Easter Basket, plastic eggs, 4 pairs of scissors, 3 spoons, 2 bowls, a screw driver, a mini-recorder, tooth paste, Dad’s shirt, first aid supplies (a box full), a camera, a flash light, 2 boxes of Christmas ornaments and partridge in a pear tree. There were three constants that kept turning up…dust, bobby pins and socks…unearthed out of every nook and cranny.
The attic boxes are now out of her room. Her extra bed is no longer a wardrobe heap and we’ve put two giant bags in the trash, have two bags for the consignment store, and two boxes for the charity shop.
The Teen is making progress.
