Saturday, April 9, 2011

The Great Clean-Up

Our house has been on the market for 15 months. During that time, three people have looked at it. Yesterday was the first time in more than a year that someone had come to take a peek. We've become so unaccustomed to visiting realtors that we got a little relaxed in our housekeeping.

Lawson especially.










Not that he was ever Mr. Neato Mosquito. His closet has always qualified for an episode of Hoarders. Although some folks in his maternal lineage tend to hold on to mementos for sentimental reasons, Lawson's tendency to keep stuff has more to do with his throwing it in his super big closet and forgetting about it. A couple of summers ago, Stephen, Davis and I kept noticing a strange odor at the top of the stairs. When Stephen decided to find out the cause, he discovered, after much investigative work, a two month-old egg salad sandwich in an old lunchbox, which Lawson had thrown into his closet at the end of the school year. Wearing a gas mask, Stephen tossed the lunch box out with the sandwich, and all was well for a day or two until we realized the smell upstairs hadn't gone away. Back to the closet. More spelunking turned up a three month-old tuna sandwich in another lunchbox. Tossing that one out required the haz-mat suit.












Fast forward to yesterday when the phone rang and a real estate agent asked to bring a client to our house. We pulled out the Endust and got to work, and Lawson, much to our surprise, asked Stephen to help him clean out his closet. Stephen can't resist the opportunity to get rid of old stuff, so father and son put a hurtin' on the closet shelves. I would have been crazy not to document the process in photographs.

We found a jacket, now too small, that Lawson had never worn.

We discovered multiple remote controls and chargers. What they control and charge, we have no idea.









And the trash. Lawson can collect more trash. It's like he's never heard of the garbage can. A sleeping bag full of toys, clothes, games, and electronics went to the Goodwill. A basket of clothes went to the laundry room, and two trash bags full of I-don't-know-what went to the dumpster.











Now Lawson can fit his shoes in his closet!










Meanwhile, Davis sat in his room and did his homework. Looks like his room is next.

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