Itchy Dusters

Spring has not yet sprung, and yet I am filled with a 'sorting out' bug. I told the boys that the toys they had for Christmas would never fit into their bedroom as it was, and so they had better dig out stuff for the Secours Catholique, or their pressies would stay in the suitcase as there was nowhere else for them to go.

The state of their bedroom floor when I made the announcement had been one of those boy-induced scenes of total mess which usually render me speechless with despair. However, in my super-charged Duracell battery mode, I gathered the reluctant forces, collected big bags for unwanted stuff and giant bags for broken toys and other rubbish.

They drifted about the room making pronouncements on whether they wanted such and such an item, or whether it could be consigned to the bag to make other less fortunate children happy. I filled 4 bags of unwanted toys and 3 bags of broken rubbish, bits of paper, plastic wrappings and generall dross. You'd be amazed at the quantity of sand that was swept up, the number of sweet papers, crumpled paper aeroplanes, dried out felt-tipped pens, broken crappy plastic toys made in China and so on.

I emptied a whole box under the bed and was able, with happy heart, to fill it up with Christmas stuff. Their floor was swept and they noted, with joy, that they would be able to set up the racing set in tubes this weekend in their bedroom rather than in the living room where it was not going to be set up on pain of death!

I have also bagged clothes they have grown out of and clothes I have grown out of. Ahem, clothes I don't want any more... I invited the RA to browse through them just in case, but was not surprised that none suited. Still, you never know.

With the boys' bedroom under my belt, we have since attacked the living room in its post-Christmas state of clutter, my room in its post-UK visit state of suitcased clutter, and the kitchen. I have my sights set on clearing out the garage... this year... well, I don't want to overdo it, now, do I?

I am also eyeing the garden and wondering what to do with my tulip bulbs. It's been such a weird winter I have lost track when I should have sown them out again.

I just hope I don't run out of energy before I finish. Duracell batteries are not rechargeable!