"You Messed Up"

This was Paul's way of complimenting me yesterday. I had one of those rare days (which, oddly, seems to be happening more often lately; it's either hormones or excitement) when I start one thing, complete it, go to the next, complete it, and so on until I have accomplished way more than I ever meant to.

My game plan for improving the look of the first level of my house was to help Joel deep clean his toy corner. Again. It's an eyesore in the family room when he lets things pile up in and around his toybox and lego cart (things neither lego nor toy). So I started with a realistic goal for him: "Joel, you must get rid of all the pure trash plus give away eight things before you can play." ("Pure trash" sounds like an oxymoron, but it distinguishes gum wrappers from unwanted but perfectly good toys.)

Thus began the cycle which started at 9 a.m and ended at 6 pm, with only a break for lunch and three short computer breaks. Once his toy corner was squared away and vacuumed, I started rearranging furniture. Not just within rooms, but between rooms. And not just between rooms, but between levels. Up came an end table, down came a lamp. I got rid of a freestanding kitchen cabinet I had kept way too long. It was country style and that look has been "out" how long??? But it housed my cookbooks and kitchen linens, and was a yard sale find nine years ago. Sheesh. While I was at it, I turned the kitchen table 90 degrees. I added one whole seating area to my family room by bringing in two dining room chairs and a floor lamp. (Just temporarily till the good stuff gets here!) I broke up a collection of old hymnals and displayed them differently.

Meanwhile Joel cleaned my bathroom of his own volition, which blessed me greatly. When he saw me beaming, he asked for a dollar. Oh well, so his volition was motivated by a buck. What can I say? He's a little capitalist. He did a good enough job for not having been trained in bathroom cleaning (yet).

Anyway, this morning I have one glorious backache. But it's worth it to have heard Paul say when he got home and looked around, "You messed up." I said, "What do you mean?" And he said, "You showed how much you can do in one day." I didn't know whether to smack him or kiss him. I did neither. Just said, "If that's a compliment, thanks."