Out with the Old

Ever looked at your room and known you really need to clear things out? Well, I have that coupled with an intense, building urge to paint my room. It's been white since we moved in. White. Before we moved, I'd been allowed to paint my room a shade more green than white. After thirteen years of flamingo pink and ABC wallpaper. Paint is good. It's good for the soul. Maybe that's why the bathroom is now the color of a kiwi's flesh (the fruit, of course).

Well, my bedroom isn't in shape to be painted. And I have this old shelf I've been wanting to remove from my room for a long time. Saying "a long time" is an understatement. I got the thing when I was in 5th grade. It's an ugly, white metal shelf that I used when I had a bunkbed so that I could put down the book I was reading without having to climb out of the top bunk. This thing had long outlived its purpose, and yet it remained in my room, filled with junk. It is no more. Now my dad can use it, for putting his own junk on. But it's not in my room anymore. You don't want to know what color the carpet was under that, after seven years of not vacuuming. It's since been vacuumed, and you can't tell that there was a big, ugly shelf there before.

Next to go was an old laundry hamper full of odd pieces of fabric remnants. Now, I have some fabric remnants that are perfectly fine, but these are the gaudily shiny fabric remnants that I apparently convinced my mom to buy when I was younger. Probably somewhere around 5th grade. They were tossed, and that pointless old laundry hamper is no longer in my room, either. Next to go will be the cat-shaped cd rack mounted on my wall.

I also cleaned things out from my closet. Didn't really start to make a dent, but I found many interesting items. Lots of bank statements from 2005 (the year I graduated from high school, when Social Security paid me to finish high school). Papers from 2005. Powerpoint notes from this last spring semester. Lots of things from Oceanography. And a pair of shoes I don't think I've worn since my sophomore year of high school. I'll pick up my clothes before I go to bed, too, to compensate for the pillows and stuffed animals going back on the floor (they reside on my bed if it's made, on the floor if it's not). I've already filled my trash can to overflowing, and most of another trash bag. Once I have the room to a more-than-satisfactory state, I'll take a picture, and there will be a picture when I'm done painting, too. Don't know when I'll paint, between 18 units, karate, chauffeuring, knitting and sewing, cooking ... I sound like a mom, don't I? Yeesh. :P