Tale of Two Closets

I was juggling two projects last week: trying to get the cleaning-decluttering-fixing-up-our-house-for-sale project off the ground and organizing a birthday party for Bub's 4th. Good news for the party was that some of the 2010 decluttering work did make the cleaning for the party part a little bit easier (just to be clear, ours is not a household where we can welcome guests without preparation--having people over always involves some extensive prep work to make the place presentable).

I was too late in my party planning to organize a off-site event at some sort of kiddie place as well as reluctant to spend the funds such an event can require when I thought I could provide Bub with a fun at-home party. My main focus throughout the week leading up to the party (evites issued one week before--told you I was late on this party) was thinking of ways to entertain four year-olds. I assumed that I would need many games and activities to keep all the kids entertained, and I had at least eight of them ready. If you don't count lunch and cake as activities, we got through about 2.5 games/activities. Guess what? If you have toys at your house, little kids just like to play with them. Who knew?

I need to give a shout-out to my mom who helped me with some cleaning and decluttering as well as baked and iced many cupcakes that we then had the party guests decorate with candy. My in-laws and hubby were also a big help the day of the party. Everyone was incredibly understanding about me being testy and on edge the morning of the event.

But I also want to give a little shout-out to two areas of my home, without which Bub's party would not have been possible.

First, the front closet: We have a large closet in our living/family/dining room that would be perfect for hanging guests' coats if it was not more perfect for storing and hiding crap. Before any event we host, I basically take everything that's sitting around without a home, place the stuff in laundry baskets, reusable shopping bags, and other random boxes and stack it precariously inside the closet. Last year, I bought a new door knob for hubby to install on this closet so that I can fill it with crap and then lock it. My kids can't reach the key we keep on the door frame and no guests can mistake the crap closet for the crapper and see all the stuff I'm hiding from them. Brilliant.

Mention of crap leads me to the next closet shout-out: the water closet: I think it is safe to say that the bathroom was the hottest, most visited room at Bub's party. No, there was not an outbreak of intestinal distress nor were there any potty emergencies that I know of. Rather, Bub was leading his friends into the darkened bathroom in small groups in order to show them his turtle. I'm talking about a turtle turtle. Please.

My aunt and uncle got Bub the coolest turtle for his birthday. When turned on in a dark room, the turtle lights up the ceiling with a moon and stars (arranged in actual constellation patterns). You can choose a few different colors of lights.

This turtle is seriously cool, and Bub is loving sleeping under the stars at night. Plus, as I mentioned already, Bub is also loving inviting friends into his bathroom to enjoy the planetarium effect. At one point, I opened the bathroom door to find two girls crouched in tornado drill position on either side of our toilet (floor and commode had been cleaned before party) waiting for Bub to turn on the turtle. The thrills of being four.

The party's over and the decluttering continues. This week's project: figure out what I hid in the closet last week.