Something for Sunday

So, yesterday was the day. The day we've been putting off for so long. I can't tell you how many times I've attempted to tackle it on my own---only to open the door and close it again. I couldn't even get Butch to give me a hand. Then, I just put my foot down and insisted! 

I forced Mindy to agree to a date to clean out her closet!! She's been out of the house for 18 years now---literally half her life! Honestly, I don't even care that she still has stuff here. We have the room and she doesn't. Her and Justin's condo is little---no room for extras. That's why Mindy's closet is a mixed bag of everything. 

She's got stuff from grade school, high school including her cheerleading and school uniforms and probably 5,000 photos--in frames and out along with dozens of albums! Her childhood collections and stuffed animals are here. Her dolls, music boxes, you name it. It's all in her closet. Add to all of that, she got married over 5 years ago and the closet is still full of wedding gifts!! That's what happens when you just don't have the room. What has prompted me to want to get it cleaned out? This:

Yes, it's a very large walk in closet and it's a MESS! I can't stand it any longer!

Oh, and I forgot to mention there are things she bought for her new office--literally the day of lockdown--2020. We shopped and she went to take it all to her new office. When she got there, the building was locked and she got the notice that they were on lockdown indefinitely. They still aren't back in the office yet. She's working from home. Anyway, she had to bring all of her new office decorations and shelf over here. Just more stuff, added to the chaos.

Besides the fact that I can't stand to look at the mess, we are planning to remodel/redecorate the upstairs. That includes new carpet and paint. The closet just has to be cleaned out! 

Every time I brought it up, Mindy moaned and groaned. I finally pinned her down to a date. She negotiated a lunch out of the deal! 

I immediately had to rope Butch in to the project because there were too many things on the higher shelves that we needed to get down so Mindy could go through everything. Here's what that looked like:

She sat there while Butch got stuff down, I had her go through it and I put everything in the appropriate piles---keep, trash, give away. She kept most of it. We couldn't even get through the whole closet because after an hour, I was sweating so bad, that I was pooped!

She opened boxes and boxes full of cards and notes---you know, those teen notes you pass in school all folded real cute so no one can dare look at them? Of course she wanted to keep them all. Then she found this:

A note from her dad: "Mindy, try to keep within your budget. There is no reason that your monthly allowance shouldn't cover your monthly expenses. Love, Dad" 

Now I'm not sure when this was---probably those early college days when cell phones were pretty new. We got a bill that was crazy, outrageous. She thought texting was FREE! Luckily for us, we got an unlimited plan for $5.00 a month! 

Then, to add insult to injury, when we called it quits for the day, she took her dad's chair! 

We went to lunch shortly after, so basically, we PAID her to "help" clean out her closet. Oh, and we're not nearly done. The upstairs looks like a tornado has gone through! We have so much to haul down or put in the attic. We'll get to it today. We have to. Margarita comes on Monday and there's no way she can clean around it all!

What can I say? She's our baby. She gets away with murder. Isn't that always the way? She's so darn cute and charming, she makes us laugh all the time. You can't put a price tag on that!!