Daily Checklist and a Boys’ Room Decluttering Report

The majority of my hair is still attached.  It has not been completely pulled out.

My head, while it came dangerously close, did not explode.

For these two reasons, I’m calling today a success.

Today I:

Cleaned kitchen.

Swept kitchen and outer edges of wood floors in dining room and living room.

Picked up random items from floor to prepare them to be vacuumed and mopped by boys.

Closed office door and told vacuuming boy that he did not have to vacuum in there.  (I know that this is a dangerous move toward a slippery slope, but I did it anyway.)

Prepped mop bucket and mop.

Directed dusting by 4yo, mopping by 6yo, and vacuuming by 8yo.  Chose not to examine the quality of the work too closely.

Pulled bottom bunk bed out to reveal scariness that lived behind it.  (Beds are t-shaped, and bottom one pulls out easily while top is more of a loft bed.)

Sat on bed as boys discovered the wealth of forgotten items that lived back there.

Listened to exclamations of joy over finding random items such as red-flashing-star-thingy.

Asked probing and profound questions like – Why do you need this?

Stifled groans (occasionally successfully) in response to answers of “It’s a red-flashing-STAR-thingy!!”

Surreptitiously trashed all but one pine-cone.

Repeated, like a broken record, phrases such as “Keep looking!”  “Stop Playing!” and “Don’t Expect Your Brother to Do All of the Work for You!”

Found the hand-held vacuum cleaner.

Directed one boy in vacuuming up crushed pine-cone pieces that look disturbingly like bug-body-parts, and the other in distributing the contents of the “Keep” pile to new and proper homes.

Made everyone wash his hands with soap out of paranoia that crushed pine-cone pieces might not all be crushed pine-cone pieces.