"Brilliant Ideas" for Cleaning Up a Federal Disaster Area in Your Own Home

Yes, it's true, I finally gave in and cleaned the playroom! Now, I know what you're all saying...
"And, WHY is this a big deal?" Well, I'll tell you why this is a big deal...because I haven't done it in, oh...probably six months or more! It was a complete disaster! Actually, the word "disaster" probably doesn't even come close to describing it...it was more like a (pick your favorite word) calamity, catastrophe, tragedy, etc. The President of the United States could probably have classified it as a Federal Disaster Area...it was that bad! Hey, don't you get Federal Aid for that? Hum..I'll have to check into that! It looked like Armageddon had taken place down there amongst the army men, train tracks & action figures.

I have a love/hate relationship with this room. I love it because if the kids make a mess, I can just not think about it. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But, I also hate it because everytime I go downstairs, it's no longer out of sight and, therefore, no longer out of mind. There it is...staring me in the face...my failure...the chaotic, disorganized mess that we call a playroom. I really truly had just given up on this room. I didn't even know where to start. And even if I did find a place to start, could I ever finish? I started thinking, "If I died down there, they wouldn't find me for days!" And, even if I did survive, it wouldn't matter because all my hard work would be ruined within minutes as my children began their daily ritual of creating chaos in our house. Then I'd probably be so devastated that I would go into a manic depression, start talking in a British accent, begin a habit of running over the toes of paparazzi, have a stand off with police for several hours & be sent to a padded room in the State Hospital. Hum...maybe Britney Spears had a playroom!?!

These thoughts kept me satisfied for several months, but then the organizing bug began to bite again. I kept pushing it off saying it was a waste of time since my hard work truly would be ruined within minutes. Then, I had an idea...I could clean the playroom and then lock my children in their bedrooms for the remaining years of their childhood. Hey, it might just work! But then, they would just destroy their bedrooms...so maybe that idea wouldn't work. Idea #2...maybe I could clean the playroom and then lock the basement door. That idea could work very nicely! But, then, what's the point of a playroom? They would just mess up the family room instead. Hum...maybe not such a brilliant idea after all. Then, I got it...the perfect plan...childproof (and almost mommyproof) Rubbermaid containers!

This one may actually work! I stopped and bought a bunch of them at WalMart on my way home from work this morning. Then, armed with my handy dandy childproof buckets, the four of us headed down into the biohazard area to get to work. Three hours later, all the toys were divided into their respective containers and we snapped the lids on! At that point, we sat the kids down to talk about the new rules of the playroom--one container of toys at a time...if you want a different one, you have to clean up the toys from the first container...then mommy will come and open another one. They both agreed. My brilliant strategy was working out perfectly! I had contained the problem, but still allowed limited access. I was feeling pretty smart...and pretty powerful...afterall, I had command over the "childproof containers". And then it happened...Aiden opened one! Heaven help me!!! Britney...do you need a cellmate? --Lindsay