Reason #215: Clean Your Room on Your Birthday

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She who waits for her knight must remember -
she will have to clean up after his horse.
- Unknown
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Yesterday was Madison's 7th Birthday.  Being the mom of the year that I am, we spent the better part of the morning cleaning her room.  Why, you ask?  I believe a picture speaks a thousand words. 

Now, it wasn't quite this bad, as this photo was taken when we started cleaning but her room has been known to look like this.  We sorted through every drawer, bin, cupboard, cabinet, shelf, under the bed, in the closet....well, you get the idea.  It was a pretty big mess.  I just couldn't tolerate it any more. 

We discovered at least 5 unopened Hello Kitty watches from McDonalds Happy Meals.  We found Barbies she forgot she had (thus the Barbies lying on the floor as she got a little distracted when we started cleaning).  We unearthed stuffed animals she hugged adoringly at first sight.  We also located a virtually unplayed with Cabbage Patch Doll that has now become her new best friend.  After days of telling me she had no chapstick and MUST have some, I located at least 8 different tubes of chapstick and placed them in her nightstand drawer for easy retrieval.  After all, a girl can't have chapped lips in this kind of weather. 

I am quite sure my mother can attest to my room looking similar when I was her age, but I was shocked at the sheer amount of crap in her room she never touches, looks at, nor plays with.  Most of it was precisely that...crap!  So, we spent countless hours in her room, bonding on this, her 7th birthday, as I held up each item one by one for her to say "yes" or "no."  Let's just say we took an entire garbage can out of her room, so I was pleased with the number of times she said "no." 

This may be the number one reason Madison received a sensible present on her birthday - two new pairs of shoes.  Now, she is my mini-me, so shoes are a love of hers.  She told daddy one day she wanted Uggs like mommy got for Christmas.  That quickly went by the wayside the week we all had the flu and Maddie proved that vomit can go just about everywhere, including inside the snowboots you are wearing when you up-chuck.  She did get Bear Tracks, a nice Ugg knock-off with a label on the back and all!  But her favorite were her Rocket Dog high-tops that are black with sequins.  I will admit, in the realm of shoes, they are super cool - so cool they may be their own blog topic some day!

So, while cleaning may not have been how Madison planned to spend the morning of her birthday, we did have fun organizing and discovering long lost toys.  Even a pair of shoes she had completely forgotten she owned!  Seriously, how does that happen?  In the end, the finished product was something that made mommy sigh in relief.  And that made it all worth it when she was asked with every call she got on her birthday what she got from mom and dad?  To which she responded, "Nothing." 


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