Conquering the Pack Rat

Last week, I walked by Anna's room, and had the shock of my life (nearly). Her room was such a mess that you could barely even walk in the door. There was stuff all over the floor, and her bed was piled high with boxes of more stuff. I'd post pictures, but, sadly, my camera is broken. When I asked her "WHAT THE . . . (insert appropriate word)," she said it had been like that for TWO WEEKS, and she'd been sleeping with her little sisters every night because she couldn't get into her bed. She'd been very careful to keep her door closed that entire time. And, stupid me, it never even occurred to me to open her door when I went upstairs.



I've seen her room a mess before, but never this bad. Apparently, she decided to organize and de-clutter her entire room by putting everything she owns into boxes and then sorting through them one at a time. Anyone who knows Anna or is familiar with the pack rat gene she inherited will appreciate the monumental task she had set for herself.


Needless to say, there was NO WAY that Anna could get that mess sorted through on her own, so I spent nearly an entire Saturday helping her. In a way, it's really fun to go through Anna's room because you never know what you'll find. Here's a short list of some things I've found stashed in her room in the past:

• the cut out oval from the counter top where the sink was installed just because it was too cool to throw away



• the sawed off bottoms of two Christmas trees because they smelled good and were special since they came from our Christmas trees



• a big slice of travertine tile to be used as a self-defense bludgeoning instrument



• several bricks (yes, bricks) that she carried around in her backpack just because she liked them (This was in 4th grade when Anna only weighed about 50 pounds, and she carted them back and forth to school for who knows how long.)



• several ice packs, also in her backpack, for keeping her drinks cold (not as heavy as bricks, but still up there)



• and my favorite, a can of garbanzo beans stashed under her bed for easy access so she wouldn't starve in case she had to abandon her room in a hurry, like in the event of a fire

Anna's 14 now, and I think she's learning to control her pack rat impulses because we didn't find anything all that interesting in her room. But we did manage to get rid of about 8 boxes of stuff (3 boxes of trash, 3 boxes of giveaway, and 2 boxes of too small clothes). I should probably check her backpack, though. Anna only weighs about 72 pounds, and it's seemed really heavy lately; who knows what she could be dragging around with her.