Planning for a day in the closet........

I'm not very popular right now. You see, Saturday is promising to be 80 degrees and sunny. Yes, right here in Pittsburgh, PA. And, I'm promising to make it a day of cleaning and purging. Sure, I might allow a quick trip to Starbuck's for some fuel and I might slip in an end-of-the-day pedicure. But, it's going to be a closet cleaning day--from top to bottom, sun up to sun down. A mother-daughter affair from start to finish.

Conveniently, Carmen is married to a work project that is keeping out of the house and out of the plans. Gee, lucky him. Yet, I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel so lucky! He might just rather be home bowing down to my domestic dominatrix ways instead of working 100 hours a week! But, if truth be told--his closets are fine. They are filled with blue and khaki and a little black, lots of shirts with his work logo on them and Pittsburgh sports team wear for play. It's Toni and I who need a little reality check.....closet-wise. And, I'm thinking that spending Saturday in our respective closets might just do the trick! The result might rock Toni a bit(perhaps that pedicure will soothe her!) because I'm pretty sure I'll be the one who will be needing to a little shopping to replenish my wardrobe and she will definitely NOT need any clothes--thus no shopping for her!
Toni won't like that outcome at all...


Typically, I am not such a planful kind of gal. Especially when it comes to housework of any type. And, typically, I can easily be swayed away from doing anything that resembles drudgery if something better comes along. Anything would be better. But, this time, I'm sticking to my guns. Mostly because we are at a saturation point when it comes to our closets. And, to be quite honest--I have a closet full of things that just don't fit. I need to get them in the hands of people who could use them. But, in between my practical and humanitarian reasonings, I also think it's time we take inventory of what we have so that we can understand exactly how much we do have. And, to see first hand just how fortunate we are. Sadly, it's not something we do often enough.

As you may have gathered--I can be rather excessive. I lavish the kids with whatever their hearts desire and I myself have a terrible weakness for fashion and shoes and lots and lots of other stuff. I just can't say no to anyone who I love, I get complete and utter joy from giving gifts to those who I love and I just can't walk away from anything that I love! I've tamed some of those things over the years but from the looks of my closets and storage areas, I've got lots more taming to do. But, in the bigger picture--I think it's time to take stock (is this what you do when you're 50?) of those material things that for one reason or another gave me a moment or more of happiness and determine if they still fit into my life or on my body. And, while doing that, I hope to gain more than just less closet clutter. And, hopefully, in the process, I will empower Toni to do the same in her own life and closet.

Oh, the things we do in the name of cleaning house and raising children......