Are you familiar with Intervention, the disturbing A&E show where people confront their addictions with the help of their friends and families through drug and alcohol intervention?
Last week, I staged an intervention. For myself.
My catalyst was a visit with my dear friend Stephanie in California over Spring Break. She is admittedly obsessive about tidiness and the result is a beautiful, orderly home.
And then I returned to mine.
While I get a passing grade for cleanliness I am a beauty-school dropout as it pertains to organization. Before my bags were even unpacked, I resolved to make a change. I started by moving our storage cubby of toys in the family room upstairs to the children’s bedroom, ridding the entire main level of toys. What I didn’t post on Craiglist, I donated to A.R.C, recycled or threw in the trash.
But it didn’t stop there. Our home has limited storage space and the root of our problems can be found in
The Room of Doom. Most houses have one. You know: the place where you dump every random object you can’t be bothered to put away. Ours is our storage room. When we finished our basement two years ago, it became the resting ground for not only food items but building materials, party favors and the odd cat or two.
My husband and I have been resolving to clean it for several months so I decided I would surprise him by tackling the onerous task myself. How delighted he would be to arrive home to such a great surprise! It wasn’t easy but I was a woman on a mission. After several hours, the difference was staggering.
The Shameful Before:
The Glorious After:
Jubilantly, I hauled numerous items to the garbage and loaded two overflowing donation bags in the trunk of my SUV. There was another large bag near our front door so I decided to close the garage door and haul the other bag from the front.
The only problem is I had forgotten that I had left the trunk of my SUV open.
An open trunk + a closed garage door = a scenario you do not want to envision.
Let’s just say my husband held a different kind of Intervention when he returned home.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT MILEHIGHMAMAS.COM.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 