And the Award for Meanest Mom Goes to...

ME! Today was a clean and purge day for the Stilwell ankle-biters. Boy was it ugly, too. Prior to today, the kids had a "playroom" in the basement. It wasn't too bad. David and Grace emptied the ash pit a bit one time and another time David unwound some of my sewing thread and the cat started eating it and I had to pull out about 2 yards of slimy string from Max's stomach....but I digress. The kids are pretty much too young to be left to their own devices in the basement. They just can't resist that forbidden fruit. So, I decided to move the toys from down there up to their rooms. The only trouble is, there is too much stuff. Well, a few months ago, I gave each of them a box and let them keep whatever fit. We got rid of stuff then, but this time was different. I gave them each 12 stickers and they were to mark the 12 things that they wanted the most. The rest would leave our house, never to return. Dave was awesome! He very easily and willingly gave up all the toys and I even had to use some of his stickers for him. He was happy with his box of matchbox cars. I should back up here to say that there were sets of things that they saved-they didn't have to individually mark every barbie or car. Those could go in sets, but those 12 stickers also had to account for stuffed animals and any other miscellaneous toys. Okay, so back to Grace. She did pretty good, too. She made her choices pretty quickly and changed her mind a time or two (which was allowed, but it had to be an even exchange). Then came Ruthie. Oh dear. Here comes the award part. Ruth was all for the idea as an idea. When it came time to implement, she lost it. She was sobbing, crying, hysterical. It was sad and funny all at the same time. I mean, she was sobbing over a McDonald's Shrek toy that will most likely be forgotten in a few days' time. Well, she did make it past it all and is doing pretty well now, but it was so hard to stand firm with her that upset. After we were all done, I allowed them to go through the pile and redeem one toy each. David chose nothing and I'm not sure about Grace, but I know Ruthie took one. They were all feeling much better when I got the chosen things from the basement up to their rooms. It was like having new toys again. I also have quite a bit of stuff to put in the garage sale this year!