No, it's not a landfill

I was going to put this up on the 31st, so I wouldn't have such an atrocity starting off my new year. But I got strep, and I had to spend all morning on New Year's eve in the ER waiting to see a doctor because my throat was so swollen I had trouble breathing. So putting up an end-of-year entry wasn't exactly on my mind. Looks like I get to start the new year where I should... cleaning!

I started off thinking I would just show my craft pile. I had to dig through it, looking for that felt and embroidery floss. You can see what I was up against here. It's not pretty. I haven't unpacked any of it since we moved here. When we moved, I tried really hard to get it in some kind of order, but as time ran out, I found myself just throwing stuff in boxes. I was lucky to have most of the craft stuff together.

Since we've been here, I've done very little in the craft department, except for the wreath hanging on the wall there, and the egg wreath for Easter. Other than those, I've just had to dig through things every once in a while, like when I needed googly eyes for a school party craft. What that did is cause things to be strewn about in my frantic attempts to locate eyes or little pompons for noses or chenille stems.

The mess didn't get helped any when we had to do last-minute cleanings that resulted in everything upstairs being dumped downstairs. This isn't the worst of those, but this was one of the deposit locations. I really need to get rid of that big television. It went kaput several months ago, but it's been buried under something for so long that we haven't had a chance to get rid of it. You'll be seeing that on my list of things I've gotten rid of in the very near future. I bought the white TV/VCR combo to have in my kitchen, but it ended up being commissioned to the downstairs for game playing and television viewing by the kids, so they didn't drive me to tear my hair out.

That box of litter is new. John discovered litter that comes in boxes that you just throw out with the garbage each week. Since it's his job to scoop litter, he thinks this is a grand idea. I am a little irked that he has one whole chore in the colder months, which is scoop litter. In the warmer months, he gets to mow the lawn, which I end up doing far too often as well. But before I get going off on another rant, let it suffice to say I don't think this is a necessary expense. Lazy ass.

Remember how I was saying I dislike in John exactly what I dislike in myself? Well, being a lazy ass is one of those very traits. Granted, I have a helluva lot more chores to do than he does, but I still rank right up there in the lazy department. Just look at this proof�

This is what you see as you enter my basement. Somewhere under there is a futon. It makes a great depository, doesn't it? I can't even begin to list everything that can be found in this mess of boxes and paper and junk. Remember all those boxes I said I've gotten rid of in the past? Imagine this being even worse. I always think I'm going to use those boxes and packing paper to send something. I should probably just pack up this mess and send it to people, so I don't have to deal with it anymore. This has been cleaned so many times and messed up so many more times that I'm just frustrated beyond belief. This is the area of the basement that I don't mess up so much. I add some empty boxes once in a while, but for the most part, the kids and J seem to think this is exactly where things need to go.

This is looking over the buried futon. It's Toyland. There are so many toys and games and stuff that I could start my own eToys site. This is all the stuff that was taken from each of the two kids' rooms. I'm slowly getting through it all. I hope there are going to be some very happy kids that get better use out of these toys than my kids do. We will keep a few things, but most of it is disappearing. A few of the things in this pile are toys from my childhood that my mom likes to give to me because she can't bear to throw it out herself. Now, I appreciate things like the metal dollhouse that are quickly becoming collectible items, and the Barbie motor home (you can't see it here), but most of it is just more junk.

This corner is full of miscellaneous papers, computer parts and other junk. You can actually see some of the floor in this area. That doesn't make it any less a mess. The problem with this corner is there is a lot of J's junk back there, and he has a fit if I just go throwing things away. Lord knows he might need that old 286 motherboard some day or the 28.8 modem. Of course, I don't have a lot of room to talk. My pile of craft goods is bigger, but at least it doesn't become outdated.

This is a view of the closet that is located between the last picture and the first picture. It's probably the most organized place in the basement. There's only a few things thrown on the floor because we ran out of shelf space. This serves as a makeshift pantry since my kitchen is too small to hold more than a loaf of bread. Food items are across from tools and camping items. Gosh, if I would have thought of it, I could have called it my Y2K closet.

Out of view is a 29 gallon aquarium. It's a very nice aquarium that only got covered in algae in our house, because someone who will remain nameless never cleaned it like he said he would. There is nothing beautiful or relaxing about a green aquarium that's only two thirds full of water. When we moved, I told the nameless one that he could not fill the aquarium unless he planned on truly taking care of it this time. I'm not allowed to sell it "just in case" we might use it again.

The only thing I left out of my basement tour is the laundry room. That's just a story in itself, and I don't think anyone needs to see our piles of dirty clothes. If I ever, ever get caught up on laundry, I might go in there and snap a few shots, but since that possibility will probably happen just before hell freezes over, I don't think anyone will be seeing it anytime soon.

All things thrown out today were from these pictures. Including:

Longaberger box in the second picture and all the paper around it
Another box behind that one
Some pictures Booie drew (I have a million already)
A bottle of fish stuff from the closet
Big piece of Styrofoam in the second to last picture
Box next to the Styrofoam