♫ these are the people in my family ♪

The heads getting ready to be
locked into their storage container.

Are you humming 'These are the people in my neighborhood,' from 
Sesame Street?  OK then, carry on!

Curly gets the gold star for helping me yesterday.  I was bound and determined to get the Halloween costumes put away.  That was supposed to happen over the weekend, but instead:  the out of town literary fest, the groceries, and then the bum knee. 

It is creepy to see them all stare out of their
bins especially if you go down into the
 storage room at night.
Eyes - they are everywhere!

See Elmo peeking out?
Behind him on the top
 of the shelf is the giant cookie
body and below him is the bottom of Bird.
Oscar's can is on top of the bins.
Gumby and Pokey are up higher.

Only I know how to put the costumes away.  I told Tank and Curly to haul Gumby, Pokey, Oscar, Elmo, and Cookie downstairs from the dining room.  (Mini and her friend dressed as Cookie Monster - but just the head, and a giant cookie.  Mini’s friend left the head behind at a party which made me quite nervous, but Mr. Googly Eyes was safely returned so he needed to be stored properly).  Tank groaned about pitching in because he had already dragged two crock pots full of leftovers to the kitchen from the basement fridge for his injured mother.  Curly was ready to serve her Mama.  

I have ziploc baggies labeled for each set of furry costume hands and pants, or feet and body, etc.  The bins were in disarray, but I reorganized them and Curly stood nearby ready to help me squeeze Pokey into the two giant bags once his body was rolled up.  My storage room resembles what I imagine Jim Hendrick’s studio would look like.  

Sink and coffee mugs with marshmallows
 left in the sink even though there is no
disposal.  Plus it looks like someone used
 paints down there and did not
 wash them out of the sink.

While in the basement, I spotted a bunch of coffee mugs from when Mini had friends sleepover on November 2nd.  I brought hot chocolate down to the basement for them.  The next day, I reminded Mini to clean up after her friends.  The basement kitchen area is tucked around in the back and I walk through it to get to the storage room.  I could not believe that she left the dirty mugs down there.  

Background is the castle.  Foreground
is girl legos.  Circled area is where there
was a blanket - there inside the circle
 is garbage and odds and ends of nerf toys.

Then I told Curly to grab a blanket that was just tossed in front of the castle.  Curly played with her legos earlier in the day, when her friend was over because they had no school.  She picked up the blanket and under it was a pile of garbage.  What. The. Hell?!  

I knew right away what happened.  Tank had friends over to watch the Bears game on Sunday.  This plan materialized while I was at the grocery store.  He went down in the basement and ‘cleaned up’ by gathering empty Gatorade bottles and wrappers and nerf gun toy parts and tossing it in front of the castle where his friends would not see it and then he THREW A BLANKET OVER IT.  Five more steps and he would have found himself at the actual garbage can in the kitchen down there.

I live with these people.  

A few weeks ago, when the kids had to do their kid bathroom jobs Tank had to wash the floor.  (There is a list detailing the rotation of jobs).  In order to wash the floor, Tank tossed everything from the floor to the tub.  Um, most of the clothing that was on the floor BELONGED TO HIM.  

Tub of stuff - including the garbage bin.
 The work of Tank!

The coffee table in the basement AFTER
Tank's friends were here.  Darts.  Video
 game controllers.  Napkins.
Empty liter of lemonade.
  Oh, and a textbook with the cover
 ripped off.  And a lone dip chip.  

The next week, he had to empty the bathroom garbages.  I noticed the other night that he NEVER emptied the kid’s bathroom garbage BECAUSE THE OVERFLOWING GARBAGE BIN WAS STILL LOCATED IN THE BATHTUB WHERE HE LEFT IT.  It was as if he could not find it.  WHAT?  We were starting a movie, so I sent him to empty the garbage and started the movie despite his request that we pause it for him.  Um, NO!

Labels on my bins.
Ziploc bags
with lists on them
 are tucked inside.

Curly, who never complained while assisting me, pointed out to me in the basement:  ‘You are so organized!’  Because of how well labeled all of my little furry creations are in their little bags.  I swear if it was up to me, we would not live like pigs - and my costume storage proves it!

Not sure if you can see the swollen knee here,
 but Coach did not think it was swollen.
 Um, and you are a professional?  The aerial
 view shows it.  I first took this photo
without pants on - it was just my
legs, but still.  You're welcome.  

For example:  if I had some delicious bonbons while I lay on my couch nursing my knee, I would definitely make sure the wrappers made it to the garbage.  

* Knee update:  it has improved greatly as of today - typing this late Wednesday.  I hope that by early next week I will feel like myself again.  Mostly.  Unsure if I will be able to workout yet, but fingers crossed to give the elliptical a try.