Pack Away

Can you count the times your mom said to clean your room? I can't count the many times my family, relatives and friends ever said that to me!  I hate cleaning my room!  I'm comfortable with my mess and I know where everything is anyway.  I wouldn't let anyone touch my stuff, even if you paid me for the honor of cleaning my room.

But now I have no choice.  We're moving from the house we have lived in for more than 33 years.  Let me not bore you with the sad details, but let's just say my dad sold the house.  Actually, we don't have a place to move into yet.  But it's inevitable.

Let me tell you, I'm a pack rat.  I keep almost everything and it pains me to throw away things.  I don't even give away stuff people has given me, however much I don't like them (the stuff and/or the ones who gave them to me) or need them. 

I have kept old clothes that don't fit anymore; bags that are out of fashion; shoes that I so love but can't wear anymore; accessories that I like to look at but don't really wear coz i rarely change my jewelry; cutie-cutie stuff that are more appropriate for graders; toys (who said toys are only for kids?); old photos that are still in those magnetic albums; souvenirs from weddings, christenings and  vacations; cassette tapes and long playing albums of my favorite 80s bands (they are unopened and might be worth something on ebay); pig stuff, which I religiously collected at one point; stuffed toys (hell yeah!); fast food chain promo items; mugs and candles I got as gifts; i have four piggy banks (one is a humongous one but the body design is that of a cow); a million unfinished cross stitch projects; paper from school and work; stuff better know as anik-anik; and of course a ton of books.

Now, I have to be practical....ugghh!  I just have to be strong, close my eyes and throw away what I don't need or can live without.  No, the piggy cow has to stay!  Ive already given away the bags I don't use.  But there are still enough that I can use to put most of my stuff in...like 30 of them (yes, I can do a month using one different bag a day).  And my bags aren't the small types either.  My clothes will probably all fit in a few of them.  I just need the boxes for my books, which are about 500-800.

My bedroom is the only room left in the house that is untouched by the evil packaholic...my dad.  Just as my mom was a pack rat (guess I got that trait from her huh?), my dad likes to throw away things, and without saying anything beforehand may I add!  Several times in the past, my mom and I would be turning the house upside down looking for something just to find out my dad has thrown it away.  So, in the case of my room, I warned him not to touch it.  Though he tried his very best to make me clean it up. Did I say I hate to clean my room????