Doll baby

We worked around the house today, catching up from being gone and from being too busy to do anything else. R swept and hosed off the deck and it's actually a pleasure to walk out there now. We swept the floors, the furniture, and tidied up. Our canary is molting so we're only keeping a half a step ahead of the feathers. Our fawn pug (the one who is newly blind) is also shedding, so we brushed, brushed, brushed, and then vacuumed him. He likes to be brushed and vacuumed so don't worry -- we weren't abusing him.

But the big thing I did today was go through doll clothes. We pulled boxes of dolls and clothes today out of the basement because apparently I never throw anything away that has even a modicum of sentimental attachment. My granddaughter has all of a sudden become very interested in dolls and doll clothes, which is something we didn't anticipate with this little girl. I realized as I was going through toys that we had always been careful to make sure her older brother's needs were met, and she just played with whatever he wasn't playing with. We never even dragged out the boxes of dolls and doll furniture, so if they wanted to cuddle something a stuffed animal or two filled the bill.

I went through the boxes, sorted the doll types and sizes into clear plastic bins, washed the doll clothes, threw out the torn dresses and orphaned socks, and found that we have a pretty good collection for anyone who wants to play house. I undressed and redressed dolls which I haven't done for 20 years at least. I boxed up the Barbies separately and put them away for another day.

And just so you are aware of my supreme anality, when I washed the doll clothes I rewashed some of them that didn't come out clean enough the first time. I used a stain spray on the tough spots and they really came out nice. I was inordinately pleased with myself. I refrained from ironing them though, so I'm not quite as crazy as it sounds.

We keep the toys for the grandkids mostly on shelves in our basement. Most of them are old toys our kids had that were too good (or too sentimental) to get rid of. We have a huge bin of Legos, tons of building blocks, every Hot Wheels or Matchbox car our kids ever received, even a box full of Happy Meal toys. I know. It's crazy. But the g-kids love playing with them and we figure it's no big deal to store them in the basement. They're not taking up precious closet space. We also have a ton of board games but haven't played most of them in years. I wouldn't mind getting rid of them but haven't done it yet.

Okay, now that I've confessed to keeping way too many toys, I must admit to watching the series about hoarders. I think it's on TLC. I'm not a hoarder, truly, but I think my father-in-law was a bit of one. After R's mother died we used to go to his house every six months or so and we would literally wade through the trash and papers on the floor. We'd clean it up and then do it again in another six months. We only touched the main floor -- we never ventured to the basement because it was just too much. Pretty much floor to ceiling with a path through the middle. We realized that R's mother had probably been keeping his tendencies down for the fifty-plus years they were married and when she died, he had no one to help him control his hoarding.

I think hoarding is a fascinating mental illness. I'm almost voyeuristic about it. We had neighbors early in our marriage who were hoarders. I had never been in their house but R had and when he came home from there he was always full of stories about the junk and trash and tiny little paths through it all. I can't imagine how it causes pain to part with anything, even trash and rotten food. And dealing with a life where you can't have visitors and often can't sleep in your own bed or cook in your own kitchen.

Okay, how did I get on hoarding from washing doll clothes and storing them away in clear plastic bins? Seriously, you should see how organized I am!