A house full of college son’s mess
I have had an awful lot of stuff to move around lately. A few
weeks ago, I got new vinyl flooring in my kitchen and family
room
– and had to move everything out and two days later, everything
(well, almost everything) back in.
A house full of college son’s mess
I have had an awful lot of stuff to move around lately. A few weeks ago, I got new vinyl flooring in my kitchen and family room – and had to move everything out and two days later, everything (well, almost everything) back in.
Next, a friend of mine who had been storing boxes in my garage came and took them away. That was nice. But the extra space was only temporary.
The following day, Ross came home from college.
Ross is famous for taking up an unwarranted amount of room. He likes to collect things. He likes toys. He doesn’t like to give any of it away.
He also likes free stuff. And so he came home from college for the summer with a bit more than he’d taken with him.
Somehow, he’d accumulated four extra pillows and about 200 hangers.
“I like pillows,” he told me when I asked. Someone was giving them away and he took them. As for the hangers, “Well, my roommates were just going to throw them away. I thought maybe you would want them.”
As if.
So now I have all of Ross’s extra stuff, which is partially in the garage, partially in his room, and partially all over the house. There are random bits of Ross’s things just about everywhere, with the possible exception of the fireplace and the dog’s bed.
I talked to him about this on Monday. “Ross,” I said. “This stuff must go.” I gestured at the living room, where there were boxes, bags, various computer accessories, clothes, and, for some reason, rainbow-striped suspenders.
He said, with a little regal wave of the hand, “Oh, just put it in my room.”
That got me a little irritated. He was not getting with the program.
“First of all, it’s your job to get it out of the living room,” I said. “Secondly, your room will not hold anything else.”
He sighed.
“I’ve been so busy,” he said in a ploy for the sympathy vote. “I’m really tired.”
“Yeah, busy seeing all your friends and staying up too late,” I muttered. “Tomorrow. Everything. Must. Go.”
I’m still waiting.
All of Ross’s clothes are in the living room. He needs to clean out his dresser drawers to make room for them. Of course, he has not done this yet. So the clean clothes are there, jammed into a hamper and waiting to be put somewhere.
Why there are clean clothes in a hamper, which is meant for dirty things, is beyond me.
I have to confess, sometimes I can’t restrain myself when it comes to putting things away. There was a box in the living room full of books and electronic gear. I asked Ross if he could take it out and store it in the garage.
“But there’s stuff in there that I might need,” he said.
“Then take out what you need and put the box away,” I said.
He didn’t really want to do that.
So I did it for him. Well, I know I should have waited for him to do it, but it was a really annoying box. I was tripping over it at least twice a day.
He’ll be here until September, and then, thank goodness, he’ll go back to UCSC. Taking all his stuff with him, or at least that is my fondest hope.
In the meantime, I’ll settle for getting it out of the living room.
