Recipe for a Messy Room

My son is home from his first year of college.  He was 7 hours from home and his bedroom at home had been immaculate since his departure last August.  I did not have to rake the floor of his room all year long.  Yes, rake the floor!  Don't you rake the floor of your children's bedroom?  Perhaps you don't find it necessary, but it worked for us.  Although he is a wonderful student he seems to have a gene missing that helps a person organize their "stuff".  He has been suffering from this disorder for years, or rather he suffers when I finally blow my top at the sheer chaos that qualifies as his haven from the world.  

"How can you get dressed in the morning if you can't find a pair of matching shoes?"  I shrilly cry at him in exasperation.  "The roaches have sent out a mass invite to Will's room.  The resources are plentiful and there are lots of dark places to seek cover if your dining experience is interrupted by his mom."   I am by no means a neat freak, but there are no bounds to his lack of order.  Nonetheless, he never went to class unclad and he didn't lose his school work under a mound of granola wrappers.  

I've actually been enjoying my summer with my first born although I was warned about how difficult it could be when a child returns home from college.  Life with Will has been peppered with difficult situations even though he is a great kid by most standards.  He's a bit stubborn and so am I.  He's the one that fell behind everyone while on a visit to Yellowstone.  His sister who was 9 at the time came back with the fateful report.  Will is whining because as he scooted along the picket fence at Mammoth Springs he picked up a rather large splinter in his butt.  Yes, my kids use the word "butt" and "stupid" if the situation deems it necessary which at the time both words came in handy.  He survived, but only after heroic efforts were made to recover the offending piece of wood.

I've managed to enjoy my summer by avoiding the upstairs and keeping his door closed.  Which by the way no longer has the newspaper clipping on it.  You know the one about the mother that accidentally killed her son over his messy room.   This poor woman picked up a cane to beat the messy son with.   A false cap fall off the end of it and revealed a hidden blade which she inadvertently used to stab her first born son.  Not that we've ever come to blows, but I thought this might give him something to ponder the next time he absent-mindedly placed a Cheezit box next  to the empty Vanilla Wafer's box which was on top of the Fruit Loops cereal box.

I made the mistake of opening the door.  He was out for the evening and old habits die hard.  I organized his room, but not the closet.  The closet was more than I could bare.

The next day I didn't say a word.  I waited.  I waited a bit longer.  Finally, I broke down and asked,  "How's your room?"  His reply was, "You've destroyed my natural habitat."  Dear Lord, is there some saint I could possibly pray to?  He also had taken his Poptart box out of the trash and put it back on his dresser.  "I've had that box for awhile now.  I need it for my change."

I closed the door.  I have not decided that if you can't beat them join them, but I am considering finding him a room close to a junkyard so he can be with "his element".

Now how does this relate to food?  Well, I found quite a bit in his room.  

Recipe for a Messy Room

1 box of Apple Cinnamon Nutragrain bars ( in bag with hangers)

1 box of Ear Gray's tea

1 empty box of Vanilla Wafers

1 half empty box of Cheezits

1 kitchen sponge

2 Electric guitars

1 acoustic guitar

1 saxophone

1 keyboard

1 humongous 30 year old amp

1 small fairly new amp

1 wahwah pedal??  I think that's what it is.

1 bed

1 nightstand

1 shelf unit from dorm

1 book shelf

1 recliner from dorm

1 dresser

1 desk and chair

1 trillion cds

old records with turntable

1 lap top

2 sets of hand barbells

an old stereo with speakers

clothes, books, shoes

papers, notes, binders from highschool

sheet music 

5 different blankets (We live in the deep South.  It's not hot.  It's sweltering!)

childhood toys and memories

Legos, Poggs, Brio train set, Matchbox cars, Sports cards, and more

several high school uniform ties on floor along various magazines, wet towels and dry ones, bike helmet, socks, t-shirts, glasses, Jones soda cans, art supplies, wrappers, pens, highlighters, binders,  pencils, ect.  There is a veritable Wal-Mart on that Kid's/adult's floor!