a b.c.d.

My first real job was at Woodland Veterinary Clinic in Kentwood, Michigan. One of the best and worst days of the year at the vet clinic was B.C.D. - Big Cleaning Day. It was nice because we didn't need to do our regular work (very much - the animals in the hospital and the ones who were boarding in the kennels obviously received care, but there weren't any newcomers or regularly scheduled patients) and we got paid for a whole day of work and we got lunch. It wasn't nice because...well, it was big CLEANING day, which meant we cleaned the entire clinic from top to bottom until it sparkled.

I was recently reminded of B.C.D.'s of years past when I was out searching for a geocache in a pet cemetary with Mom and Dad over Christmas break. I found the gravestone of Trak, the black lab that belonged to one of the veterinarians I worked for. It was touching to read about him, and it brought back lots of great memories.

And thus...I decided this weekend to embark on my own B.C.D. in my bedroom.

Cleaning my bedroom is much more like an excavation. There are piles of stuff all over. It's a good thing that my room is tiny, because if there were more space, I'd probably just fill that up with stuff on the floor, too. Here's what it looked like on Saturday morning...

can you see the floor anywhere?

And I must admit that it is still not done. However, I was able to wash and fold and put away all the clothing. And I went through every single paper document in the room (this took the majority of the time) and decided to toss two black garbage bags full of papers I don't absolutely, positively need. (I know, I know...should have recycled...but it's unbelieveably difficult to recycle office paper in this community unless it's from your office or unless you have a job that doesn't require you to work between 10a.m. and 2p.m. Maybe I'll take the trash bags in to work someday...)

I unearthed a check from my grandpa for my birthday in 2004...I also found some tax documents that it turns out I need to get some more money from the I.R.S. if I send in an amendment to my 2004 tax return. (Note that recurring date...2004...which means I haven't thoroughly cleaned my room since 2004...!!!!!) I sadly did not find any additional intact socks, but I found every place where I had at one time decided I would house my socks with holes until I felt like fixing them - there are around 10 pairs of these type of socks. (Perhaps I'll have to have a B.S.F.D. - Big Sock Fixing Day.)

When all was said and done, I had at least moved some things around to spots that made more sense. Like my alarm clock to the far side of my dresser so I have to get out of bed to turn it off. This is to aid in the waking up on time element of my life. Unfortunately, this morning I woke up, turned it off, and set it for another half hour later (and also inadvertently turned down the volume, so when the alarm went off 30 minutes later I didn't hear it...) - so that's not quite working yet.

The work still isn't done, and I'll probably need a couple more B.C.D.'s to thoroughly de-clutter my room, but it's getting there. You should see the enormous new pile that is my knitting stuff...