The Great Switcheroo – Hive and Nest

York, my petulant almost-14-year-old, is tired of sharing a room with his 11-year-old brother Finn. And who could blame him? Finn is a slob. Plus sharing a room is a complete drag when you’re a teenager. York has been begging for his own room for a couple of years now. When there are six kids in the house, though, space is at a premium. Of course India has her own room because she’s a teenage girl. And they simply must have their own space to sing along with ipods and pretend to be sexy in front of their mirrors. The two other girls share a room. They fight a lot but they both hate being alone so it works. Jasper has his own room. He napped until a few months ago so it was kind of a necessity.

Despite being 4 1/2 Jasper still sleeps in a crib. With the sides up. And bumpers. I know! It’s just that he’s my baby. So what if he can barely stretch out?

So it was decided that on his birthday this Thursday York will be allowed to move into Jasper’s old room and Jasper will move in with Finn. Won’t that be nice?

I’ve been trying to clean and organize a room that may have technically been Jasper’s, but really was more of my storage/craft room. There is fabric all over the place. And scrapbooking junk. And gift bags. And fifteen different colors of tissue paper which are all refusing to stay nicely folded up. And weird odds and ends like the CD’s I bought so the kids could learn French one summer (that good intention lasted for two days), and a silver tea set that I bought for my future daughter before I ever had kids. But it didn’t come with cups, so I’ve never given it to anyone because what fun is a tea set with no cups?

In other words, the room is a complete nightmare right now. Me swapping things around without anyone noticing is laughable. Everything is in disarray. Nothing has a place and that is the worst part about cleaning up. It’s like trying to invent the wheel.

And I have run out of steam.

Stay tuned for part 2: How to paint a room when the bedding hasn’t been chosen but the child has said he “likes orange things”.