This Old Closet

Today is my last day of vacation. What are good things to do on your last day? Nap, read a book, play golf? Nope. Put up wire shelves in my daughter's closet? Yes. We had a gift card for Menards, so we got some shelves and today is also the last day we have before Emery returns from Gramma's house. Lady Di will go and pick her up tomorrow. So it's now or never.

All of Emery's clothes and toys and books are now all over her bed and/or floor. I don't want 'Sweet Pea' to come home to that.

"What did you do to my room!!!" , "I want a different Daddy!"

OK, she probably wouldn't say that, but she wouldn't be happy.

So I asked Ethan to help me with this project.

"OK, Dad. What do we do first?", he asked.

"First, you get your radio from your room.", I instructed.

"To listen to music while we work?", he excitedly offered.

"Exactly.", I answered. "You do that while I get my tools."

Ethan plugged in his radio and couldn't find a radio station he liked so he put in his Wacky Songs CD. The one with Monster Mash, Short Shorts, and Purple People Eaters.

After my fifth or sixth trip to the garage, I finally had all the tools I needed. Lady Di mapped out where each shelf was to go and I started to work. So I marked a few spots, drilled a few holes, trimmed a couple shelves, remarked a few spots, redrilled a few holes, cursed a little, and a few hours later, my daughter had shelves. I now can't stand the song Monster Mash. Ethan was a very good helper. He got the music going. He resharpened my pencil. He actually took the broken pencil and returned with a different sharpened pencil. He thought this was pretty funny. He even made a 'Men Working' sign for the job site. We even got to whistle at Lady Di when she walked by. Just like real workers.

After we got the shelves in, it was Lady Di's turn to work on the closet. It was her job to put everything in place. She made sure the dresses were all together in the proper order. She also organized all of Emery's pants, tops, belts, socks, underwear and tiaras. Some books and Barbies also found their proper place. It is amazing how many clothes she has.

Ethan must have been tired after all of our work. We laid down on his bed to read a chapter in his book. When that was done, he pulled his shades and fell asleep. He may still be a little worn out from his ear surgery on Monday. Or he may be tired of watching movies all day and not being able to run around outside. Either way it was nice to get something done on my last day of vacation, and to have such a great partner to help me.