Moving to Seattle: Stuff be gone

One of Noah's college roommates was visiting Seattle this weekend and we tentatively planned to have them over at our apartment. So, Noah and I spent about thirty minutes this morning trying to make the house presentable (i.e. not completely disgusting). It had been almost three months since I've really "cleaned" our place here and the amount of dust bunnies that accumulate is always a bit frightening. Then there's the clutter. Even though I've made a very conscious effort to not buy the kids a bunch of toys here, knowing that we would have to pack them up in the minivan to move back to Baltimore, the kids somehow seem to accumulate piles of stuff. I can't exactly define the "stuff;" it's not really toys, but just little accumulations of things that they've grown attached to. Genna is still holding on to all her Valentine cards. She just loves them and knows which kid gave her every card. Then there are the birthday cards for Jonah - both kids love those. Then there's all of Genna's drawings and little things that she makes in school. Then there's the magnets and bookmarks and stickers and tatoos that seem to multiple like rabbits. By themselves, none of these things are big nor bothersome, but as a whole, the "stuff" makes the house messy and difficult to clean. So, this morning, while the kids were playing elsewhere, I did the unthinkable. I put most of the "stuff" in the trash or recycling. We'll see how the kids cope, or if they even notice. Genna did spend about five minutes looking for the little heart card she made Jonah for his birthday. I told her that it would "turn up," of course hoping that in a week or two she would forget about it. I took a gamble this morning, but it was for my sanity.