Today I cleaned my son's room.

Usually, I just shut the door and walk away.  I feel like it's HIS mess to clean up.  He gets grounded a lot.  We've taken away privileges.  When he was younger, we spanked him.  I've sort of come to the conclusion that this is a "pick your battles" sort of thing.  It's easier to shut the door and let it go than to constantly be at odds over a messy room.  It could be worse.  He could be using drugs.  Or running the streets getting into trouble.  Or sneaking out of the house at night.  Or abusing animals.  Or a million other things.  Perspective is a healthy thing when you're raising kids.  Right?

But every now and then, my sweet boy child goes to a summer camp or away for a visit with his cousin and I attack the mess that is his bedroom.  His room is kind of a wreck.  I only took this 1 "before" picture today and it only shows what it looked like under his bed.  But I think you can get the general idea from this one picture.

Umm...yeah.  It was all that bad. 

I know.

But here's the thing.  When I tackle his bedroom it's sort of like a treasure hunt.  Today, I found out that there is carpet in his closet floor!  Who knew?!

Seriously, though..check out all the cool stuff I discovered as I cleaned!

First of all, if we ever have an adhesive emergency, I know where to look!

And if anyone in the house needs scissors, pens, pencils, markers or colored pencils, Sam is THE MAN!

If one of us should have an illness, we can stop by the pharmacy... or save money by visiting Sam's room to pick up some vitamin C.  What a sweet boy to help us with the budget!

And while we recover from the illness, there is plenty of reading material to keep us busy.

In case of a regional hygiene crisis, we can visit Sam's room to pick up a razor, comb, deodorant or shower gel.  He has plenty.

Have I mentioned that Samuel is getting his braces taken off next week?  (This is orthodontic wax.)

Should we decide to visit the pumpkin patch again next Fall, we already have a game board for the corn maze.  You know, from our last visit there (in 2012.)  Sam takes that Boy Scout motto to heart about being prepared.

It's good to see that my 14 year old son is well-rounded.

No matter how messy he is, this crazy boy of mine is still a cool kid.  After all, how many other teenaged (white) boys do you know who have a poster like this on their bedroom wall?

And I'm sure he must've been holding onto all these outgrown clothes with the intention of donating them to his younger cousin who can enjoy them.  After all, why else would they all have been wadded up under his bed, in his dresser drawers, at the bottom of his closet and behind his TV?

And last but not least....when you have a boy, sometimes it's best to just let things (dishes) go & buy new.  I don't even know what this was!

Of course, the 9 month old Mountain Dew in his backpack from last year, along with the crushed (and spilled) bag of pretzels that accompanied it, were a nice treat to find as well.  I'm sort of amazed that we have not had rats or ants in his room!

Thank heaven for little boys.