Deadly Toddler Clothing

My mom, my sisters and I decided that we wanted to have a yard sale. Before we moved up to Washington we donated three van-loads of stuff to DI and carried out around 2 van loads of garbage to unspecified dumpsters. (Thanks to our local businesses in Spanish Fork!) But there were some boxes in storage I hadn't been through, so I figured I could find something to sell.

Well, after two weeks of scouring the storage shed and cleaning out the Weikum's garage, I now have a permanent sinus clog and a giant pile of stuff to sell. It was fun to go through all the stuff. So many memories! More than a few times Doug and I said "Wow, I forgot about this!" or sadly "Hmmm.... do you remember where we boxed this?"

One afternoon in the storage shed, we were just about finished and Doug left me alone while he took the restless kids back to the house. We had already streamlined and re stacked the millions of bins of clothing from the kids. They were against the back wall in two large columns. (about 10 feet high). They were stacked neatly until I started clearing out the boxes that were keeping them standing up straight. Little did I know that their foundation was not level! I was holding one particularly heavy box full of old college textbooks and I looked up and all I could see were two giant towers of tupperware, leaning at an angle, sliding towards me. They were falling towards me of course, but it was so smooth, it looked like they were slowly stalking me. They were alive and coming after me! Of course my imagination was running wild. I pictured myself trapped in the back of the storage shed, buried by plastic bins spilling out toddler clothes. Surely my body wouldn't be found for hours!

Before that could happen, I jumped up and with more than a little force, pushed them back into place. The problem was that I was alone and I couldn't let go of them without them falling back down again. I imagined myself waiting there, holding the bins up with my super strength until Doug came back an hour later. Nahhh. That wasn't an option I wanted to try. What would happen if I just let them fall and I jumped out of the way? Well, some of the plastic bins are a little old and brittle and I expect they wouldn't bounce when they hit the concrete floor. Plus I imagine it would cause a chain reaction and take down a number of items in the shed that I can't really afford to replace right now. And if I didn't get out of the way in time, I could be crushed by the boxes. There was always a chance the lady in the office might see the video surveillance of me being attacked by toddler clothes. Hmmm.. on second thought I've seen her "working" when no one is in the office with her. She goes out to her car to read a book. So there's a big chance she wouldn't see the commotion either. I guess I was on my own!

Somehow I shifted the bins so they were a little more stable, then with one hand holding up the twin towers of Pisa, started pulling over boxes from the side to use as a brace. I'm not in shape, but thank goodness I'm not a weak and frail woman! (Must have been the adrenaline). I was able to pull a few very heavy boxes (baseball cards, books and glassware) with one hand into place so I wouldn't be squished by the toddler clothes. I finished digging through the remaining boxes, repacked the shed and waited in peace and safety until Doug came to pick me up. Whew! Crisis solved! Imminent death avoided!

Thank goodness for the training in multi-tasking with skill! You know... holding a crying child on one hip, one bigger child pulling on your leg, and another child hanging off your arm you are using to hold the milk while filling a bottle for the crying baby! When you can do that without spilling, then you know you are ready to take on the world! So the moral of the story is, when you are filling a bottle with milk, just focus on how this is preparing you for a life and death situation later!