Cleaning out the closet

My sister and I got to do a fun mitzvah (which means"good deed" in Hebrew) this morning. On Saturday, while we were running a rehearsal for the community play "Mama Mia", our director asked if we could help her clean out the closet where we put all the props, costumes, art supplies, and who knows what other stuff. She said she'd been wanting to do this for quite a while, but she didn't want to do it by herself. So Annette and I said we'd be happy to. ^_^

Now, please take into account that this closet hadn't been cleaned out for a long, loooong time. How long? Oh, maybe between... 10 and 15 years!!! O,o

Yeah, our director has been putting on plays for that long. And people keep stuffing things into that closet that maybe don't belong there, so after many years of accumulation, you're gonna be cleaning out a lot of junk! But you know what they say: One person's trash is another person's treasure. I thought it would be fun helping her clean, because who knew what gems we would unearth in that closet?

We got there at 10:30 and were all finished by noon. Surprisingly speedy cleaning, no? 3 pairs of hands are better than one, obviously. ^_^ There was lots of dust and glitter on the floor, boxes full of garbage or useless things, and drawers to be reorganized.

It was really rewarding to clean out that mess. Not only for the warm, fuzzy feeling of a job well-done, but also for the many "treasures" my twin and I found and got to keep!

• A few cool hats (my brother Adam has a hat collection ^,^)
• A comb (Adam also likes styling his hair)
• 3 clipboards and some lined paper (Ms. Judy wasn't going to use them)
• A large Bob Dylan T-shirt (my dad would appreciate that, I think)
• A gray hoodie sweater with Hello Kitty on the front (it's pink and my size. Score! ^_^)
• A nice scarf (with a tiny hole in it, but I didn't notice it when we took it)
• A quarter (yay, we got paid! lol)
• A poster of a map of the world, with country flags surrounding it (so cool!)
• A mechanical pencil, a regular pencil, and a still functioning pen (more writing implements!)
• A couple of nice picture frames that were still in their plastic wrapping and in pristine condition! (I think they were left-over gifts from something...)

And best of all... (drum roll, please)... *tatatatatatatata*

• 3 awesome books! No, I'm not kidding. We found books in that closet! We walked away with all that other stuff, plus 3 free books!!! ^___^ The titles were:
• Eclipse, Book #3 in the Twilight saga, by Stephanie Meyer (cool!)
• The Host, also by Stephanie Meyer (even cooler! I loved that book!)
• A collection of "2-Minute Mystery" stories by the guy who wrote the Encyclopedia Brown series (I never read those, but I thought Adam might like this. Not to mention me, if I get curious enough.)

So there you have it. We helped an old friend sweep up her cobwebs and found a ton of useful things to take home with us. Our director was soooo appreciative of all our great help. Definitely a win-win, I'd say. ^_^