I think there is some kind of space-time anomaly in my house.
How else to account for all the weird things that keep disappearing? Keys, lids to travel mugs, books, rolls of tape, silver gel markers, and toys -- especially toys -- keep disappearing.
Sometimes these things do reappear: usually when I'm not looking for them, sometimes in places I'd never thought to look, sometimes in places that I was sure I'd already looked. The other day I swear a cassette tape just materialized onto a shelf that had been empty thirty minutes previously.
Sometimes, they never do reappear, or only turn up after I've despaired of finding them (for example, the book I lost one Easter and discovered on Christmas Eve, wedged deep in the upholstery, long after I'd replaced it.)
This drives me nuts. I have this weird compulsive side that becomes profoundly uneasy if there's a piece missing from a set (I especially hate when puzzle pieces get misplaced; I keep puzzles out of reach now and only dole out a new one when the old one is turned in intact.) I probably should be working in an OR and not as the at-home mother of a little boy who got toys with jillions of pieces for Christmas. I probably should not have been the one who gave him those toys, either.
Some things get lost because I put them someplace "just for a moment" and then forget all about it. Some things get lost because Hambet has hidden them someplace. But for some things, I just have no explanation. There's either some kind of esoteric physics involved or Saint Anthony and my Guardian Angel are hiding things, perhaps to teach me a lesson.
Well, dear Saint and dear Angel, whether or not you're behind this latest round of disappearances, I promise I've learned my lesson. Please help me -- some of these things have not even spent 48 hours in my household.
Missing:
one little wooden train sign
one striker for the triangle from the marching band set (last seen on the shelf above the computer; I have no idea how it vanished from there)
one maraca
I was going to include one toucan and one panda bear on the list, but somehow overnight these two critters reappeared and joined their mates on Noah's Ark.
lol Peony. I can't find *any* of our Noah's Ark animals. We've got Noah and the ark, but that's it. I used to be very good about insisting that all of these be kept in ziploc bags, but I sort of ran out of steam. So now we have missing parts to just about everything. Grrrr...
We've hit up St. Anthony more than I care to admit!
May I also suggest that you put up a small shrine to St. Anthony?
and then hit up a store for those plastic shoeboxes for storage of all the small parts.
alicia -- good idea! I will work on the shrine to the Saint. Any suggestions on a nice way to set one up? I will have to look for a image of the Saint that does not make him look like a girly-Saint.
We do have little boxes for all these parts. The thing I need to work on is insisting that all the little parts be returned promptly to their little boxes (and, most importantly, setting the example by putting my own things way promptly instead of leaving them for later.)
I was doing well with keeping the musical instruments put away; it was my failure to keep that up and promptly return the striker to the box that led to its loss. But I had the striker in a safe place! And I have no idea where the maraca went. I've been looking and looking -- where in the world does this stuff go?!
we had a shrine to Saint Anthony but somehow it got misplaced.
(i really dig your coolmoe wallpaper, gals; tres festive!)
Maybe we all need to create a list of the things were missing in our houses. This might be a series of wormholes joined together, because we have toys we never saw before! Anyone missing an Elmo toy dressed in a flower suit???
On a Ren and Stimpy episode back in the day, they were lost in another dimension with all the missing left socks at a bus stop where the bus headed to Jersey City. It explained a lot for me.