Toy Madness

It is official. The toys have taken over my house. They are everywhere. In the living room, littering the bedrooms, trailing into the bathrooms, hanging around the kitchen, sneaking up under my feet, hiding under the couches.... Are you getting the picture? The toys are literally everywhere. I would even venture to say that we have more toys than an actual toy store.

I am not really sure how it got this out of control. I remember a time, long, long ago, when all of Mario's little baby toys fit into one basket in our living room. Then it was 2 baskets. Then a bucket. Then some started going into his room. When we moved into our current house, I had a nice little set up in the living room with some storage bins.

When Luigi came along, I thought our stock of fun items would maybe double. But, as the French would say, "au contraire, mon frère." They do not only double, they actually multiply exponentially. Then, when you add a girl to the mix, it is really like starting all over again, since, obviously, no girl can play with--GASP!--used Matchbox cars! And so you once again multiply the vastness of the toy collection by the next exponent. (**Disclaimer--I do not know, nor do I claim to know anything about math beyond, say, a first grade level. But, I would imagine that multiplying by the next exponent means a helluva lot of stuff.)

In an effort to try to contain the plethora of toys into one space, we gave up our dining room and turned it into a full blown room of fun. The Goombas have their very own Toy Room. I put a carpet over the hardwood floors to make it cozy. We hung brightly colored kid stuff on the walls. We put bins and baskets and a kid size table in the room. It looked so very nice--for about 13 seconds. Then the kids went in to play. Suddenly nothing was in it's well organized space anymore. Toys scattered into the far corners of the room and most have never found their way home again.

Then, slowly, they began migrating out of the Toy Room. Suddenly bins were showing up back in the living room. Some toys, the ones that aren't played with much, were sent to the basement where they are flung far and wide. Other toys, the "special" toys, migrated into bedrooms. And yet, the Toy Room was also still chock full of stuff! It's not like once it left the Toy Room there was an empty space. Oh no, no, no! Once one toy leaves, it is as though another one magically appears to take it's place.

Just a few weeks ago, I decided to tackle the monstrous mass of toys. I threw away everything that was broken. I made a donate pile for things the Goombas don't play with anymore. And I found a spot for everything else. I moved everything that had migrated into the living room, back into the Toy Room. My house was mine again for an entire 23 minutes, and then naptime was over and, well... I'm sure you can guess what has happened since.

I try to get the Goombas to help pick up every night. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Frankly, at the end of every day, I am so exhausted that I usually just kick the toys around to make a path up to my bed. It's not like they won't all be out again tomorrow, so really, why even bother?

The way I see it, someday my living room will be completely toy-free. I will have fancy knick-knacks on my coffee table and no fingerprints on the television. I won't step on trains and legos anymore. I won't wake up to strange voices because the cat knocked a "talking" dolly off the bookshelf. I won't sit on the couch and feel a pile of stuffed animals "camping" under the cushions. And I have a strange feeling that I will miss those things.

So, maybe my house looks a little untidy. Maybe the toys take up more living space than our actual family does. But, that is ok with me. And now, I must sign off. I have to make a path from my bed to my bathroom so that I don't slip on one of our hundreds of Matchbox cars in the middle of the night.

Cheers!
~Daisy