The Art of Collecting Junk

My stepdaughter is something of a "collector". By this I mean...she likes to pick things up off the ground and stuff them in her pockets. She does this at school, at camp, on walks, in restaurants...anywhere. It doesn't matter where we are. If there is something on the ground that doesn't belong there, it now belongs to her. If there isn't miscellaneous trash or long lost trinkets to be excavated and collected, she will find some form of nature to take with her. Once, while walking around the lake near our temporary apartment, she picked up no less that 942 goose feathers. Ok...I'm exaggerating, but she did collect enough to make an impressive Indian headdress (though I am uncertain that goose feathers would be appropriate for this sort of project). We now have them stuffed in a shoebox for umm...safe keeping?

Being a "collector" isn't necessarily a bad thing and I would like to add that she has never picked up anything completely gross and disgusting, though I am not totally sure of the sanitary conditions of some of her findings. Where the problem arises for me...is that being the amazing domestic goddess that I am...I cannot seem to remember to do a pocket check before laundering clothes. Because of this,  I have washed leaves, flowers, rocks, coins (both real and fake), tissues, candy wrappers, plastic oddities, art projects, lip balm...the list goes on and on. Today, I spent an unreasonable amount of time digging individual beads (aka PixOs) from the bottom of the washing machine. The PixOs used to be shaped in some form of artwork, but alas...said artwork did not survive laundering. Oopsy. Hopefully,  the washing machine can survive the PixO invasion.

I am half-tempted to sew all her pockets shut because let's be real...I am never going to get the hang of doing a pre-wash pocket check no matter how many things I destroy or melt in the washing machine and dryer. Then again...let's be real some more...I am never gonna take the time to sew her pockets shut...so it looks like we will just have to continue  the collection game. She will continue to find treasures on the ground and I will continue to find treasures in the washing machine. And so it goes.