My older children are walking metal detectors. It seems that every time we are out in public, at least one six-year-old wins the lottery in the form of a blackened dime found in the gutter or a rusty penny pried out of a sidewalk crack.
Yesterday afternoon, Kellen screamed "I'm rich!!!!!" after finding a flattened nickel in the parking lot of Old Navy.
Due to the growing concern that my thirteenth-month-old might find some of his siblings' coins lying around the house and put them into his mouth, I confiscated everyone's loose change and put it in a basket next to the kitchen sink.
Yesterday afternoon, Kellen screamed "I'm rich!!!!!" after finding a flattened nickel in the parking lot of Old Navy.
Due to the growing concern that my thirteenth-month-old might find some of his siblings' coins lying around the house and put them into his mouth, I confiscated everyone's loose change and put it in a basket next to the kitchen sink.
After several hours of staring longingly at the basket, my boys asked if they could count its contents.
"We just want to make sure that it's all there," they said.
The baby was napping so I agreed.
Unfortunately, I underestimated the weight of 327 pennies, 24 nickels, and 17 dimes. The basket slipped out of my hands and 368 coins slid down the mouth of the garbage disposal.
I spent the next 15 minutes fishing slimy pennies out of a sea of last night's dinner scraps.
"Why are you throwing my pennies away?" shrieked Cortlen. "WHY?"
Someday my son will know the answer. For the next 30 years, however, he will believe that I am the meanest mom in the world. Or the craziest.
Probably both.
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Hey, that's what motherhood is all about - being seen in a light you never imagined you would (mean, crazy, scary, irrelevant, all depends on the day).
Thank goodness you aren't married to my husband!! Not only would you have been getting the guilt trip by your son, but my husband (who was a plumber in another life) would have been giving the first degree on the dangers of objects being put/falling into the garbage disposal and the destruction it can cause to one's plumbing.
Wow. At least nobody swallowed the coins (that has happened to 1-2 younger members of my extended family. . . . )
I don't even know what I would have done... The garbage disposal sort of freaks me and fishing all that out would have kind of been a problem. You pretty much rock!
Oh yuck. I hate when unwanted things go down the disposal.. so nasty.
I will never think of "throwing money away" in the same manner again. You may just be the meanest mom ;)
Ugh! That so would have happened to me too. I've found myself doing some interesting things that I would have never thought of with my kids or because of my kids.
On another note: I'm always fishing something out of the disposal. My husband always thrilled when I announce that I've tried but I cant figure out what stuck in there. Doesnt he know that with his back turned I'm just throwing objects in there such as pennies, rocks, and plastic toys. Its my secret plan you know:)
My least favorite place to have to stick my hand is in the garbage disposal. ICK!!! But my kids are great about dropping things in there, too. Unfortunately, it is a skill they learned from ME. :( I'm always dropping something in there that needs to be pulled from the deep, dank, dark recesses. But it HAS caused me to be a little more alert when it comes to cleaning the disposal. I run ice cubes through there periodically to sharpen the blades, but it also cleans it out nicely. A few ice cubes, a squirt of lemon juice and at least when I am forced to fish out a coin or a piece of jewelry, it doesn't smell quite so bad. :)
Ewww. I am recently becoming grossed out by cash in any form (maybe because I had plenty to keep me in-budget for Christmas shopping) and now any time I handle money, I itch for hand sanitizer.
Hmm...$6.17...that's not TOO awful bad!
I'm continually fishing out of the disposal too. Last night's culprit was a soda can "pop tab". Ugh, those stupid little things!!!
Kelli, thank you for the insight. I didn't know ice (of all things) would sharpen the blades!
Dude! This so happened to me, only it wasn't my fault, AND we had to get an entire new garbage disposal. My son broke his glass piggy bank into our sink. Glass and change everywhere made for treacherous reaching...it was the most expensive piggy bank break ever. Check it out! http://emilyssomething.blogspot.com/2008/10/im-so-mad-i-could-scream-and-i-did.html
Dang that's a lot of coins down the drain. What a PITA to dig it all out. We have a high counter behind our sink and I have to be careful what gets put there. We also have our key holder above our garbage can, not the smartest place.
How crazy!
Yuck! I hate sticking my hand in the garbage disposal.
Don't you know things like this happen to us moms because we apparently have nothing better to do.:D Yikes, no matter how far away the disposal switch is I still freak out that it's going to magically turn on and leave me digitless!
This is something I probably would have already done were I allowed to own a garbage disposal. Living in NYC, my buildings have always prohibited them.
On the plus side, you don't need a disposal to lose money in strange and interesting ways. Last week, my daughter took $30 from my wallet and stuffed it into the subwoofer for our surround sound.
I visit here every day to read your blog! it's great Thank you for your posts of wit and wisdom :) I have an award for you over on my craft blog
is the silver lining the fact that you didn't have to call a plumber or open the sink trap?
Those street-sourced coins were probably already pretty dirty before they went into the disposal....
You have more adventures than any one person is entitled to.
I'm sorry that happened; digging in the disposal is disgusting and my husband always uses the "my hands are too big" excuse.
On another note, I estimate that my kids pour 1/2 a gallon of milk down the drain every day, so I figure I've lost $1000.00 there myself.
thats soo great. but gross at the same time.
ICK. ICK ICK ICK.
That's all.
It is so very convenient that my husbands hand does not fit down the disposal. Regardless of who drops the item down the drain, I am the retriever. Thank you for the laugh!
Now that's bad luck!
My kids love to find things on the street too, and I keep trying to scare them off by saying things like: 'You know, a dog peed on that!' but they just don't care. Money equals candy to them, even if it's dirty money.
i guess it's a good thing you have a garbage disposal! Or else the coins would have just gone down the drain and really caused a problem!
...just proof that you never know where those coins have been!!!! ;)
Too funny! And I thought fishing down the garbage disposal for lost spoons was bad.
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