Wednesday, November 30, 2005

What's in your dryer?

Or, more accurately, what's on top of my dryer? As we all know, the clothes dryer is the repository of all things in our households that are missing. Are you missing socks? The dryer ate them. (That's all dryer lint is -- residue from socks that the dryer viciously ate.) Can't remember where you left your car keys? If you're like me, you left them in your pocket and then washed them, so they're now in the dryer. Missing cash? I find a dollar or two in the dryer all the time. I keep hoping that they'll magically morph into hundreds, but no such luck yet.

Allison did a neat post not long ago about all the stuff that seems to accumulate in her dryer. She, like me, keeps a handy container on top of the dryer for storing all the assorted effluvia. Here's a listing of what is currently taking up space in my container.

* One Frederick's of Hollywood satin sleep mask, wadded into a ball.
* One of my husband's old business cards.
* One sadly mangled twist tie.
* One receipt from Eckerd's for $32.11 worth of digital photo prints, dated June 26, 2004.
* One purple Vermont Teddy Bear sash that reads: "Happy Easter!"
* One glow-in-the-dark ghost, lovingly handmade by my husband, during his "Sculpey" period.
* Two large paper clips.
* One small hunk of quartz.
* One hinged piece of metal.
* One plastic "Polly Pocket" shirt.
* One black Lego plane propeller.
* Approximately one-half of a mobile from a Barbie baby crib.
* One "Bratz" baby bottle on miniature chain.
*One tiny purple Spooky Jar from "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" playhouse.
* One large copper colored screw.
* Five screwdriver bits.
* One grey metal button.
* Four keys, whose function is now lost in the sands of time.
* One exceedingly lint-covered sticker of a sleeping cat.
* One dime, two nickels, and fifteen pennies.
* One pink plastic Barbie kneepad.
* Lots of dust and dryer lint.

Ah, the joys of domesticity!

8 comments:

halloweenlover said...

Ha ha! Too funny!

I just throw these all over the place, but I should accumulate and see what turns up.

ccw said...

I have: a box of Cheer, bottle of Zout and Downy (why use the shelf when the dryer will do?), many lonely socks looking for their mates, 2 nickels, a quarter, some Barbie clothes, some baby doll clothes, 2 dress-up bracelets, and portable memory for Mr. S's laptop (whatever brand he uses is great b/c I wash & dry it all the time).

KLee said...

CCW -- I have a couple of bottles of laundry stuff on top of mine as well, but I didn't include them because they weren't in my little cup that holds all this junk.

HL -- I'm just v e r y lazy, and I don't bother to take the two steps to throw everything into the trash can. I'm always figuring stuff like -- "Oh, we'll need those screwdriver bits someday!' Somehow, those things never get used again, sadly.

Running2Ks said...

Sometimes I find money (and I keep it). I last got a quarter. And then I have the nasty discovery of wadded up kid socks or shirts or pants because my dryer likes to take things and twist them up near the door.

I figured out the mystery of the socks, though:

1. If they are toddler socks, it is possible your washer ate them (mine does that).

2. If your husband is anything like mine, then he throws in one sock at a time, figuring the mates will find each other through a few wash cycles--eventually.

ccw said...

Oh, you have a cup for your junk? My list is simply scattered across the top of my dryer. I need a cup/basket, that would make it seem organized.

suze said...

oooh. that's a good missing sock theory. mine is that random socks get sucked into another dimension, the portal to being of course, the dryer. In this alternate dimension, a giant sock army is forming, preparing to take over the world. one day, when we least suspect it, we will open our dryers and all the missing socks from all the dryers in all the world will start to tumble out and then the socks will take over the world.

although i came up with that theory in my first year of university, so it is entirely possible it was just a hallucination i had while i was under the influence of numerous illict substances. ahhh, youth. ;)

KLee said...

Suze -- that theory is a little too disquieting for me. I would contstantly worry that the sock army was about to mobilize against me at any second. That being said, your theory is probably the more correct of the two, as that's my typical sort of luck.

:)

Unknown said...

My dryer is clean on top, but that is only because it is new. (And I only have a new dryer because I set the last one on fire...)