Doing laundry with children is always an adventure. By "adventure" I don't mean to imply that it is necessarily fun or adventurous. Certainly it is endless. There is, however, always that element of the unexpected. Tonight's lesson was that while chocolate can survive in a cold load, it doesn't do so well in the dryer. Figures it is clothes I wanted for the morning. So I'm still up doing laundry on Saturday night at 11. Not as fun as some Saturday nights.

I thought about creating a sort of mural based on the things I pull out of the washer and dryer that aren't clothes. The occasional coin would help date the growing collection. It would have plenty of color from the Legos and Barbie shoes. My jeans are often authentically stone washed, as my kids like to pick up smooth or unusual rocks. When I saw feathers in there I crossed my fingers that it wasn't the whole bird. You never know in my house. We've had plenty of lip glosses go through, but some of those I confess were mine. We also launder plenty of money. I consider that a way-too-small tip. I suppose having children who are careless about emptying their pockets might be a good source of information as they become teenagers, but here we go back to that "ignorance is bliss" conversation.

What does your laundry debris say about you? Did you ever get caught by something you sent through the laundry?