I got out of the shower this morning to find my dear, sweet daughters embroiled in a bitter dispute over—are you ready for this?—dryer lint.
Seems Rose felt she had first claim to it, but she said, "I get the, um, whatchamacallit," and Beanie said, "I get the lint!"
So Jane gave it to Beanie.
The dryer lint.
From the dryer.
By the time I entered the fray, Jane had attempted (too late, oh yes, too late) to turn peacemaker by tearing the dryer lint into two pieces.
But she gave Beanie the bigger half.
Of the dryer lint.
I found myself standing in a towel, hair dripping, evening up the pieces of lint before I came to my senses and remembered that this was LINT FROM THE DRYER, as in tiny fuzzy fragments of socks and baby sleepers. Not something valuable like, say, a chocolate chip cookie or the last Twizzler in the package.
So I wadded the whole pile of fluff together and—gasp—threw it away. I say "gasp" because they did, my girls, in disbelief. The shock on their faces: you'd think I'd callously tossed out a puppy.
Wait till they find out what I do to dust bunnies.
Come on Mom...they were going to do something cool with that lint! It was going to be something creative, something inspiring, something to bug their sisters with...
Posted by: Nicole | January 30, 2007 at 10:08 PM
Ha, send them here. I have more lint than they will know what to do with.
My old dryer, which died last month, shot lint out of the outside lint hole like a gun. It was really the oddest thing. Cleaning the lint trap didn't help, there was always a pile of lint outside my front door. Weird. I should have taken pictures now that I think about it.
Anyway, all of the lint that was shot through that hole is in a recycle bucket on the porch. Heh.
Posted by: Denise | January 31, 2007 at 04:13 AM
Oh Lissa -- this sounds the altercation between Thomas and JP last night -- JP had gotten Thomas' penny (from his older brother Joe, yet) and Thomas was going to beat the fire out of JP (notice, not Joe who caused the whole stink but is 17 and BIG) for a lousy penny. I even offered to give Thomas a penny, but no he wanted "THAT ONE"!
Kids!
Posted by: Mary G | January 31, 2007 at 05:48 AM
But if you throw out the dust bunnies, what will the unicorns eat?
Posted by: JoVE | January 31, 2007 at 05:49 AM
You don't save Lint for Clay???
2 Cups Dryer Lint (firmly packed) 1/3 Cup Warm Water
6 Tbsp. White Glue
1 Tbsp. Clear Liquid Dishsoap
Tear the lint up into little bits. Mix everything in a bowl and knead until workable. Sculpt to heart's content. Airdries in a few days.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 31, 2007 at 06:09 AM
That's so funny!!!!
I once broke up an argument over who got wear the garbage can on their heads. "Take turns!!"
Posted by: Jennifer | January 31, 2007 at 06:10 AM
Oooh, don't tell them about the dust bunnies until they're in their teens. It's too hard to take.
Posted by: Karen E. | January 31, 2007 at 06:49 AM
I have seen dryer lint for sale on ebay. The kids could bid on it if your dryer doesn't produce enough for their level of demand. :)
Posted by: Rebecca | January 31, 2007 at 08:28 AM
I just had to comment again and say that Anne and Betsy are helpless with laughter as they read this ....
Posted by: Karen E. | January 31, 2007 at 08:37 AM
See the aattached URL for someone who makes art from lint. Enjoy!
http://www.studiocapezzuti.com/lint/participate.htm
Posted by: wyndow | January 31, 2007 at 12:32 PM
I had a corduroy ball that my mom made for me for my first Christmas. She always told me that they were really broke so she made all my presents that year. And the ball?...was stuffed with dryer lint! It was a good sized ball, too. I've always tried to imagine my mom saving up that much lint, week after week.
Posted by: patty (awesmom on librarything) | January 31, 2007 at 10:17 PM
We just compost our lint. But it looks like we can do more! Interesting.
Posted by: mrscrumley | February 01, 2007 at 10:18 AM
Oh, this is hilariious, Lissa! My boys have bot discovered dryer lint yet, but I'm sure when they do there will big fights!
Posted by: Jane Ramsey | February 01, 2007 at 10:44 AM
My sister does not have a TV. Once my niece and nephew were pretending a cardboard box was a TV. They sat in front of it watching a "show". My nephew got up and said "Click" my niece screamed "No you can't turn the channel".She got up and turned it back to her "show. This went back and forth several times. They were fighting over an imaginary TV!
Posted by: Melissa George | February 02, 2007 at 05:12 PM
OH Melissa, that is too funny! My Andrew has a thing for dryer lint too.
Posted by: Theresa ♥ | February 02, 2007 at 09:10 PM