"If you tear up this note I will still love you"

I think it's in The Secret Life of Bees (in the book--I'm not sure about the movie) where the protagonist's father makes her kneel on grits as unusual punishment for various misdeeds. You know, grits--the small, hard mealy stuff that Southerners cook and consume for breakfast, lunch and dinner (at least, in the movies they do).

Today, cleaning my 9-year-old son's bedroom, I felt like that girl. Not like I was being punished, exactly, but like I was kneeling on grits. Only instead of the Southern staple, there were seemingly millions of very small pieces of plastic punishing my nerve endings: Legos. Lots and lots of Legos. And while yesterday's nemesis was potholder loops*, today's tedious pick-up item was something I didn't have a name for until now: K'Nex. I could have swept and/or vacuumed them into oblivion, but creativity-supporting mom that I am, I collected them, one ubiquitous piece at a time. On my knees. And even now, I'm smiling from the pleasure of accomplishment, thankful I have this time off to serve my family in such a lowly way. Sometimes, it literally is "the little things"...

Best find! Little sister to big brother...

*My Facebook status a day ago: "Today I cleaned Lucy's room, aka the Island of Glitter, Paper Scraps, and Misfit Toys. (Please may I never see another potholder loop as long as I live!)"

Here are a few other "things that made me go, 'hmmm...'" (you can click on the pictures for a closer look, if you like)

Toolbox half-full of water. ("It's for my Orbeez," son explains.)

File drawer containing formerly stuffed snowman head

Fuzzy slipper containing four partially eaten Lifesavers

After hibernating behind nearby shelf, "Elvis Dumbledore" returned to his perch