Sparts
Tripping me up every.single.day are these little roadblocks to cleanliness, otherwise known as "sparts" (a combination of "spare parts" ... because, if you've read my diatribe on "clerty," you know that I love making up word hybrids). Otherwise known as "what the hell is this and why are you playing with it?" I'm talking about this kind of thing:
Or this ...
... or this.
My kids have a ridiculous mountain of toys. Whole, intact toys with all their working parts. So why they want to play with these weird little ... pieces is beyond me. All I know is that I find them all over the place, and if I can't immediately identify where they came from, they go in the trash the minute my kids aren't looking. One less thing to step on/trip over/find stuck to the carpet somehow.
Sometimes Colin will be throwing something away and he'll catch a glimpse of one of these parts that I've put into the trash can. (I usually stuff them way in the back, or stash them under something else, to avoid this - but it doesn't always work.) And then he fishes it out in disbelief, and is all, "How did this get in the trash?" like he's highly offended. As if I had thrown away an entire, working toy ... or the Wii or something equally valuable.
He'd be seriously pissed if he knew how many "sparts" I toss out on an almost-daily basis.
We have the same problem at our house! Oh, but I think I know what the piece is in the third picture. Do they have a small plastic golf club set from Wal-Mart? Cooper has one of those sets and it looks just like the top of one of the golf clubs that I find laying around my house all the time!
ReplyDeleteYep - that's exactly what it's from. Unfortunately, the golf clubs themselves are missing ... so in the trash the handle goes. Oops! ;)
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you are talking about! I have ignored all of these "sparts" until recently because of how much my kids seemed to like them, but we are moving in a month so everything that isn't vital must go! I hide them in the trash too so they don't see them later - although my kids have a remarkable ability to appear out of nowhere the second before I put something in the trash and stop me. I usually have to save my purging for bedtime
ReplyDeleteKate, I've resorted to doing it at bedtime too - I know exactly what you mean about the kids miraculously appearing when you're trying to hide something! I'm still trying to figure out a way to go through the actual TOYBOX and pick out all the "sparts" ... but you know that's a rare opportunity!
ReplyDeletemaybe i just have a perv mind, but those last 2 sparts are really phallic! especially the last one. when i 1st saw it I was kind of shocked that you were showing off YOUR sparts. haha. what the heck are those things for? guess that's why they're getting trashed.
ReplyDeleteAmy - LOL! Actually the first spart is (I believe) a wheel to something or other; the second one is (I think) part of a fence post that goes with a broken Fisher-Price dollhouse; and the third thing (I'm pretty sure) is the handle to a plastic golf club. Although now that you mention it ... ;)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I had the same thought as amy rae. In addition to that, when I first saw the title, I thought of the word "shart" so I was trying to figure out was a "spart" was before I read it. I guessed it was spitting and farting at the same time.
ReplyDeleteLOL okay the last 2 pics look like something that adults would play with.....yet they are pieces to toys for children....too funny!
ReplyDeleteYep, you have no idea how many sparts I've hidden in the trash through the years! ;o)
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd picture caught my eye before I started on the text .... definitely had my eyebrows raised. LOL.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - "shart" is one of my favorite words. In my opinion, it doesn't make it into conversations nearly as often as it should. ;)
ReplyDeleteFor everyone who thought something perverted was afoot before reading the text ... shame on you. Just kidding. :) Maybe I should do a blog entirely of pictures and call it "Child's Play or Adult Toy? You Decide."
Mom - no wonder I could never find the parts to anything as a child! THOSE weren't sparts, they were IMPORTANT. ;)