Tip Toe Through the Toy Mess

Because we live in Hawaii, we don’t wear shoes in the house. Well, I should clarify. I don’t wear shoes in the house because I did not growing up. My Chamorro/Japanese husband who grew up on Saipan and Guam wears house slippers, which is a Japanese practice. In general, people in Hawaii do not wear shoes in the house, but you will also find many households where people will switch to house slippers inside, as is done in my home.

My house is a perpetual disaster. Yes, we pick up the toys at the end of every day. But without fail by 8am the following morning, the house looks like it was hit by a cyclone, and this includes days where both my husband and I go to work and the boys go to the sitter.

Because I am barefoot in the house all the time, I fall prey to the stuff on the floor. There is a fair amount of cursing that goes on as a result of the stuff that I routinely step on, and it’s probably nothing short of a miracle that my boys don’t swear like sailors at this point.

I have compiled a list of the most aggravating things to step on barefooted that my boys leave on the floor. The list is in no particular order because the item may appear at different points on the list depending on the day. Bear in mind that I only have boys, so these items are based on things they leave around.

1. Dinosaurs. One word– horns.
2. Action Figures. They may as well have horns with the way they feel when you step on them.
3. Toy Cars. Sharp parts everywhere.
4. Legos. I don’t need to explain this one.
5. Playdoh. It gets into carpet, rugs, cracks in the floor and just feels gross. And speaking of feeling gross…
6. Rubber Lizards. I always seem to step on these at night when they are cold and I cannot identify exactly what I am stepping on.
7. Kakimochi/Japanese Rice Crackers. These don’t generally hurt, but they stick to everything.
8. White Rice. See reason above.
9. Fruit Pieces. Bananas, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, watermelon. It’s worse when the fruit is at least a day old– like a foot mask between the toes.
10. Any Toy That Talks/Sings/Beeps. Let’s face it, noise-making toys are aggravating because they simply scare the crap out of me when I step on them.

Please feel free to share your toy aggravations with me!