Monday, November 17, 2008

Hoarding & Storing

Aaron has been painting trim in our house. In order to do this properly, he removed all the vent covers. In the projector/playroom. Do you see where this is going already?

We had some kids over one day to play, and I remembered to prop the vent cover up against the wall so that it looked covered, at least.

Later on, maybe a day or so later, I noticed that a tub, usually full of little plastic army men and McDonald's toys, was empty. No big deal, I thought- the kids were probably just messing around and put them in a different basket.

Friday night, I was in the kitchen when I heard Aaron yell. When I came in, he was up to his shoulder in the vent hole. Can you imagine how many and what size of toys can fit in an opening a foot wide and 8 inches tall? Let me tell you - a lot, and larger than should be inside of a wall.



All the toys in the photo, except for the actual tub and the items in it, were in the vent. Ben has been busy. And I just can't help but laugh every time I think about it! While he was retrieving items, Aaron said to me (in a rather accusatory tone, I thought), "Did you know he was doing this?" I said, "Seriously? If I had known, it would be MY arm down there, and I'd also be throwing a hissy fit." But maybe, just maybe, I would have given him a couple other toys that have been laying around lately.

I told Ben, "This is probably the naughtiest thing you've ever done," only to have Leah repeat that word-for-word about 2 minutes later. I reminded her that she's not a mommy. (I foresee many more years of this reminder.)

We still don't know if we got everything out, but the tub seemed to be appropriately full when Aaron quit - I'm tempted to stick the shop-vac hose down there and see what else we find!

(On a side note - doesn't that new wall color look great with white trim? Just think what new carpet will do for the place! It gets put in on Friday & Saturday! Yay, carpet fumes!)

6 comments:

Noel said...

So is this in the bottom level of your house OR is it a higher where the noise from toys dropping from the vent to the duct below should have been heard by a mom who didn't have Jewel cranked up? As was reported at Book Club, some moms have ears so sensitive they can hear cats prowling in the duct work in remote areas of the house.

Lyz said...

It's on our main floor. Most of the toys were small enough to not make a lot of noise, but the big yellow button thing is what tipped Aaron off to the whole business.

Ilene's cat story is hilarious! Folks, if you ever want to clean your ductwork, just leave the vent uncovered with a curious long-hair cat in the house. Simply vacuum cat off after tempting out again with treats.

Aaron said...

That is hilarious. I love the "hmmm, here's a hole, what can I put in it?" mentality.

Kim said...

We have the air return covers off too for a flooring project. Today I spied Izzy's little hand at the opening ready to drop something in. I immediately thought of you and checked to see if this was on your blog yet?

Anonymous said...

That's hilarious!
My husband would've asked me the same thing. Like maybe you were aiding and abetting the little guy. Giving him toys to put down the vent even. :)

Yes, the trim does look very good with the wall color. Very nice job!

AJ said...

I really don't remember the accusatory tone. But it did hurt repeatedly putting my arm down that hole and the depth was probably close to 3 feet down as it was fingertips and I had my whole shoulder in the wall. So there!