Maybe they are hiding out with all the socks from the dryer ...

A slipper, an Iron Man action figure, a library card and a Nintendo DS game.

No, I am not playing some odd version of Carnac the Magnificent (for those of you who don't know what that is LOOK IT UP because you should. I don't care how old you are - you should know THAT!), but I will say all these things do have something in common.

They are all lost somewhere in my house. Even with a bit a searching they are still lost. Real looking, too - not just "kid looking."

For those of you without kids I will explain the difference. "Kid-looking" is when I kid walks into a room and if the object they are looking for is not smack dab in front of their face or physically touching them, they can not find it. Repeated attempts by adults to tell them to look harder only has them returning to the exact same spot they were before and looking even less. 

My son is an expert "kid-looker." He will claim to look high and low for his Batman car or Aqua Man or favorite MSU stuffed bear. He becomes distraught because he has looked "everywhere" and he can not find it. So when I finally decide to get off my keister and help him look, inevitably I find said item in about 30 seconds - sometimes less.

But there a few items - namely the few I have listed above that no matter how much "real" searching is done, the item can not be found. And it is starting to really tick me off!

I have mentioned before how I am a bit OCD when it comes to things being neat and orderly so when something comes up missing I just want to drop everything until the item is found and put back in its proper place. A missing item for me is like have a picture frame perpetually askew in the house. It drives me a bit batty!

Now I am sure some of these items will eventually turn up. There is no way that I kid slipper is really gone forever - in fact I just thought of another place to look. Gimmie a sec to go look for it ...

Yea! I found it! Huzzah! In the dirty laundry by mistake. Why didn't I think to look there before? Well that is one item found, only about 20 to go.

And while I know that more will turn up during clean-up time or randomly when I am looking for something completely different, there are a couple things I can not fathom where they might be.

Topping the list is my daughter's library card. She was so excited this fall when she was given her very own library card. The librarian suggested (and rightly so) that she keep her card on file at the library so it would not get lost (hmmmm), but she INSISTED that she would take good care of it and not lose it. Within 24 hours it was gone. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.

I know I should have put my foot down and made her leave it at the library, but I was trying to teach her a little responsibility. Lesson learned. By mom anyway. Six-year-olds should not be in the care of their own library cards. We have searched and searched for that card and I keep thinking is just going to turn up, but it has been almost six months now and nothing.

The most recent disappearance has been a Nintendo DS game my oldest bought with some Christmas money. Also lost within about 24 hours. My husband and I have searched high and low for that sucker and can't seem to find it. My fear is that it fell off her desk and into the trash and was accidentally tossed, but I really don't think that happened. I think I would have wondered what the heavy thing was in the trash - which is usually only filled with tissues and crumpled pieces of paper.

The most frustrating part (aside from wasting 20 dollars) is she doesn't seem all that upset it is missing. She just shrugs and makes some nonchalant comment about it. Her dad and I, on the other hand, are quite irked. We try to instill the importance of earning things and that they are not entitled to everything they want. So when they lose something it would be nice if they were a little upset by it. Their laissez-faire feelings gives me the impression that they think we are just going to run out and replace whatever it is they lost. Not sure where they got that, because that is certainly NOT going to happen.

Maybe she is trying to be strong and not show how truly upset she really is by the loss of her game and library card. Sure, I'm going to go with that one .... It'll help me sleep better at night.

Know what would make me sleep even BETTER at night? Finding that bleepity, bleepin' game and library card!

Oh, and if you could click on the Top Mommy Blog logo at the top of the page I would very much appreciate it!! You're the best!