Basket Full of Socks

Where do all the kids' socks go? Why is it that I can never seem to end up with a whole pair in one wash? Instead, they just seem to scatter everywhere, end up in different washes, eaten by the washer, lost under a bed somewhere, or even out in the dirt at times. So I have this basket where all of the loose kid socks go when I can't pair them up. It's not a small basket, it's an actual laundry basket. About once a month I go through it and pair up what I can and hope the rest will find their mates next month. I'm beginning to think, though, that some of them are widowed now.

I just can't seem to throw those ones away! I'll pick up one and look at it and ponder throwing it away.

"Aw", I'll think to myself, "Emmy wore that when she was just 6 months old and it's so cute with that little pink kitty on it and maybe I'll find the mate someday." And then I'll push the thought out of my mind that even if I did find the mate, it wouldn't even fit any of my children any more and toss it back into the basket to wait for it's hopelessly lost mate.

Some people recommend safety pinning their kid socks together before throwing them in the wash. You know how many safety pins I would need?! And then I'd have all these safety pins floating around my house and I'm pretty sure my kids would find ways to make them "not-so-safe-safety-pins". I can see it now, Emmy running around with an open pin, giggling wickedly as she chased her little sister around the living room. Joshua would catch on, find his own safety pin, then help Elayna out by giving her one, too, and then next thing I'd know, they'd all be gathered around poor little Twerty, sleeping innocently on the couch...

I guess I'll stick to my basket for now.