Last Saturday I collected a number of items that I wanted to donate to a charity.  Many of these items were articles of clothing.  I searched my house for containers in which to pack these things before loading them into the car, but I found nothing suitable.

Thus, I drove to the store and bought two plastic laundry baskets.  I filled the baskets with the aforementioned items, put them into my car, drove to the charity and accomplished my mission.  I brought the baskets back home with me, thinking that I might find some use for them.

Later in the morning, when our kids and grandkids were coming over for lunch and I needed to clear off my kitchen island, I filled one of the laundry baskets with the paraphernalia currently parked there.  These items included not only “kitchen-y” things, but also some library books, three flashlight batteries, parts of a toy airplane, and several pieces of mail.  This basket of “items in holding” was set on top of my dryer in the laundry area and, voila, my kitchen island was clean.

After my clan had eaten, played, and gone home, I took the other laundry basket into my living room and filled it with the toys that were scattered on the living room floor.  I then set the basket of toys inside the toy room to be dealt with later, after which I returned to my now tidy living room and took a nap.

That afternoon, before heading outside to pick my zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes, I took the laundry basket from the top of my dryer, removed from it all of the previously listed items and put them back onto the island.  I then carried the basket to my garden and filled it with fresh produce.  I carried the basket into the kitchen and set it on a countertop.

That evening I removed the toys from the basket in the toy room and put them in their proper places.  I then took that laundry basket out to the pool and put into it the things my family and I had left there that day:  towels, flip flops, sunscreen bottles, flotation toys, and two very heavy, used swim diapers.  This basket I then set on the patio.

I went back inside the house and removed the veggies from the laundry basket in the kitchen and placed them in the sink for washing.  I then took the basket into our home office and filled it with papers that needed to be shredded or taken to the recycling bin.  This filled basket I then set inside the garage.

I went to the patio, where I put away or threw away the pool-related items from that laundry basket.  The towels I tossed into the washer. I then set the basket in the laundry room so I could place the towels back into it after they were clean and dry.  Finally, it would be used for its intended purpose.

The next time I am invited to a wedding shower, I think I will forgo buying frou-frou gifts like china and silver for the bride-to-be and give her instead two empty laundry baskets.  She’s going to need something to carry all those other gifts home in.