I think maybe she should be encouraged to explore collage. It would be similar enough to what she's doing now, but would produce things that could be filed away FLAT and rotated in "the gallery" that is your home. My daughter used to do her drawings on a million loose pieces of paper. I was always encouraging her to draw in her spiral art book so I wouldn't lose anything. It sometimes worked... It might help to let her know that almost all museums only display a small percentage of their collection. Lots and lots of art is put in storage and brought out only occasionally or maybe never at all. I think the idea of photographing the work, cataloging it as a museum would, could be an interesting project. You could do some learning together about how museums work and give her a context for putting things in storage. If every single piece of art a museum owned was out on display, it would detract from the overall experience. One would not be able to appreciate the qualities of each piece. I think that is the overwhelm you are feeling. Is there a delicate way to convince her that you are not able to enjoy the beauty of each individual work of art with so many piled up? I also agree that the hurt she may feel could be long-lasting and therefore urge you to handle this very gently. It is said that there is a moment, when we are young, when our view of our parents changes irrevocably. We are suddenly aware that they are not the perfect people we thought they were and it usually involves a sense of hurt or betrayal. I absolutely know when my moment was with my own mother. Not sure about my daughter's moment with me...she's not in therapy yet! ;-)

So terrible when people have pets and don't take proper care of them. At least she was happy for awhile she was with your daughter. Sue

I love both of my servo drive (Ikea utrusta) trashcans, one beside the prep sink and the other under the clean-up sink. It was a lot of work and adjustment getting them in, and they aren't as sensitive as they probably could be - but perhaps that is for the best, as they don't open unless we want them to. My contractor didn't really think through the design logistics carefully, it was his first experience with these, and the cabinet guys had a steep learning curve. The cans are smaller than I would've preferred, but I think that is poor design/planning and not a shortcoming of the servo unit which is strong enough to push open the drawer with one recycling and one trash can.

Thanks everyone! I am not sure how long the contest lasts. She was late in getting her picture up but I told her we would do our best!