This Week in Hoarding

Despite today's last gasp of winter -- Exhibit A being this photo I took on my way out to the car:

-- I actually got dressed and left the house before 9:30 this morning. Mostly because I had a gift card for a free breakfast at a fast-food establishment whose owner's politics I despise with all my heart but whose tasty chicken sandwiches I love with all my stomach and it was burning a hole in my pocket. Plus, the 50% off coupon for an item at Michael's in my morning e-mail reminded me that I had been thinking about getting a water brush ever since I used one at a card-making class I took the other weekend. (I mean, I usually use my Dove blender with my watercolor pencils, and I have a bunch of el cheapo paintbrushes that would be totally adequate for the rare times I use this technique, but ... a new tool! And for half off!)

Once I got there, I spent a good hour going up and down pretty much every aisle, gazing with unfettered desire at all the things I wanted but that I ultimately forced myself not to buy once I recalled the inverse relationship between the amount of crafting gear I already own and the amount of time I spend actually using said gear for its intended purpose (as opposed to, say, "gathering dust" or "taking up all the room in the closet"). Quite proud of myself for buying only what I came in there for . . . well, okay, plus five things from the dollar bin . . . I hit the office supply store in the adjacent plaza for another exercise in self-restraint.

Thus, I spent another happy hour examining all of the porous point and needle tip options on the wall of pens, then drooling over the wall of three-ring binders and divider tabs. I coveted some notebooks and organizers/calendars -- going so far as to fondle a few and carry them around the store, again looking at every aisle, before I made myself put most of it back. I did buy two notepads, a mini-clipboard, and a five-subject spiral notebook that has not only built-in color-coordinated divider tabs with pockets but also a clear pouch at the back. (Swoon!) but that all came to less than $10. Again, I reminded myself that I have all kinds of office supplies and notebooks and binders still in boxes from my move, and I should really go home and rummage through that stuff before I go crazy buying new things.

So, I picked a box at random off of the shelf in the garage and found all sorts of fun things, like this Statue of Liberty notebook from the mid-1980s.

It's in near-mint condition -- hardly a page is missing -- but I did write "This belongs to" and my name on the inside front cover in my ten-year-old self's crummy cursive. (I'm assuming I got this in 1985 -- I remember that the Statue of Liberty renovation was a big deal when I was in sixth grade, which was 1985-86.)

This little denim change purse is probably from about the same time. My name is written inside that, too -- but neatly printed with a Sharpie in handwriting that might not be mine.

Of a somewhat more recent vintage are these labels for 3.5-inch floppy disks and random assortment of postage stamps.

I'll probably keep those, along with the various pads of Post-it Notes and a pair of Field Notes notebooks chronicling some of the monthly Pub Quizzes from 2008 and 2009. I am willing to part with the following ticket stub and exploded batteries, however, so I suppose I do draw the line somewhere.