Odd things I collect

In my house we collect all sorts of things. We don't do it on purpose. We just buy something and then we lose it, so we buy another. And when we lose that one, we buy another one and so on and so on.By the time it's all said and done, we've collected a bunch of duplicate items and although they're always showing up when we don't need them, we can never find them when we do need them.

I know we have at least 2 dozen pairs of scissors somewhere in this house. When we moved in three years ago, we had 3 pairs. We lost those so we bought 2 more. When those were lost, we bought a pack of 5, figuring that when we lost the first pair, we'd have 4 more to fall back on. So we opened the package, took out one pair and put the rest up somewhere. By the time we lost the first pair, we couldn't remember where we put the rest of them so we bought another pack. Would you believe we did the exact same thing again? Then all the school supplies went on sale so we bought a bunch of those small scissors. We actually still have one pair because I tied a string around it and screwed the string to the kitchen wall. Since then, we've bought 4 more pairs of large scissors, none of which can be found today. But, have no fear. We will always have the one pair of scissors that are screwed to the kitchen wall.

Here's a 5 pack of scissors! Now remember. Just get one pair out and put the rest up somewhere. That way when you lose this pair, you'll have 4 more ready to use.

Okay. I admit it. I actively collect tweezers. I have about 20 pairs. Right now, there are three laying on the couch beside me. I keep at least one pair (most of the time, two) in my pants pocket at all times. There are two in my purse, one in my coat pocket, three under my couch cushion, one in my bathroom, one under my pillow, two in my jewelry box, three in my catch-all box (those are old and only used in case of an emergency) and my best pair is hidden behind the Twix in our miniature candy machine.

Why do I have all these tweezers? I'm a freak.

I know it may seem silly now. But you won't be laughing when you have your next tweezer emergency. Just imagine having 4 pairs of tweezers in every room of the house.

Someone gets a splinter? Just reach under the couch cushion and grab your tweezers.

Someone steps on glass? Just reach under the tablecloth and grab your tweezers.

Don't want to touch that diaper? Just reach in the tub of baby wipes and grab your tweezers. (and when you're done, throw them away!)

Does your husband have an odd hair that you can't stop staring at and if you don't pull it out you're going to scream? Just reach under your pillow and grab your tweezers. (I'd wait until he's sleeping first)

I'm completely amazed at the amount of shoes I own. In my entire life I never owned more than one pair of shoes at a time. They were always $20 sneakers from Walmart and I would wear them for any occasion until they wore out. Then I would buy another $20 pair from Walmart and start the process all over again. Then three years ago, aliens took over my body and I started buying shoes. Not just $20 sneakers from Walmart either, but all kinds of shoes!

• fashionable heeled boots (wore twice)
• Sketcher Shape Ups (love them! Wear them everyday)
• eco friendly simple shoes (they're cool, but I never wear them)
• water shoes ( Don't wear them. I'm scared of water)
• steel toed sneakers (wore them for an hour)
• high heeled sandals (ha! I never show my toes!)
• high heeled dress shoes (remember the toe thing?)
• $20 Walmart sneakers (gotta love 'em)
• high heeled sneakers (I put these on for a laugh once a month)
• eco friendly Simple slippers (made out of hemp and car tires. How cool is that?)
• work boots (well.....I don't work)
• slippers I stole from my husband (hehehe)

Simply put, these are the coolest slippers ever! The cloth is hemp. The cushions are carpet padding. And the soles are made from tires (but oddly enough, they don't give that wonderful burning tire scent when set on fire).

I have 7 (yes, 7) watches that don't work. Four of them are watch faces that I made beaded bands for. I bought them all at the same time and by the time I got done making all the bands, none of them worked. The other three are duplicates of the same watch. It's pink and black and it totally rocks. I love that watch! The first one I wore for two years. When it broke, I bought a duplicate. Within 6 months, it started resetting itself. I couldn't find another one like it so I just kept wearing that one. For 7 months I wore that watch and just reset it whenever I noticed the time was wrong. In fact, it became a big joke when someone asked what time it was because I would always tell them what my watch said (they should've known better than to ask me). This last Christmas I was ecstatic to find my beloved pink and black watch in my stocking. But, sad to say, it started resetting itself within a week. Now I'm on the lookout for another one just like it. Maybe, just maybe, I might eventually learn my lesson with this watch.

Maybe.

But did I mention it's pink?

Sadly enough, they don't sell my treasured pink and black watch on Amazon. But this one is close. I don't think it'll reset itself 5 times a day, but you could always just set it to the wrong time just for fun.

Right now there are 3 clocks in the living room, 5 in the kitchen, and two in the bedroom. Do you know how many actually show the right time? One! Yep the rest are just for show. The grandfather clock quit 2 years ago, but it's so pretty we don't want to get rid of it. We also have a very beautiful clock with "Footprints in the Sand" on it. I can't remember it ever working (but it's pretty!). Then there's the sets-itself-automatically weather clock. It's never been right either (although at least it stopped sounding it's alarm at 2 am every morning!). In the kitchen we have 2 coffee pots, each with it's own clock. Unfortunately they sit right next to the toaster oven (also with a clock) and there's only two outlets. So they are always getting unplugged. Then there's the stove. It would actually keep time if my husband would stop thinking the clock button was the timer button. There's also a horribly ugly clock above the fridge. I think everybody just forgot about it. It would probably work if we changed it's batteries. In the bedroom, we have two alarm clocks. One is connected to an outlet strip that my husband unplugs every night. What's the point in even having it? The other is duct taped to a shelf and the cord is so protected it would take the jaws of life to unplug it. That's my husbands alarm clock. As you can tell, he's very protective of it. Sometimes I like to change the time around just to mess with his head. Yes. I'm evil like that.

This is fantastic! This clock will run for 15 days after you wind the key. Even if you forget to wind the key, your clock will still be right twice a day!

This one is also funny to me. I used to hate purses! I never even carried one until I was 22. And the only reason I got that one was because I needed something to hold my first cell phone. Now I own 13 purses in all shapes and sizes. Plus I have two on the way that I just ordered. I can never seem to find one big enough. My first was this cute little crocheted thing. I called it my granny purse. Then I got a slightly larger backpack purse (which I still have 7 years later). Since then my purses have been getting progressively larger because I keep finding things I just have to carry. Right now I'm using an extremely large tote, but my husband keeps threatening to replace it with a duffel bag (which I wouldn't mind as long as it was pink. Just think of how much stuff I could fit in a duffel bag!).

Honey, if you're reading this, this is the duffel bag/purse I want. I know you think it would be too heavy, but look! This one has wheels!

I'm not done yet. I'm just tired. I still have to add my broken paring knife collection, my outdated calendar collection, weird poster collection (think cheese and gecko's), my almost-empty-but-I-can-get-just-one-more-use hair product collection and my old phone charger collection.

Photos and text; © 2011-2013 Catherine Taylor. All Rights Reserved

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Do you have a collection of ordinary items that you didn't really mean to collect?