packrats, pilferers and post-its

I decided that while I was at my parents' house for Labor Day weekend I should sort through the last of my stuff in the basement. I realized that I am a pack rat. My family probably could have told you that. So could my roommate...she likes to point out that I still have Easter candy in my food cupboard (it's true...). But getting rid of things is a rather liberating experience. To be honest, the excavation of the basement started with my desire to determine the whereabouts of my toilet paper collection.

Yes. Toilet paper. Allow me to explain. My aunt once told me about a friend of hers who collected TP from her travels, then framed the squares and used the to decorate her bathroom. I'm personally envisioning picture frames with a postcard of the country, maybe some ticket stubs or other memorabilia, along with the name of the country in calligraphy, all to showcase the TP. I think it could look pretty classy. So I collected some samples from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic while I was there...and recently mentioned them to a friend...and so I was compelled to confirm that the collection was still in existence. I am happy to report that the samples were recovered from a box in the basement shortly before all cleaning efforts were called off due to the discovery of a dead bat in the area (my sister and I weren't about to touch it, so we had to wait for our parents to come home...)

Anyway, in the process of sorting my stuff I found a TON of books...I tend to be a sucker for booksales...many of which I left in a box because there's no way they will fit on either of my two bookshelves. I also found, and subsequently disposed of, my 8th grade algebra notes, a number of writing assignments from high school English classes, my junior year health final project (actually that one is still in my trunk. I feel guilty just pitching about 50 perfectly good page protectors. And I feel obligated to recycle the paper inside the protectors...), notes/handouts/readers from several college classes, and my homework notebook from high school statistics, among other things. Oh, and a couple of planners. I mean, as interesting as it may be to have a record of all of my homework assignments from junior year, I don't think it's really that necessary...

And I found a plastic Easter egg with half a dozen Hershey kisses in it.

I ate them. (It's okay, I think that they were from this past Easter? Did we have an Easter egg hunt? Hmmm... They looked and tasted okay...)

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In other news, a number of cars in the neighborhood were robbed over the weekend. I didn't even think to lock my car since my parents' house is back in the woods, and apparently the trees were enough of a deterrent because my and my sister's car weren't touched. I was a little worried about my NKOTB CD, but apparently it and the "Atlas of Science Literacy" on the passenger seat weren't high on the thief's list of "must have" items.

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On an unrelated note, have you ever wondered what my students think of me? Of course you have! We went on an overnight with the girls last night, and this morning we did the exercise where you write nice things about people on post-it notes and stick it to them. (hah! You know what I mean...) Here's some of the list I received...
Hot Mama. (okay, just kidding, that wasn't from a student, it was a coworker...)
smiley
very interested in science
funny, goofy and cool
talk fast, funny, weird
patient
nice, good teacher
way too nice, it's cool to be friends with you (hmmm...note to self...students probably shouldn't be friends...)
funny and crazy
genius (looks like I'm still good at pretending I know what I'm talking about)
I only love your science class (not sure what the 'only' is doing in this statement?)
very funny and cool
funny, active
nice and funny (as you can see, they got really creative with their adjectives...)

Who wants to come to science class with the funny-crazy-weird science teacher?!?!?! Pick me! hehe, I was amused, and encouraged...it's going to be a good year, probably a little more challenging than last, but good nonetheless.

I should probably shut up now, if you are still reading, congratulations, you've reached the end of today's post :)