pack.rat.

E's a pack rat. A huge one. She collects everything from q-tips to old erasers to pieces of paper she's taped together. Not only does she collect this stuff, but she stores it all over the place. You may open a hallway drawer looking for a book and come across a pile of rocks instead. Or find the long missing minivan keys at the bottom of a can of markers. It got to the point where a. needed to draw the line, and instead of making her throw everything away, a decent size tupperware bucket was decorated with her name and placed by the door. Anything e. wanted to save needed to fit in that box. This was quite effective as it allowed her to control what she was going to throw away and what precious pieces of scraps lived in the box.
Recently, i was cleaning out the basement and decided to wash all the coats/snowpants/backpacks that were hanging out down there. Then when i put them away for a while, i know they're all clean. Knowing e. as well as i do, i went through every pocket, zipper pouch, and hood area with a fine tooth comb. In l. and m.'s stuff i found a few tissues. Here's what i found in e.'s:

My personal favorite? The bundle of long q-tips in the bottom right hand corner- tied together with string and a feather, each with their own color of makeup on the tip. Lord. What are they in for when she's a teenager.