Double Posted and Collections

I kept thinking I had blogged this picture--but I put these last few days in a Facebook album. First time here!

The rocks behind us were a dramatic scene from our honeymoon. Something about a "Love on the Rocks" penguin poster, very romantic. Wolves and penguin symbolism early in our dating years. We've outgrown that sentimentality? Or grown up? There are still in-jokes we share, winks, knowing nods, but I don't collect penguins/wolves anymore. I have other collections, some I have limited or declared capped. (DO NOT BUY ME ANY ROLLING PINS! I LOVE THEM, BUT IT BECAME A HARDSHIP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WAYS TO STORE/DISPLAY THEM! GREAT WHILE IT LASTED, THANKS!)

Still collect fabric. A Church friend dropped off a couple of bags this morning of fabric. John told her if I can use them, I will, or I will pass them on (exact right answer!).

I love "LOVE BAGS" from friends/family, trading clothes kids have out-grown or never wore. Our women's group does an exchange ever few weeks--bring stuff and take what you want for free and everything left over is bagged up and taken to the Clothing Exchange in Baltimore, where it is free for the taking (like a free DI, it is a test project for the Church, to see how it does in big cities like ours).

I collect kids' books. I call it my future Grandma Library. (NOT an announcement, or pressure, just a long-term plan/goal of mine).

I collect IKEA lights. Love 'em.

I wish I had a leather furniture collection.

Or a peony garden collection.

(HA HA-- I have a CROC shoe collection!) No Prada shoes (pause for a wistful sigh). Always searching for comfort and cuteness, wishing the two crossed more often in women's dressy shoes.

I collect thread. Quilts. Curtains (so hard to resist at thrift stores, when I see more than one matching panel, I am a sucker for the set, even if it is completely different colors from anything else in our home).

I collect paint. By the gallon. Love, love paint. Love the potential, the possibilities, love mixing different colors. I love the smells, the thick paint swirling under my paint stick.

Watched library-checked out "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and was surprised at how much I liked the film. The message. The reasons she shopped. The senses it involved. The emotions. The decisions and the transformation into responsibility. It gave me hope. It has made me think a lot about why I collect things and why I thrift store shop. I don't think it is out of hand in my life, definitely controlled by limited very fixed budget and only shopping with cash in hand...

Interesting stuff, more I would like to talk about, but time for family scriptures. (I collect Books of Mormon, too.)