Entry 4: Provelo

Goal number 1: I will throw away one piece of garbage a day...my goal as a packratter. Hopefully with having this goal it will challenge me to not horde everything that is given to me. For some particular reason I place some sort of value to the things handed to me. Whether it was the time taken to make the object or because someone took time to think about me it will be a reminder to me of what I have experienced in life. Strange thought. Hmm, so onto my blog...some reason for a good part of my life I have collected fliers, business cards, and product labels that I liked. Some designed well and some designed not so well. One of my university art teachers had done the same thing, but I'm not quite sure my pack rattiness with collecting small print media objects began then. Maybe the idea was implanted then but that could be debated as well.
This particular object was distributed at a farmer's market I went to with my good friend Martha and her children. I liked the simplicity of the design so I filed it away in my camera case. Why my camera case, well I was taking pictures of Martha's kids and that is the only form of purse I had on me at the time.

In my mind this is not garbage, I thought it was a fun, simple, effective little flier and that is why I kept it for over six months. My heart is a little torn over throwing it away because I liked the design so much. It has all the elements you need for a flier. Elements like the title, the description, time, date & location and even a web address to learn more information for the event. The copy is not overwhelming, but simple enough not to overtake the art of the flier. And the art of the flier is what I like the most, the hand draw bicycle with the little old school picnic basket. I could go on, but it is late. The ode to Provelo, may you be remembered electronically for today I will finally throw you away. May you rest in peace in the garbage bag in my room and may you never be forgotten little flier for I have made a blog post about you! 

Entry 3: Movie Ticket Stubs

I collect movie ticket stubs. When I was born I did not have this problem. I developed it in college from one of those awesome people you meet in college. They become your friend in a day and you're friends for the rest of your life. This particular friend liked to go to movies and she liked to scrap book. I thought that was cool, so from then on I started collecting movie tickets with the idea that one day I would make a scrapbook of my life. In that book I would have a page just devote to the movies I've seen with the movie ticket stubs representing those movies.

First of all, I have come to the realization that I don't scrap book! If I did scrap book, I would have to clean my desk first to scrap book. And then when I start a project, such as a scrap book page, I would probably leave it out for a year with the intention of finishing it but then not finish it because I had other priorities "pop-up" in my life. I have this great "desire" to scrapbook, but do you see the dilemma I'm facing, it would become a super crazy mess.
Then what do you scrapbook about? In this case movie ticket stubs collected over the ten years of my life? That could be the start of a very interesting scrapbook, especially if I interjected my opinion about each movie, why I went to see it, and who I went to see it with. I am of course a very opinionated movie goer.
But who would read a scrapbook if it had words? I'm just saying. And when do you look at scrapbooks? I could see my volumes of scrapbooks sitting on my book shelves collecting dust. Is that a bad thing? Maybe. But it would be a wonderful record of the exciting things that happened in my life for other people to remember. Eh, are scrapbookers pack rats, that is the question!
So instead of scrap booking I am pack ratting in digital cyber space by blogging about my crazy idiosyncrasies.

Entry 2: The Infamous Relief Society Handout

So, sometimes I just don't know why I have kept the papers I have in my vast collections of papers lying around my room. Maybe I put the paper down on my desk, leave it there and then place other paper on top of it and then the paper on the bottom of the stack just get forgotten about. In this case I found this lying on my desk this weekend as I was cleaning.
The infamous Relief Society handout. Relief Society is a society for women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a part of the three hour meetings Latter-day Saints go to every Sunday. Every Sunday there is usually a lesson involved. A little handout is usually constructed by the teacher for the sisters in the class to remember what was talked about. I found this lying on my desk tonight and I can't remember when the lesson was, where it took place, or who taught the lesson, but somehow I know who the quote was by. Maybe it is not so important when the event took place, the quote is still interesting. I don't know what to do with it though. I can guarantee that I have hundreds of these little handouts hidden in my scriptures, journal, or just randomly throughout my room. Do you keep a journal of these bad boys or do you just throw them away? I have seen ladies who tape these bad boys all over their fridge or the side of a wall by their phone. I stick them in my scriptures, but it is time for some spring cleaning...What would you do?

Entry 1: Hope

When ever someone pack rats they feel like what they are keeping is important for the future. Well, that's one of the reasons why I keep something whether it is a piece of junk or a valuable piece of jewelery I give it value or worth. In my vast collection of junk, and I do collect junk, I have decided to go through my "stuff" and throw things away. This is one of my new year's resolutions is to stop collecting junk and throw away the junk I already have. Spring cleaning before spring. But for some reason when I clean my junk gets tossed from one pile to the other. Why? one might ask. I'm a little crazy, I'm admitting to this now, but the real reason is because I can't make a decision if I should keep that particular document or paper. At one time it had value to me. I've made an association with it and by keeping it, for me, it is a visual representation of a memory I had some way or the other. These particular cards are pieces I have pack rated for over two years. Maybe I have kept them because I had a hope that I could give them away to someone who could help them. They are two cards my friend Susan sent me. Her and her husband what to grow their family. They have been having troubles, I don't know all the details and she probably wouldn't want me to share the details if I did know them. I keep coming across the cards but I have no idea of what to do with them. So here I am writing about it. If any of you fine people who read this post know of anyone who wants to give up a child for adoption, these fine friends of mine are looking to adopt. The contact info is on the cards above. After this I'm going to throw the cards away. I might tweet about the blog but I guess that is all I can do to help my friends. The cards sitting in a pile of papers definitely won't help, so here I am trying to help someone who might be struggling with the fact that she can't grow her family. This is my way to help, a very small way.