DailySusan Humor Blog

THERE'S THERAPY FOR THIS

I’ve got news for all you who think the “hunter-gatherer” community of cave-man days is long gone. Around here, the Mr. has become “CAMO MAN,” and everything he does revolves around his new hobby of hunting. He got our daughter – our precious 5-year-old daughter in pigtails and pink fingernail polish – a camouflage jacket for Christmas. Why? So she can sit next to him in his matching one, driving his camouflage ATV around the neighborhood, pretending to be on a father-daughter hunt, I guess.

As if that isn’t bad enough for our reputation, now I’ve been caught as the Ultimate Pack Rat. A neighbor is doing that excellent kiddie creativity activity, Destination Imagination. I worked a lot with our three older kids in its predecessor, Odyssey of the Mind. Teams I helped coach twice made it into the top five at Worlds. Woo hoo! You only have $100 to spend over the six months or so of the competition. So the coaches and kids got good at scrounging all kinds of odd freebies to make their sets, costumes, props and such.

Well, I got into the habit of saving my dryer lint. That’s right: I scoop a gross little gray handful up after every dryer load and put it into a plastic sack. The kids used it as no-cost stuffing for their various plays. But it’s been at least five years since they were involved, and yet I’m still saving my dryer lint. Doctor, doctor! I can’t stop!

This caused my neighbor to hoot – although, as a current creativity coach, the reason she was calling was that she was scrounging around among her neighbors and friends for SHREDDED PAPER. “May I come over and borrow a cup of shredded paper?” That’s just as anal as dryer lint.

She made me feel better, though. She knows the owner of an embroidery shop who’s addicted to saving scraps of thread. You know, little three- and four-inch lengths of unused thread. She’s got an enormous supply.

Soul sister!