Pack Rat II - What's the weirdest/strangest thing you've ever saved?

[lindrusso]

My other poll made me wonder if you all have anything lying around that others would likely consider very strange or odd. My hubby sometimes save pieces of rock or metal because he wants to look at them under the scanning electron microscope. I'm always asking him - must we have these little trinkets lying around?? At the moment, I can't think of my strangest thing, but I'm sure there is something!

There is one thing I've heard of people saving that I think is very strange (actually, gross) - the umbilical cord stub that falls off a newborn. I don't mean to offend anyone who has done this, but I just cannot see why in the world anyone would want that thing??!!

So, what's the weirdest thing that you have lurking in your closet/basement/attic????

[funnybone]

Originally posted by lindrusso
There is one thing I've heard of people saving that I think is very strange (actually, gross) - the umbilical cord stub that falls off a newborn. I don't mean to offend anyone who has done this, but I just cannot see why in the world anyone would want that thing??!!



I had to respond to this, not because I did this, but because I know someone who did - not a friend but more like an acquaintance. Well, she had her house broken into, and she kept the umbilical cord in her jewelry box, and the box was stolen. She didn't care about the jewelry, only the loss of the umbilical cords. I thought that was bizarre.

As for me, I am a pack rat, but over the years I find myself throwing things away. I do save wedding invitations to all the weddings I have attended, stubs/boarding passes to some vacations I took, etc. Nothing really strange that I can think of now, or would probably admit to :p (lol).

[food girl]

This may go under strange bodily compound savings:

I just had my wisdom teeth out friday and the surgeon gave them to me. He pointed out that one of them must have developed during a period of my life when I was taking antibiotics. It is really grey and has this funky brown ring around the roots. I told one of my friends/co-workers about this when she called to check on me and she wants to see them (she's a RN) so I cleaned them off in peroxide and I was going to take them to work.

Remember those macrame necklaces with shark's teeth in them? Maybe I will have them made into something like that.

I am only kidding!!!!!!

Lisa

[beacooker]

When I first saw this post, I couldn't think of anything weird I ever saved, but I suddenly did remember something. This will sound weird, but remember that DH and I were both about 18 at the time, and neither one of us has ever been into the flowers and candy type of romantic stuff -

When now DH proposed to me, he put my engagement ring into a little plastic tub of 'slime', like you get out of a gumball-type vending machine. I had to dig around in it to figure out what the heck was in it! I saved that little thing of slime for many years, and actually forgot about it, until we found it one day, and it was only a small dried smudge in the plastic container. For all I know, I still have the empty container somewhere.

[emilycat]

Not sure how odd this is, but I did save many of my old notes from highschool. They haven't sat around unused, though -- I love to read them on occasion and reminisce about what a strange girl I am!

[BlueMoose]

Gosh, you could get some scary responses on this thread....I sure hope nobody out there is saving a dead relative in a back bedroom! :eek:

I'm not much of a saver. I have too much clutter simply because of a lack of time for sorting and throwing. I can't think of anything really strange that I have saved. I do still have my special blankies from when I was a kid. They're packed away safely in a chest in my bedroom. But I have to admit this about my sister.....She still has the blanket (actually a sheet) that she carried around as a kid. She still keeps it under her pillow, but it is in such a state of decomposition that strings are constantly falling off of it, and she keeps the strings in a jar! I can't believe I just told you all that! :o

Chrisi :p

[Jewel]

I HAVE MY GALLSTONES!!! :D

[beejayw1]

Well, I thought I'd win hands-down, but I think I'm way in the back, but here goes:

Would you believe French toilet paper???

Now the explanation, which shows that I am not a completely goofy person:

I went to Paris in the spring of 1990. My employer was closing its officei n the city I lived in, I didn't know if I'd have a job, but I'd planned this trip to Paris and it was all set. After agonizing about it, I decided to go on ahead and go, and I had a wonderful time traveling alone, speaking the language. Everyone was charming, with only two exceptions (so much for obnoxious Parisians) and it was the best thing I could have done.

But my father had always joshed me about French toilet paper - said it was terrible, full of splinters, etc. I was at the Marche aux Puces, and had to use the restroom, and they actually did have terrible TP, so I brought a length back for my father to see. Then I put it in my scrapbook, and there it sits: TP from the Marche Aux Puces!

[KValley]

Like most, the things I save are letters, journals, travel mementos (no TP, though- I loved your story beejay!). I have a big jar of sea shells and stones I have picked up from seas, oceans, fields from all over, a piece of the Berlin Wall, a small container of ash from Mt. St. Helens

This isn't particularly weird or strange, but I have this little orange candy dispenser that is in the shape of a garbage can. I must have been 5 or 6- I was with my grandpa in his dry goods store in Coeur d'Alene, ID and he gave me the candy. I've kept this little thing for 27 years, using it to hold thumbtacks.

[SusieO]

I finally threw this away about a year ago, but for many, many years I kept the impressions of my teeth made by the orthodontist before I had my braces put on.

[DmOrtega]

Cat fur ! When my 8 year old son combs one of our cats, he likes to ball the fur up neatly and place it in a wooden box. I didn't think it was odd until one of his freinds came over and found it. My son asked him not to play with it because it was his cat fur. Go figure.

[Lynn B]

All my children's baby teeth! At least the ones that didn't get lost at school, swallowed, etc!

Funny tooth story... DS HATED having loose teeth, and always got VERY wigged out about it. Desperately wanted them OUT, but didn't want them PULLED... couldn't bear to LOOK AT THEM once they WERE out... oy, it was always such a struggle! We were so glad when he was done with that. DD, on the other hand, was always quite cavalier about it. They got loose, she wanted them out... and she would frequently pull them herself and bring them to us! Well, one day she came home from school (first grade) and nonchalantly said, "I pulled my tooth today" and handed me a little envelope (that the teacher had given her) with the tooth in it. Well, the tooth that she was missing was one of her small front bottom teeth... but the tooth in the envelope was A MOLAR!!!! :eek:

The Great Tooth Mix Up was resolved the next day in school, when a little boy in her class brought back HER tooth (in another small envelope)... 'cause his mom wanted to know, "Billy, where's your molar?!!!" :)

[Shirley Panek]

Lynn -

Thanks for the BIG laugh!

[RobinC]

I still have my retainer from when I had my braces taken off ummm.....let me do some math.....uhhhh.....18 years ago.

I have my teddy bear that I got when I was 6 (I now 31). He is proudly displayed in my office at home.

I am sure my mom still has my baby teeth. I know that she still has all the letters I wrote to santa and the easter bunny. Recently she pulled out a story I wrote in the sixth grade about Joe Bunny, the biggest looser in bunnyland, who wanted to be the next Easter Bunny.

I think I still have my old corsages from high school dances. I am feeling the emotional attachment finally diminish with those. Think I can toss those now.

[Julia1Pin]

Originally posted by emilycat
Not sure how odd this is, but I did save many of my old notes from highschool. They haven't sat around unused, though -- I love to read them on occasion and reminisce about what a strange girl I am!


I have those from high school and college. And my old day planners, with my daily activities and ramblings.

[emilycat]

Um, Robin, I still have my retainer from eighth grade too.... it's still in my mouth! Seriously, it's one of those that go on your bottom teeth on the inside -- I'm supposed to leave it there as long as I like. Kinda gross, huh?

[aggie94]

Puppy teeth. I also save feathers that our bird loses when he molts. And I have an envelope with some of my hamster's fur -- when her fur started getting really long, we gave her a little trim and I saved it. As you can see, I'm really attached to my animals. :D

[Shirley Panek]

At first I thought that I didn't have anything weird that I've saved, but when RobinC mentioned her mom still having her baby teeth, I thought, "Ohmigosh! I have MY baby teeth!" Not all of them, but I'm thinking to myself, why do I have these? What good are they? And my mom ("the Tooth Fairy") must have given them to me - no wonder I'm a packrat! ;)

Oh, well, maybe like food girl I could make a little macramed baby teeth necklace. NOT! :D

[Wendy w]

I also save feathers that our bird loses when he molts. :D

I save my cockatiel's tailfeathers, they are really pretty and I can't bring myself to get rid of them. What kind of bird do you have?

I also have the plaster cast used from when I got my braces at the "tender" age of 34. I still wear my retainer at night.

[aggie94]

Originally posted by Wendy w
I save my cockatiel's tailfeathers, they are really pretty and I can't bring myself to get rid of them. What kind of bird do you have?

We have a Quaker. He grows the most beautiful blue tail feathers and flight feathers, so I save his tail feathers when he molts and sometimes I save his flight feathers after he's been clipped.