flash.

A picture's worth a thousand words, or in the case of a flash card, simply one.
Each year, as my husband and I make our annual trip to his home state of Washington, I make my pilgrimage to a little store in Sumner, just down the road from his folks' place. This is the spot where they sell things that I didn't know I can't live without. Like these flash cards. Upon discovering them, the conversation went something like this:

me: "OH! Look at THESE! I NEED THESE!"
mother-in-law: "What in the world are you going to do with those?"
me: "Um...well...I don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something."
mother-in-law: "hmmm. okay."

I did think of something when I was taking a watercolor class and I was looking for something to do. These little paintings practically jumped out of my head and onto the flash cards. Painting them gave me the same feeling that I get from washing dishes. You know what I mean...immediate gratification. That's me - an immediate gratification kind of girl.
In my upstairs studio - a retrofitted sleeping porch in our antique house - lay the many things that "I couldn't live without." 26 small ciphering chalkboards, untold amounts of abandoned buttons, dismantled antique windows, 73 clear empty glass ornaments, 13 sheets of unseparated twist ties, a seemingly endless supply of old discarded keys, a box of celluloid charms, candy boxes, vintage calendars, and the list goes on. What am I going to do with those?
Um...well...I don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.