She's Making A List, And Checking It Twice.

Avery loves paper. She collects it. She loves writing on it, drawing on it, coloring on it, stapling it together, gluing one piece down on top of another piece, etc. I tried (very foolishly, I might add) to make Avery keep all of her papers in 1 folder. It didn't work. This was the result of that poorly thought-out and executed plan:

Oh well, we tried... And although it would seem to the untrained eye that Avery is not very particular about which types of papers she likes to collect (after all, her most recent stack of papers that I gathered from her room was 6 inches tall - see the picture below), nothing could be further from the truth.

Avery loves collecting fliers. She is also particularly fond of envelopes. She loves writing letters to people and then sealing them away in envelopes. She never mails the letters to anyone. That would defeat her real purpose... saving the envelopes for her collection!

Avery also truly enjoys making books. I mean, come on, what little girl doesn't? Her most recent masterpieces are entitled "Baby Goes To The Zoo" and "Bunny's Birthday Surprise." Both of which I have my own plans for... I intend to take them from her when she decides to move on to bigger and better books, just at precisely the right time so that she won't realize they've gone missing, so that I can keep them in her scrapbook... HA!

But her absolute favorite thing to do with paper is making lists!

No one really knows what the lists say or what purpose they serve, no one except Avery, that is. These are grocery lists, as Avery explained to me yesterday. The numbers tell her how many of each item she needs to buy. Yesterday, Avery told me that she needed to make more lists but we were out of paper, and asked me where she could find more. "What? We're out of paper again!?!? I just bought 2 packs of construction paper and I also found that cute little snowman pad of paper for you to use. What happened to all of that paper?" She used it all, to make lists, of course. See those grocery lists up there? Well, Avery's getting ready for not only a brunch that she needs to attend on Friday, but she's also starting her Thanksgiving dinner preparations (both of which she has undoubtedly heard me talking about over the past few days). That girl has some major plans for Thanksgiving - she's buying 11 pies and 5 turkeys!

And speaking of Thanksgiving (by the way, do you know it's only 36 days away?), I'd like to make 2 early "What I'm Thankful For This Year" declarations. I'm thankful for my very creative, happy-go-lucky, spunky, talkative, inquisitive, fun-loving, not-afraid-to-speak-her-mind, and sometimes challenging (but in a good way!) daughter. I'm also thankful to all of you who take the time to indulge me by reading my stories, notes, letters and lists on this website, and then take the time to leave your wonderfully thoughtful and encouraging comments. Why, just think about all that paper we're saving!!! I may not be very good at writing, and I know that sometimes I have a tendency to let my words run on and on, but I simply can't help myself. I love writing about almost anything. And apparently, Avery does too!

“I love writing about nothing. It is the only thing I truly know anything about.” ~Oscar Wilde