I am a pack rat

I have got to be one of the biggest pack rats I know. I partially blame this on my mother, who never throws anything away. The other day, I threw out bank statements, credit card statements, direct deposit slips, and canceled paychecks that I have had for probably 4 years. I asked my mom if I needed them, and she said, "I guess not, but it's hard for me to tell you you don't since I still have everything." Geeze. The only thing I need receipts and all of that stuff for are big things that have a warranty and may break. And those things are definitely not things I generally buy with my credit card.

I just spent the better part of 2 hours going through all of the cards and letters I have saved, and that was part 2 of the process. While it did inspire me to catch up with an old friend on Facebook, the majority of it all went into the recycle bin. I did keep some things - letters from really good friends, notes from my great-grandmother who never spells my name right two times in a a row, a few love letters from way back when, and postcards. I know one of these days I'll have another 3 shoeboxes full of things like this, and I'll have to go through all of them again, but....

The one thing I did realize as I was going through all of my letters and stuff was that I was an awesome pen pal. I really kind of miss writing letters back and forth to people, and waiting for them in the mail. I think email kind of killed it all. With letters, you have time to think about what you want to tell people and there's a bit of anticipation. With email, it's instant. Of course, you can always take the time to think about your answer back, but it also loses some of its personality and being authentic to the author. (I can't think of the right word for it... it'll come to me eventually).

Anyways, the sun has finally decided to show in the past few days. I hope it dries out enough that my uncles can finish wheat harvest. They were able to get our fields cut, but then it started raining. Most of it is on the ground anyway, so I don't know how good of a crop they are going to get. I would hate to be a farmer and put my whole livlihood in the fate of the weather....

I officially have an apartment in Waukee! The lady called me yesterday, and she's mailing me the paperwork to sign and send her money. I've also been looking at new cars. I was thinking about the New Beetle, but I realized I wanted 4 doors. Now I'm looking at the VW Rabbit or a Saturn Ion-2. There's quite a price difference, and I guess I'll know more what I can get when I find out if my friend wants to room with me or not. Maybe Mom and Dad will help out a bit too. We'll just have to see.

I'm still working on packing my room up. It's not a very fun process...