Tuesday, September 16, 2008

If Your House Caught Fire . . .

. . . what's the first thing you would save? The second? The third?

Pets are a given--I'd open doors so the dog and 2 cats could escape. The first inanimate thing on my list, without question, would be my computer back-up disks. They contain my novels and my client work. (I'm a freelance editor)

The next thing would have to be my artwork. I'm an art freak with an eclectic (and much loved) mix, collected from antique stores, estate sales, folk artists, mail order catalogs, and Goodwill. Much of it is original and cannot be replaced. Not a day goes by that I don't give eye service to the beauty of my art objects..

Sad to say, I'd have to let my 5,000+ books burn. Though most are hardback reference books, they can be replaced. The one exception is my personal recipe book--a 3-ring binder containing not only my own culinary creations, but recipes collected over a 40-year span.

And then there are my wonderful trash cans. I haunt Goodwill, and over the years have collected an assortment of precisely perfect receptacles for collecting trash: the one that is exactly the right size for the weird place under my kitchen sink; the narrow one for under my desk where it won't interfere with my leg space; the tall skinny rectangular one that fits nicely into an odd niche and is big enough to hold 2 large sacks of dry dog food; the little bathroom wastepaper basket that is utterly perfect; the one that's the perfect size to fit into a small space by my craft table. What makes these receptacles so wonderful is that they are nonstandard sizes and you can't get them in any stores.

Oh, and I almost forgot my special coffee mug!

So, what would YOU rescue if your house caught fire? (We'll assume pets top the list)