Recycle, le crecy, leccery, clerecy, roller skates?

I heart Bowdoinham. We have the greatest recycling program EVER. For a family of five, we fill up an 8gal bag of trash every 3-4 days. Once a week we take out the bathroom trash (a plastic shopping bag), but every week we fill up 2-3 18gal recycling bags plus cardboard, burnable sensitive papers, and of course the bottles and cans that slowly build up. Not too shabby. Despite the wonderful curbside pick up, I neglected to actually bring the bags to the curb for the past few weeks. Just as well, we needed an outing.

I loaded up the family van with about eight bags of paper, plastic, and aluminum in addition to a TON of cardboard. I think there is a secret cardboard breeding program in my basement. We moved about a year and a half ago, are pretty much completely unpacked, yet the cardboard keeps multiplying. Where does it all come from?? Maybe there is an exchange program between the dryer and the cardboard alternate universe: a sock for a box. Sounds like a Seuss book. Back to the packing- it was the kind of cramming that you need to secure the children first, then make no hope for escape by topping them with boxes of boxes and more boxes. Should we have been in an accident, they would have needed the jaws of life just to remove the cardboard.

I think the Recycle Barn likes it when my boys come with me. They are such a treat there. Molly stays put on my back, so she's pretty agreeable wherever she goes. I don't know if it's the delight in helping Mommy, the warehouse atmosphere and fork lifts or the thrill of getting to look through discarded toys in the thrift shop area, but they are always on their best behavior. They helped me carry in bags (some bigger than Royal) and boxes and after their jobs were done I got to hear the delighted squeals of joy after saying, "Thank you, you may go look at toys now!"

What better reward is there to a clever child than getting to find a treasure amongst rubble? Sterling discovered a boat of some sort, but it was Royal that really hit the jackpot. Fisher Price roller skates and a beaten police helmet!! He has had them on since we came home yesterday. He's slept with them, put them on to go across the room, taken them off to play, put them back on to go down the hallway, taken them off for a bath, put them back on to go to the bedroom, taken them off to sleep with them again. He's worn them with clothes, with jammies, barefooted, with slippers, and of course butt naked. (More Suess for you) One child's trash is this child's treasure. If he can fall in love with baking pans, imagine the pure adoration for ready made awesomeness??