Not actually lost, but definitely found

I've spent a good chunk of January tossing stuff out from my apartment in preparation to move and, in doing so, Mini Bear & I have come across some fun things we'd like to share with you.

Hilarious notes and drawings from my former students ranging from preschool to high school. This one is a valentine's heart that says: Ms. Kathryn I love sports and I wish you could come to my birthday! I will turn 5! Jake

A machete. What, you don't have one?

Massive knitting needles that a curly haired friend whittled himself from local sticks when I offered to teach him how to knit. The fact that we were in Uzbekistan at the time and there wasn't a pair of knitting needles for sale anywhere to be found didn't stop him!

I'm not a doodler but I do like lists. This one is a list of 176 countries I came up with off the top of my head that I made while stuck in a meeting one day. Most of the capital cities are included but I clearly ran out of time as I didn't include the capitals of countries like Australia & New Zealand (no offense to the Aussies & Kiwis!). For the record, I still don't know the capital of Burundi.

An original Michael Jackson "Thriller" cassette tape from 1982. It was probably my mom's since I don't think I bought too many tapes when I was one year old. How many nights did we spend over the next decade singing and dancing to Thriller in the kitchen while mom made dinner as we waited for dad to come home?

Of course, the only authentic way to appreciate "Thriller..."

...is on a Walkman! It's not one of those yellow ones, but it is a Sony and it is enormous, so that's got to count for something.

Other fun found items that I didn't think to take photos of include:

• my autograph book from a trip to Disney World circa 1988
• the owner's manual for my bicycle helmet
• my wisdom teeth