This Way or That Way

Dumpster Diving Diva

There's something you may not know about me; that is, I have an eye for big, green metal smelly bins that you may call dumpsters. It all started with Straight Arrow, back in the day. How'd it go again, honey?

"When I was younger, I learned from my friends that you could go to the dumpster behind KMart and you could find some really great loot that the KMart employees had thrown out. There was nothing really wrong with the things they threw out, just maybe had a scratch or a ding on them. Christmas rolled around and as tradition would have it in my family, my parents took us shopping at KMart for my siblings and I to choose gifts for each other. I remembered the dumpster out back and just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get something for my brother Gary for free. So, there I was. I snuck out of KMart and out to the back of the store. I climbed up and pulled myself up just enough to peek over the edge of the dumpster. I didn't want to climb in until I knew what was in there first. As I pulled up to the edge, I rested myself up there so that I wouldn't get too tired while I looked. Before could even look around though, I found that in the freezing temperatures of Utah, my lower lip was frozen to the side of the dumpster. It was completely stuck and I couldn't get it off. My mind raced as I tried to think of just how I was going to get down because I knew that if I dropped off, it would rip my lip. Being the bright little kid that I was, I thought of a plan to pry my lip off with my warm tongue. Little did I know that my tongue would soon become stuck in place beside of my lip. Now, I was stuck to a dumpster behind KMart and my parents didn't know where I was. I hung on as long as my arms could hold me and then I decided I just had to do it...I dropped. As I walked back into KMart and found my parents, they immediately rushed to me and asked what had happened to me since my lip and tongue were bleeding! I explained the story..."

Obviously his dumpster adventures turned him up empty handed. But mine haven't! There's an understood rule in the apartments we have lived in over the past 6 years that if you want to get rid of something that is still in good enough shape, you just set it beside the dumpster instead of throwing it in. My little eyes have become quite adept at glancing at dumpsters when we pass one.

This may seem completely disgusting to you, but we have come up with some great finds over the years. Here's just a few of the things we've landed....a card table, a brand new girls bike with baby doll seat on back, a car seat (we didn't end up using it because we didn't know how old it was), newspapers, coupons galore, and then

With Rest Area weighing 15 pounds now, I've debated whether or not to move him out of his infant car seat carrier. I can't carry it for long periods of time, but I hate to get him out of it when we're out and about if he's asleep in it. So, I've wanted afor a couple of weeks, but I was just too cheap to buy one.

As we pulled up closer and I realized exactly what I was looking at, I jumped out of the van and threw it in the back. Before I could bring myself to use it, I wiped it down with clorox wipes and then strolled the mall to escape the 100 degree heat with a

"One man's trash is another man's treasure!"