Addiction & Are you a pack rat?

You e-mail your sister with news of the wonderful set of dishes you just bought. She e-mails back asking if they are for your kitchen or your dollhouse's. You wonder why she had to ask.

Your subscriptions to Miniature Collector and Dollhouse Miniatures are listed in your household budget under "Essentials" -- between groceries and utilities.

Your kids/grandkids know not to "borrow" any of your tweezers upon threat of permanent grounding.

The first thing you do when arriving in a new city is scour the Yellow Pages for information about local miniature stores. This is assuming that you haven't already obtained this information from internet sources and/or ads in the miniature magazines. Then again, it never hurts to double check.

You know the UPS man and the Priority Post delivery person by name.

Your kids are over the moon with excitement at your family's arrival at Disney World. In an act of supreme parental sacrifice, you decide to wait until day two to visit Ron's Miniature Shop.

Your friends and family are trained to bring you little do-dads they find at garage sales.

Your friends and family are accustomed to your exclamations of "There's a garage sale! We have to stop!"

Your spouse is pouring over guidebooks and road maps planning your once-in-a-lifetime autumn trip to New England for some "leaf peeping." Your only concern is making sure one of the routes includes Hwy 101 and a stop at Earth and Tree. Even better, send spouse off with the car and settle in for a day at Earth and Tree.

A friend is proudly showing you her latest Scrap booking project. You're so busy envisioning the background paper in a mini room setting that you don't notice the pictures of little Emily's soccer games or Dylan's birthday party.

You see a real-sized gadget / small appliance / decorative accessory in a store for $20 and think, "That's outrageous!" You see the same gadget / small appliance / decorative accessory in miniature for $20 and think, "What a deal!" You buy two.

You have three variations of living rooms in miniature settings. Your real-sized living room furniture is more than twenty years old and the sofa's springs are shot.

Other people hear the name "Brooke" and think "Shields". You think "Tucker".

You have two or more unassembled dollhouse kits in your possession.

You've driven more than three hours - one way - to attend a miniature show. (You are not a miniature dealer or artisan.)

You associate with at least five people who know the difference between a "DH" and a "dh".

You have ten or more unassembled furniture or accessory kits in your possession.

You've gone to a furniture store with a tape measure in hand claiming the need to "make sure it will fit". You're really just after the measurements so that you can accurately produce your own miniature version. (You'd take pictures and make sketches if you thought you could get away with it. Bonus points if you actually have!)

Your neighbors smile and nod sympathetically at your spouse when they catch you rummaging through their garbage - again.

When water cooler talk turns to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and "Survivor", you admit that the only TV show you've seen in the last six months is PBS' "1900 House".

You have wrestled with the decision as to whether or not you should throw out a piece of wood that is smaller than your thumb.

You have wrestled with the decision as to whether or not you should throw out a piece of wood that is smaller than a toothpick.

You have been known to empty McDonald's of all their coffee stirrers.

Your husband buys you a power tool for Christmas and you're thrilled.

You have spent more on shipping and handling than on the actual cost of an item.

You have intended to mail order "just one thing", but in an effort to save on multiple shipping and handling charges, you buy a dozen items. After all, you are saving money in the long run.

You spent the three-plus hours of Titanic studying Kate Winslet's dresses and millinery. After the movie, you had to ask your viewing companion "What happened?"

You've tried to co-ordinate the client visit in Chicago with the Chicago International.

You discover that you have a two hour layover at Chicago's O'Hare airport and seriously contemplate trying to race downtown to see the Thorne Rooms and Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle.

You regularly purchase any of the following magazines: Architectural Digest, Victorian Decorating & Lifestyle, Country Homes & Interiors, Log Homes Illustrated, Early American Homes, House Beautiful.

You've checked your e-mail more than once in a one hour period to see if any more Small Stuff digests or related messages have arrived.

The saying that "the best things in life come in small packages" is not just a pleasant adage. It's a cornerstone of your philosophy of life.

You're exhausted from a horrendous week of dissertation stress, operating on about 4 hours of sleep a night and you drive over 3 hours round trip in the rain, at night, on unfamiliar roads, to attend just over an hour of IGMA's annual show. If that's not bad enough, you also pay $25 for the special viewing admission because you know if you have even a shot in h### to spend
any time making this trek, Friday evening is it.

When you attend a small child's birthday party and start snatching the tissue wrapping paper "before it gets ruined" because it is the color you need for some flowers!

More Signs of Mini Addiction
by the daughter of
Vickie Vetting, Miniscules Miniatures

You own a dozen items ranging from teapots to hatboxes simply because "you could put a room in there".

You've sent your daughter to Cracker Barrel to buy 19, yes that's right, 19!! 100 count bundles of toothpicks because they have a decorative turning.

Getting ready for "The Show" takes weeks of painstaking preparation and planning---and that's when you DON'T have a booth!

The bulk of your frequent flyer miles are to Philadelphia. (Where some of the wholesale trade shows are held.)

You've planned family vacations around trade show cities.

You're known in some circles as "that crazy wallpaper lady" who buys in bulk anything with a small pattern.

You KNOW that miniaturists love yellow wallpaper.

Whole family dinner conversations have revolved around swatches of said wallpaper.

You grapple with the eternal question, "How can something so small take up so much space?"

And finally...The Rubbermaid organizer aisle at Wal-Mart is just about the only thing between you and insanity in your workroom. (Or just in general)

Your starving husband/child comes in and asks what you have planned for dinner, and could they please start fixing it, because you are reading the current Small Stuff Digest.

Many of us miniaturist are accused of being "packrats". Finally we have a definition of whether you are a "packrat," or just a "packmouse" or have developed into a full fledged "packelephant." How do YOU rate? "Remember, the early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
Marlene H. Smith	Definitions of Packrat, Packmouse & Packelephant by Marlene H. Smith & Micki Cameron	Micki Cameron

Level One	Level Two	Level Three	Level Four
Fieldmouse Infantryman	Packmouse	Packrat	Packelephant
Has someone who looks at things and waits to be told to save them	A packmouse looks at things and might save them.	A packrat looks at things and almost always saves them.	A packelephant doesn't' look at things... just saves everything just in case.
A fieldmouse infantryman asks if it is okay to save something.	A packmouse squeaks, and says maybe it will save something.	A packrat squeals and says, no..., maybe yes.	A packelephant just stomps it's big foot and says, don't you dare throw that away!
Asks before saving.	Carefully thinks before saving.	Thinks before saving, then almost always saves anyway.	Doesn't think just saves it all.
Doesn't know what a junk drawer is.	Doesn't have a junk drawer.	Has a junk drawer, but cleans it out and shares.	Has more then one junk drawer, shares and has plenty left over.
Doesn't know what a broken VCR is.	Would throw away a broken VCR.	Would save a broken VCR to dissect later.	Would buy a broken VCR just for its innards.
Doesn't have anything to throw away.	Throws things away.	Throws things away, only to retrieve them from the trash.	Never throws anything away, and thinks trash cans are cabinets full of goodies to use somewhere sometime.
Doesn't need any room.	Doesn't need much room.	Needs lots and lots of room.	Is so organized, yet it has more goodies than anyone, but can carry it all in a trunk.

(1) A fieldmouse infantryman in training would squeak, and ask if it would be okay to save something. I reckon, a fieldmouse infantryman in training is definitely on a steep learning curve, trembles at the antics of the packelephant, admires the doings of the packrat from afar, and thinks it would like to be like the packmouse... someday. Micki Cameron

(2) The difference between a packmouse, a packrat and a packelephant is the size of their droppings and the size of their collections and treasures. Marlene H. Smith

(3) I think one of the key clues to being able to tell the difference between a packrat and a packelephant is that the packrat still has space to put things, and a packelephant has to get rid of some goodies to make room for new things. Marlene H. Smith

The Official Packrat Theme Song
Lyrics by Elli Jenks
Hijinx Dollhouse Carpet Kits & Patterns

(sung to the tune of "My Favourite Things")

Plastic containers that once nestled biscuits,
Pop out pill packaging, magazine snippets,
McDonalds jam pots and bits of old strings,
These are a few of my mini hoardings!

Bits of foam rubber in every known colour,
Odd scraps of tin foil, both shiny and duller,
Old chocolate boxes that make my nose sing,
These are some more of my mini hoardings!

Scraps of fabric,
Could hold magic,
when my "one day" 's here.
Until then I'll save up my mini hoardings,
And this room will ne'er be ba-a-a-a-a-a-re!

These pages are not abandoned. They are historical pages that do not change.