…and I have a paper obsession. It’s true, I really do. I have hundreds of sheets of scrapbook and handmade papers, hundreds. I use them for scrapbooking, for my collages, to mount photos and prints for hanging, to make cards, to inspire… I’m a sucker for paper. Typically they run 59 cents to 3.99 a sheet depending on what I get. That means I have hundreds of dollars in paper. If thieves came to my house to clean me out, one would hope that they not recognize the true worth of my paper stash. Both of our TVs are cast offs, our stereo was a gift, the DVD was bought by us but really only $200… Really there is not much of hefty monetary value but if you look at my art supplies there it is. Hundreds of dollars in paper alone… I think I’m insane. I just spent another $14 on paper today. I’m in the planning stages of an altered book, the papers caught my eye through the store windows and I could not be denied. Melissa and I were walking towards the exits, I had to say goodbye there. I could not make myself leave without perusing the paper selection, caressing the pages, running my fingers over the embossed ones, breathing softly on the transparencies so that my breath lightly fogged the surface. You know it’s not just paper it’s whatever my medium of the moment is. Get me around Oil Bars and I turn into a sentimental fool. The smell, oh the smell. Memories flood me, I can feel the oil bars slick on my fingers. That smell is color to me. That smell is late nights, driven creation. It’s the smell of all my daemons being poured onto paper… oh but paper.. paper is so lovely.