So, I've Got All These Bibs...

I'm going to come right out with a confession here: I am a slob. I'm not dirty. But I'm certainly not a tidy little homemaker, either. As you may have gathered from the origin of my impaired toe, I tend to leave things lying around. Our kitchen table is basically just a big shelf to me. I leave shoes around the house until M gathers them up and deposits them in the closet. (Usually while counting...I think my record for most pairs strewn about the house was 11.)

When I get home from a race, I drop my stuff on the nearest "shelf" (chair, couch, table, counter...) and leave them there until the next run, or we have company, or it's laundry day. But I am careful with my race bibs. By careful, I mean they're not crumpled up all over the house. They're stacked - relatively neatly - on my bedside table.

What? That seems like a perfectly good place for them...

Oh, right, except it's not, as proven by this photo:

What? A girl needs a tissue box + 4 packs of travel tissues +

 tons of junk

I honestly don't know why all my junk accumulates here, but I currently have an empty Kindle case, an iPod, approximately 50 pens, 4 packs of travel tissues (plus their original packaging), a bleach pen, eye drops, a sunglasses case, numerous hair ties, an empty cough syrup bottle, playing cards, a metal bookmark, lavender sheet spray, and various other non-essentials piled up beside the bed.

In a neat stack on the corner are my race bibs. All of them. "All" isn't very many, but even bibs that are years old are hanging out in the most asinine storage place ever. They go there even after I carefully label the back of each one with my finishing time. And when I look at these bibs, I think, "Someday I'll do something really cool with them. I'll put them in a shadow box. I'll make a quilt. I'll frame each one individually and decorate an entire room in our house and make it into a special runner's den with a password and secret handshake..."

But actually, there is a means of organization I've been coveting for months:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/102513157/womens-race-bibs-display

Etsy is simply teeming with wooden plaques for race bibs and/or medals. They come in a rainbow of colors, and you can choose the wording for the title. I'd love to get one and be able to casually display my bibs. I can't really justify the cost, especially because I think M and I could whip one up if we set aside time to do it, but every few weeks I'll go back to the listing...just to visit. Hi, race bib display board. I love you.

Of course, there are lots of other things to do with bibs, and that's also why I haven't gotten one of these babies yet. Coasters, magnets, and wallpaper are just some of the things listed in this article.

I don't know yet what I want to do, and until I decide my bibs will probably remain where they are, surrounded by junk, on display to no one, a silent reminder every morning and every night that I've done it before and I can do it again.

I guess when the pile gets too deep, I'll have to take action. I think that's probably a really good incentive to keep running. Maybe I'll use that as an excuse the next time M sighs, looks at the bedside table, and shakes his head in defeat.

"What?" I'll say. "That tiny pile? It's hardly worth putting on display. Yet."

ABK