COLLECTION
I collect pull tabs...lots of them. I keep an empty glass jar on my counter and when it is full up, I screw on the lid, put it away and bring out another. Even when I am traveling, I squirrel away the tabs I use or find, usually a little surreptitiously as people tend to poke fun at me for doing this. If I only had a dollar for everyone who told me, with a mixture of pity and humor on their faces, that "It's a myth you can donate these to charity!"

Which leads me to an interesting concept: a myth about a myth. Because, actually, it is NOT a myth! My local middle school sponsors a drive to collect the pull tabs each spring, and then donates them to Ronald MacDonald house. (Of course, I collect all year round so I am well-prepared for the drive!) Stung by the condescending tone of the Myth Criers, I've researched the subject as thoroughly as I can, and unless several key school, local and national charity officials are all caught up in some some mass delusion: they really do collect these, they really do make money from them, and they really do use the money to help fund this excellent charitable institution! Click here for more information.

Here's a photo of my most recent collection, bolstered by a zip-loc bag of tabs collected by a sweet friend of mine who, when I explained why I was rather shamefacedly sneaking the tab off her old diet coke can, immediately started collecting them for me herself!