i am a collector at heart. things i have collections of but are not currently on display: patches – police, fire depts, etc. i have some cool ones: FBI, Drug Enforcement, Homeland Security (by the way if there are any burglars reading this my neighbor is a NYC detective and i’m sure he’s trigger happy). Salt and pepper shakers: mostly figurine types, but will accept or buy anything if it’s unusual or pretty. piggyback onto that: tableware: sugar and creamer, unusual butter dishes. Turtles, dogs and cats: ceramic or whatever. Glass figurines. my latest is buttons. i always kept the extra buttons that come with sweaters. a few weeks ago i was in a fabric and craft store, and they had a sale. i started looking at the buttons. Pewter, ceramic, plastic, from Italy, Germany, Austria, of dogs, cats, ducks, pretty, unusual. i ended up buying $40 worth of buttons for $20. i figure one day i can use them for crafts or to decorate jackets or something. right now they’re in a tin on the dresser.