Newspaper Lint

I just, seconds ago, finished watching the movie State of Play. Well, it was a movie full of intrigue and secrets and murder! But my favorite part came at the end of the movie right before the credits rolled:  the headline story was shown going to press.

The negative was shot, the PMT made, the plate made and inked, the paper wheel rolled out, the press readied, the paper run and collated.

I could almost smell the ink and feel the paper lint that is left after the pages are cut and stacked and made into a newspaper. A newspaper!

Great ending.

Put That Lint to Use Already!

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to use lint. This is a perfect one!

Mosaicmom, a writer on eHow, has an article called How to Make Filler for Stuffed Toys that intrigued me. Check out Step 2 of this article and before you know it, lazy Mr. Lint will soon be off the couch working, like he should be. Yes, most lint is male.

Lint in Literature -- Under the Dome

Okay, I might be stretching it to call Stephen King's new book Under the Dome literature, but you can't beat the alliteration:  Lint in Literature. Oh yeah.

I'm in the home stretch of this huge book, fewer than 50 pages to go. But last night as I was reading, this jewel jumped off page 1027:

"Big Jim, his back now to Carter sighed. 'But I'll be eating roast beef at the Lord's table in a minute or two, so that's all right.' He raised a pudgy finger and pressed it high on the back of his neck. 'Right here. The brain stem. All right?'

Carter swallowed what felt like a large dry ball of lint. 'Yes, sir.'"

Priceless!

To check my blog about books, click A Good Book is Awaiting.You never know when more lint's going to roll through.

Are you a Cootie Queen or a Lint Licker?

Just saw that Orbit gum commercial again. You know the one. The two women are fighting over a man. One woman calls the other a Cootie Queen then the Cootie Queen calls the other a Lint Linter.

Who, I ask, licks lint?

Guest Lint -- Coin Laundry No. 1

I was out riding my bike today (yes, really... the high here in Phoenix today is 72 degrees F), and I rode through a parking lot to get off a busy street.

I smelled it before I saw it--laundry soap and fabric softener fumes. The air was scented nicely, not of flowering trees or fruit, but of good old laundry. I looked up and saw the sign:  Coin Laundry. To keep the nice smell a bit longer, I rode around the back and snapped this picture. Lint was trapped against the side of the building, in the grass, just about anywhere leaves would accumulate.

All of the lint I saw was this color--gray. Isn't that amazing that with all the colors of clothes, most lint devolves to gray?

Composting Lint

Did you know you could compost lint? I didn't until this week when my friend Barb wrote in an email:  "Did you know that lint is a perfect addition to your compost bin?  Seems weird, I know."

So, I looked it up and found this wonderful red worm site that talks about how the worm dude put a lint ball in the worm bin. I used to raise worms for the castings (worm poop), which is great fertilizer. And that's what compost is, great fertilizer. 

Beware! The site has graphic images of red worms feasting away on lint and other organic crap. Fascinating!

I'd say you can probably add lint directly to the compost pile too, if you have one of those going. Lint is after all mostly flecks of cotton, which is a plant fiber. Just be sure to tear it into small pieces, spread it out, water it, turn it, basically all the good stuff you do to your other composting material. 

Let me know if YOU use lint in your compost.

I got a nice picture to add to this post from Liz. She composts lint! Thanks, Liz!

 

Hoarding Lint

I watch the TV show Hoarders each Monday evening. I think it's fascinating to watch these people who live like pigs scream and whine and gripe to paid professionals about not throwing away that Wendy's cup because, you know, where can they ever get another Wendy's cup?

But after the first show of the new season, maybe a month or two ago, I went through my dishwasher and pitched a good quantity of glass jars, plastic tubs, paper towel rolls--all crap I was saving for crafts or you know, just in case. And yes, you read that right.The dishwasher. I don't use my dishwasher. I store junk food and hoarding supplies in it instead.

And sometimes I find wads of lint tucked away (usually it gets tucked away when someone's coming over and I have to move it off the coffee table or something) in a drawer or some other weird place it doesn't belong. I usually keep my lint in a plastic bag but still.

I guess I hoard lint.

What do you hoard?