I attribute the inanity of this post to the blood loss (at least six drops) suffered when a chef’s knife fell out of the drainer and poked a hole in the bottom of my left little toe. Accident prone or death wish? You decide.

After this incident, probably when I was putting the milk back (to ease the last of the naproxen down), I decided to take an inventory of my refrigerator magnet collection in use. I impress myself with how many I can squeeze on.

Functional

• Kitchen timer
• Dry-erase board
• Dry-erase squares
• Dry-erase circles
• Powerful bar magnet, possibly from my dad

Promotional

• Amazon.com: “A room without books is like a body without a soul” (Cicero)
• Chicago Farmers Market 2006
• Chicago Veterinary Emergency Services (one horizontal, one vertical)
• Lincoln Park Zoo Icebreaker featuring a polar bear (for an ice-sculpting competition)
• Northeast Illinois area code map
• University of Chicago Alumni Weekend 2008
• VTonly.com

Souvenirs

• Art Institute Manet exhibit painting
• Blue octopus with blue glass eye from the John G. Shedd Aquarium
• Ravinia 2006 and “Find your inner lawn”
• San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge
• Shoreline Cruise photo of J. and me
• USPS “Love” and “Neuter/Spay” stamps

Purely decorative

• Cartoon birds (two) and insects (two) that were my aunt’s
• Click magnets of four planets and aquatic wildlife (two frogs, two turtles); I also have butterflies that I haven’t put up yet and some from Moonstruck Café that I haven’t been able to find after putting them in a safe place
• Erotic magnetic poetry
• Floral magnets that came with the dry-erase board
• Star Trek: The Next Generation cast photo
• Ziggy, the once-popular cartoon character, which is probably the oldest magnet on the door, dating back to college

I have other magnets on top of the refrigerator, including fragile ones from Bristol Renaissance Faire and two powerful circular magnets from my dad. A PuppetBike magnet is on my coffee table, safe (I hope) from Hodge.