LOCAL ANGLES: REFRIGERATOR SERVES AS BULLETIN BOARD

Refrigerators never look right to me in the show room. There they stand, all shiny and immaculate, without a single magnet-held list on their doors.

In my mind, it only makes sense to use all that white space. My wife, Joni, is of the same mind.

The refrigerator and freezer doors in our home serve as sort of a family bulletin board, covered with everything from alphabet magnets to thank-you cards.

Purple Ms and Xs fight for attention with yellow letters cascading downward and spelling D-A-D.

My 2-year-old daughter, Rebecca, is constantly rearranging the colorful, plastic magnets, transforming the alphabet into a jumbled mess.

An orange, construction-paper face displays a permanent smile, its yellow and black eyes staring at all those who approach.

It is only the latest of my daughter's artwork to grace our refrigerator-door gallery.

Where would the magnet industry be without refrigerators? There would be no need for all those little magnets shaped like states.

All sorts of magnets have found a home on the door of our fridge. They include a salmon-colored sand dollar and one of those rubberized, Snoopy "Easter Beagle" magnets. It may be July, but a jolly, Santa Claus magnet still clings to our refrigerator.

Magnets advertising Cape Girardeau's two hospitals can be found there, along with everything from the grocery list to a package of "forget-me-not" seeds.

Over time, some of our lists get covered by others, resulting in paperwork clutter. There is no in-out box on our refrigerator.

Our babysitter's telephone number, scribbled on a piece of paper, shares space with our church's nursery schedule.

Two baby photos of our daughter are displayed in clear plastic holders attached to magnets. Rebecca is always moving the photos around. As a result, the photos often are upside down.

If it is an important item, like a grocery list, we place it high enough on the door that Rebecca can't reach it and turn it into a jigsaw puzzle.

A faded, newspaper ad announcing our daughter's birth two years ago still occupies an honored place on our refrigerator. I should put it in a scrapbook, but I just can't bring myself to remove it from the fridge.

You can tell a lot about people from what they attach to their refrigerator.

Our friends Kathy and Jay have large calendar on their refrigerator door. It is forever covered with the scribbled dates of civic meetings, church gatherings and school functions.

Tupperware magnets, including a Tupperware lady made out of those plastic lids, decorate the refrigerator of our friends Bill and Nancy. That only makes sense. Nancy sells the plastic stuff.

I wonder about people whose refrigerator doors are bare. Do they have a life?

More importantly, just where do they put all those Tupperware magnets?

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian