My (extra)ordinary object has to be my monkey pen-topper. I started using it five years ago because I was always losing pens. I would go through a pack of 12 in a week because I was so careless with them. Besides being wasteful, I never had a pen when I needed one. I added a pen topper because I thought it would make my pens a more valuable and beloved object - and I couldn't forget my pen if it was looking right at me. Also, when I left  my old job at Zingerman's Deli, my coworkers threw me a party (a pink princess party, on my request), and gave me school supplies - my monkey topper was among them.

When I was in college, I became good friends with a woman who was pretty severely psychotic. The "cure" depressed her, of course, eventually to the point that she piled all her belongings in my basement, said she'd be back for them someday, and took off for a med-free life on the street.