One Woman’s Junk…..

It started out innocently enough.  I needed a piece of tape to seal an overstuffed envelope.  As usual, the tape dispenser that normally sits atop my kitchen work station has disappeared—most likely to the Diva’s room.  Of course, a journey into her room is like venturing into the black hole of death.  No worries, I bought a four pack of tape the last time I was in the office supply store.  I’m sure there’s a roll here somewhere.  First stop:  the junk drawer.  (Cue the ominous music.)

Yeah, there’s a reason it’s called the junk drawer.  I actually need a crow bar to get the dang thing open, it’s so crammed full of “junk”.  And so begins an hour of sorting, marveling at, and throwing away the contents of the drawer.  The first thing to greet me is a tangle of power cords—nine of them!  I don’t even know what electronic equipment half of them belong to.  “Don’t throw them out!” my family screams at me.  “We might need them for something.”  Of course, no one is willing to take the time to figure out which cord belongs to what.

There were two cell phones amid the cords.  Both of them my castoffs.  No one to blame for this but myself.  I put them in the bag of donations my son is taking to Haiti in July.  Buried among the hundreds of loose rubber bands, paper clips and safety pins is a set of keys.   Sadly, I have no idea what lock they might fit.  I try every door with no success.  Again, my husband tells me not to throw them out.  He’ll figure out who’s they are as soon as he untangles the cords.  Back in the drawer they go.  Right next to the tangle of cords.

Hiding between the twenty or so wallet photos of both my kids and various nieces and nephews and friends, is a $25 gift card for Blockbusters. Hmm.  A little late for that.  “Don’t throw it away!” my son pleads. “I might be able to use it online.”  Right.

There are four tubes of Krazy Glue.  Those darn things are so small, I can never find one when I need it, and so I run out and buy another whenever I break something.  Which happens a lot.  The drawer also has two calculators with dead batteries and flashlight with no batteries.  That would be really helpful in a power outage.   A spool of white thread has unraveled and is tangled amidst all the other junk in the drawer.  Several loose buttons keep it company.  An assortment of small tools is also hiding back in the dark recesses of the drawer: pliers, several wrenches, screwdrivers, an Exacto knife and those funny garbage disposal thingies.

My favorite find, though, is a monkey from the game Barrel of Monkeys.  It’s been years since my kids played this game, and definitely not in this house.  The sight of the little blue plastic monkey brings me back to the days when my kids were young and there junk was constantly interspersed with mine.  I miss those days.  At the time, it seemed like my house would forever be filled with their clutter.  Now, they’re pretty good about keeping it confined to their rooms.

What didn’t I find in the junk drawer?  Yep. Tape.  I could use several of the gold seals stuck to the side of the drawer, but they aren’t big enough.  Up to the Black Hole I go.  A few minutes in there and I’m sure I’ll no longer feel nostalgic about having my kids’ junk all over my house!

What about you?  What’s in your junk drawer?