Monday, November 12, 2007

Don't Be Embarrassed. We All Have One.

When I was growing up, there was a request from members of my family that sent shivers up my spine: "Go look in the junk drawer."

The junk drawer was a drawer in the kitchen, precariously close to the food prep area, if you ask me, that contained lots and lots and lots of junk. Need a thumb tack? Look in the junk drawer. Need a battery? Look in the junk drawer? Need some string? Check the junk drawer.

While other members of my family would dive right in, I would approach a junk drawer search as though the drawer was filled with deadly bacteria. Everything in the drawer was either black or brown or rusted. It looked like one big tetanus filled black hole to me.

One thing that was always in the junk drawer was that last bit of a masking tape (pronounced "maskintape" in our house) that wouldn't come off the roll in one piece. If someone pulled on the tape to remove a piece from the roll, all they got was a triangle shaped piece of brown sticky crap that was of no use to anyone followed by a hearty, "Gotdammit!"

Other items in the junk drawer were tubes of hardened glue, dead leaky batteries, nails, a rusty hammer and pennies. I don't recall ever needing a penny bad enough to go junk drawer diving. I bet my brother did though.

14 comments:

Donna said...

Just one? I think I've got about five. They spring up out of nowhere (usually after I've done some quickie house "cleaning", which means just sweeping the clutter into the drawer).

Linasolopoesie said...

CIAO!!
UN CARO SALUTO DALL'ITALIA
E UN CALOROSO ABBRACCIO ...LINA

Laurie said...

Donna - My kitchen utensil drawer is a mess and so is my middle desk drawer in my computer room. However, I don't have anything nearly as scary as the "junk drawer" we had growing up.

Solopoesie - Greetings to you, too!!

TBM said...

Well, having moved a couple of times in the last 9 months, my junk drawer is, for once, under control. But for some reason, I always felt like I needed to save ALL of strips of twist ties from ALL the boxes of bags I bought. I never used them except to tie computer cords together once. And I might have made a chain with them when I was on a looooooong phone call.

TexasGal said...

I have a junk closet!

Laurie said...

Just... - I have a problem throwing away twist ties, too. I also can't seem to part with a good box. My garage is full of 'em. I've recently forced myself to throw away/not keep plastic utensils that come with take-out food but I do keep chopsticks.

Texas Gal - Me, too! :)

Leon said...

Junk drawer huh...
You're a rookie..
My house has got a junk room!
And im serious!
And it's also close to the kitchen!

It's dark, it feels a bit damp, and there is alot of crap in there.

I don't usually go in.. but sometimes it's inevitable..

hehehe... oh well..
be well

Anonymous said...

Baby sis...

I'm pretty sure there was some scratchy ass sand paper in there. I also remember the smell. Kind of like an old tool box. And god forbid if Dad couldn't find what he wanted. "What'd you kids do with the...I put it right here in the drawer. I'm sure that drawer was like a dryer. I don't care what you put in it it usually got eaten by something in ther

Zina said...

I have more than one.
The one we had at my house growing wouldn't always open up. But yeah it was pretty creepy, sometimes we'd pull out stuff we couldn't identify...that was kind of fun....unless it was furry! LOL

Laurie said...

Leon - Hahahaha! Sounds scary.

Baby Sis - Yes! How could I forget the ever present sandpaper?

Zina - Hahahah! I think our drawer would stick, too. Too much crap in it.

Grimm said...

Oh, I have one that will top you. My fathers junk drawer sounds exactly like yours - only it also serves as his silverware drawer!

Always a good place to bring your own plastic utensils.

Laurie said...

Grimm - HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I believe the junk drawer is universal. Everytime I've moved, it's gotten it's very own box. I'd just empty the contents into the box and labeled it junk drawer. So, it's possible that the stuff we have in ours could date back to the 80s.

Laurie said...

Leslie - Maybe I should create a separate blog for pictures and lists of what's in people's junk drawers.