Junk Drawer Jumble

When you can’t find what you’re looking for, check the jumbled mess in your kitchen junk drawer. We all have one, that special drawer where we throw things when we don’t know where else to put them. Mine is stuffed with assorted lids, rubber bands, twisty ties, nails, thumb tacks, tape measures, various screw drivers, scissors, and a whole lot of other junk. Everything is connected by a ball of string that managed to tangle itself around the entire lot.

If you’re like me, some of your stash is perfectly useless but you don’t have the heart to throw it out. The metal lid Mom bought years ago to prevent bacon from curling when it fries remains in the drawer. Mind you, I haven’t fried bacon in fifteen years, but that lid brings fond memories of Mom so it stays.

Ditto for hundreds of red rubber bands she saved and wrapped around an empty tomato paste can. Although I did trash her supply of square plastic ties, I kept the sharp twisty ones covered with paper. They have a tendency to fall apart and jab my fingers as I rummage through the drawer, but I won’t throw them out because I never know when I’ll need one.

Last Christmas Flash gave me a nice big blue toolbox, but space in the trailer is limited so his present stays in the garage. He tried to convince me to transfer my junk drawer jumble to the toolbox, but that doesn’t make sense. Every time I need a tape measure or nail, I’d have to run out to the garage which is fine on a warm summer day, but when it’s 20 below the garage is the last place I want to be.

Once a year, I dump the contents of the drawer onto the kitchen table and attempt to sort through all the junk. Sometimes I find what I was looking for, I just find it too late. For instance, the birthday candles I needed six months ago magically appear. The spare Christmas bulb shows up in July. I find the missing shoelace to the pair of winter boots I threw out two years ago. The button to my favorite blouse turns up when the blouse is now in the rag bag. And so it goes.

Nobody can remember all the stuff crammed into that drawer, so don’t be too hard on yourself when you can’t find what you’re looking for. And if your spouse wants to know the whereabouts of anything, just point to the junk drawer. Sooner or later he will find that special fishing lure he bought in 1979, and he will be happy.