The Junk Drawer - Wow! This one's full of tangents...crazy.

In the house I grew up in, this one....

Although, when we lived there, it was prettier.  It was yellow when I was really little, and when I was a teenager, it was painted blue.  I love blue, but I love yellow too.  It was a good house.  We moved there when I was three.  They moved out three years after my mom died.  This is where my mom died.

It used to have a basketball hoop on the front just above the garage.  My oldest brother broke those windows out with that old basketball more times than I can count.  I don't remember it being a huge deal.  I just remember the place being covered with a board until new glass could be purchased, and it would always be replaced.

This is the driveway where I learned to ride my bike.  That's the porch where I kissed my dates good night.

That was the front lawn where my oldest brother stood as the scary guy that followed me home in sixth grade walked sheepishly by.  That's when my oldest brother officially became my biggest hero.

The bay window to the left, that was my room.  It was always cold--the coldest room in the house.  Maybe that's why I like to be all snuggled up in blankets on cold nights, and why I like cold nights so much.  The piano was in my room.  It's where I would go to play when I was bored or sad or felt like playing the piano.

None of these things was the reason why I started talking about this house, but after I posted the photo, there were just so many memories...so many memories.

All of that aside....I brought this up was because tonight, I got to thinking about the junk drawer.  Does every house have a junk drawer?  It was the drawer in the kitchen under the phone, near the garbage disposal button.  Yes, button, not switch.  Unlike every switch in the house, the disposal had a button.  It was cool.  To this day, when I'm working at the sink, I ask whoever's near it to "hit the disposal."  The Warden asked me why I said that a few weeks ago, I reminded him about that cool button in my parents' home.

Well, my house has a LOT of junk drawers and cupboards and closets.  I don't mean for them to be that way; they just get that way.  We've lived in this house for 13 years.  Eleven minutes from the house where I grew up.  I never thought I'd live in the same area as an adult.

Let me take you on yet another tangent....
When I left for college, my dad made me promise that I wouldn't date anyone from east of the Mississippi knowing that I'd end up marrying someone from there and moving out that way.  The first guy I dated was from New York.  So much for obeying my dad's wishes.  Anyway, when they met the Warden, they were thrilled--a hometown boy.

Okay, so back to the point at hand....
Today, I cleaned out a junk cupboard.  The top shelf housed emergency supplies--candles, etc., but for some reason, vases had overtaken.  The second shelf housed more candles but of the pretty variety.  The bottom shelf was for medicines.  Oh my goodness...medicines!  We're not big medicine takers, but you'd never know it by looking at the shelf.

I pulled it ALL out.  The counters were covered with stuff.  Ugh!  I filled a box for D.I.  I filled the garbage can.  I found all kinds of treasures and then quickly threw them away.  I figure if I've done without them for this long, I really don't need them.

You'll thank me for not taking a before photo.  It probably would have made you vomit.

Here's the after....

After taking this photo, I removed the packages of cough drops too.  We don't use them.

What a breath of fresh air!


One less junk area in my house.  Tomorrow I'm tackling the box that holds the gift wrap and moving it out to the garage.

When I was growing up, the garage was used for cars.  I have always had that set in my mind.  Now that I have a car too large for the garage, I can use my car's portion for storage; I can empty those less-used items out of our living space, right?  Well, that's my plan.