MY CAR - THE TRAVELING JUNK DRAWER

Yup.  There is no denying it.  My car is a traveling junk drawer.

The thing about it is…it’s not any ordinary, small junk drawer.

It’s an SUV, TAHOE-SIZED junk drawer.

BUT, I have an excuse.

I travel 36 miles to downtown everyday to drop off my kids and go to work and then I drive 36 miles back home in the evening.  We spend A LOT of time in the car - which means  A LOT of crap accumulates.  I knew it was time for me to clean things out when everytime I took a turn, I felt all the junk slide from one side of the truck to the other.

I took inventory the other day when I attempted to just “pick up” a littel bit and here’s just a few things I came across.

-overdue libary book from the Phoenix library

-Barbie with no top

-Broken yo-yo

-DVDs with missing cases

-DVD cases with missing DVDs.

-Hair clips

-2 tubes of Hannah Montana lip gloss

-2 kick balls

-Half eaten bag of melted M&Ms

-Homework from 2 months ago

-1 empty Capri Sun

-2 quarters, 3 pennies and a nickel with hair

-Pack of Bubbilicious

-Jonas Brothers book

-School uniform top

-Crayons

-4 markers

-Girl Scout cookies in the box

-Pillow

-1 flip flop

-Headband

-Stickers from doctor’s office

-4 goldfish crackers

-Littlest Pet Shop toys

-Nintendo DS game

-Bookmarker

-Movie Tickets

-Farting slime (stick fingers in a bucket of slime and it makes fart noises)

-Sketch books

-Stuffed monkeys

-Stuffed puppy with a hot pink tutu

-A McDonald’s french fry

-Sonic cherry slush stain on rug

Oh…I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  It was enough to start my own little retail business.  I constantly tell myself that I’m never going to let it get like that again!  But I fail miserably every time.

I used to be envious of other people who have spotless cars that smell like crisp, new leather.  No smudges on the windows or sticky residue on the seat.  They were the ones who didn’t have to throw things under the seat or hide all the crap under a jacket when other people rode in the car with them.

I used to be envious.

But now I realize how lucky I really am.

Taking inventory of my car also forced me to take inventory of my life and how blessed I really am.  I have transportation.  I have beautiful, healthy children.  I have a car of things that they love.  It will only be a matter of time before those childhood items will be replaced with memories.  It’s hard to accept that one day I won’t have my “junk drawer” to complain about.  (It was hard enough getting rid of their infant car seats).

I sigh heavily as I hold the stuffed puppy in the hot pink tutu close to my heart.  I place it back in my car…along with the pillow, the topless Barbie, stuffed monkey, Nintendo games, crayons, markers…

and yes…

even the farting slime. 

More on:  notsoperfectmom.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SANDRA GUADARRAMA-BAUMUNK is the mother of two little girls and through the urging of family and friends, has written about the comical life and times of parenting her children along with the issues that the modern day mom faces. She is currently working on a book to bring the memoirs of her blog to life: thenotsoperfectmom.com. She lives with her daughters and husband in Maricopa, AZ.