My Messy Car
I have a messy car. I suppose it goes along nicely with my messy house and my messy life. When my kids were little, I could throw them under the bus. I drove them (and their friends) all over the place and the mess in my car was predominantly theirs. Art supplies, Sporting goods. Bionicles, Tech Decks and Baukgan (anybody remember any of those?) And of course, general trash like wrappes, empty juice boxes and old french fries.
Now that my kids are mostly self-propelled, nobody much rides in my back seat at all and the mess is all mine. Sigh. I drive a ridiculous Lincoln Town Car, the product of an accident with a deer and an extremely strong desire not to take on a car payment after said accident totaled my former car (and, sadly, the deer.) This is to say that I have a stupid amount of space in my car which apparently I felt I could toss God know what into.
I'm reminded of the line in Alice's Restaurant where Arlo says, "And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room, seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't have to take out their garbage for a long time." My car is kinda' like that. The only thing I can say in my defense (and it's a pretty weak defense) is that not everything in my backseat is trash.
This is where it (maybe) gets interesting. People seem to enjoy the lists of totally random stuff which seems to end up together at my house. So here are some items from my backseat which I bet you don't have in yours (neener).
(1) pair of tap shoes - I don't know how to tap dance yet but it's been on my bucket list since I was five years old, so it's going to happen. I just don't know when. The shoes were in my car because I found them at the thrift store, for three dollars (in my size, I might add) but they needed new laces. I brought them to my mom (the queen of all that is crafty) and got some sparkly silver ribbon for the laces. And never took them back into the house.
(1) broiler pan- I went to a yard sale turned give away a few weeks ago. It was a Sunday afternoon around 4pm and rain was threatening, so everything that was still sitting forlornly on the lawn was free. And this broiler pan is actually in way better shape than the one we've been using for the last 20 years. (I still say if you manage to stay married for more than 20 years, you ought to get another bridal shower, 'cause all your stuff wears out!)
(1) colander - See above. Picked up at the same free sale and it too is better than the one we're using. But I haven't decided if I want to bring it in and use it at home or if I want to bring it to work and have the kids lace shoe laces through it for a fine motor activity. I mean, those things are not terribly expensive. I could probably pick up a new one at Dollar Tree or Walmart if I could just get my act together.
(1) Painfully overdue library book. Like they're going to send a big guy named Tony to break my kneecaps kind of overdue. And somehow, the other overdue library book, borrowed at the exact same time is no where ton be found. I will jubilantly tell my husband that I've gone to the library, trying to make him feel the same excitement about it I do. (Fun fact: He proposed, I said yes but only on the condition that he get a library card before we got married. True story.) "The library is free!" I'll exclaim. "Is it, though?" he asks dismayed. "For you, is it really free?" Because my library books are chronically, perpetually and forever overdue.
And there is more in my backseat. I am far from finished. But I abandoned my cleaning efforts in favor of writing my blog which is probably part of the reason I have a backseat full of crap in the first place. There is always something more interesting and creative to do,
Now that my kids are mostly self-propelled, nobody much rides in my back seat at all and the mess is all mine. Sigh. I drive a ridiculous Lincoln Town Car, the product of an accident with a deer and an extremely strong desire not to take on a car payment after said accident totaled my former car (and, sadly, the deer.) This is to say that I have a stupid amount of space in my car which apparently I felt I could toss God know what into.
I'm reminded of the line in Alice's Restaurant where Arlo says, "And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room, seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't have to take out their garbage for a long time." My car is kinda' like that. The only thing I can say in my defense (and it's a pretty weak defense) is that not everything in my backseat is trash.
This is where it (maybe) gets interesting. People seem to enjoy the lists of totally random stuff which seems to end up together at my house. So here are some items from my backseat which I bet you don't have in yours (neener).
(1) pair of tap shoes - I don't know how to tap dance yet but it's been on my bucket list since I was five years old, so it's going to happen. I just don't know when. The shoes were in my car because I found them at the thrift store, for three dollars (in my size, I might add) but they needed new laces. I brought them to my mom (the queen of all that is crafty) and got some sparkly silver ribbon for the laces. And never took them back into the house.
(1) broiler pan- I went to a yard sale turned give away a few weeks ago. It was a Sunday afternoon around 4pm and rain was threatening, so everything that was still sitting forlornly on the lawn was free. And this broiler pan is actually in way better shape than the one we've been using for the last 20 years. (I still say if you manage to stay married for more than 20 years, you ought to get another bridal shower, 'cause all your stuff wears out!)
(1) colander - See above. Picked up at the same free sale and it too is better than the one we're using. But I haven't decided if I want to bring it in and use it at home or if I want to bring it to work and have the kids lace shoe laces through it for a fine motor activity. I mean, those things are not terribly expensive. I could probably pick up a new one at Dollar Tree or Walmart if I could just get my act together.
(1) Painfully overdue library book. Like they're going to send a big guy named Tony to break my kneecaps kind of overdue. And somehow, the other overdue library book, borrowed at the exact same time is no where ton be found. I will jubilantly tell my husband that I've gone to the library, trying to make him feel the same excitement about it I do. (Fun fact: He proposed, I said yes but only on the condition that he get a library card before we got married. True story.) "The library is free!" I'll exclaim. "Is it, though?" he asks dismayed. "For you, is it really free?" Because my library books are chronically, perpetually and forever overdue.
And there is more in my backseat. I am far from finished. But I abandoned my cleaning efforts in favor of writing my blog which is probably part of the reason I have a backseat full of crap in the first place. There is always something more interesting and creative to do,
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