Knotty Little Secrets...

This is my friend and fellow Knotty Krafter, Jaime, last Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

(Please note that Jaime had limited sleep on Friday night and no opportunity for makeup or to do her hair and she is STILL adorable).

One thing that I love about Jaime is her ability to embrace her...  um... quirks.  One of Jaime's quirks is her whorish hoarderish tendencies.  Now, folks, Jaime is not a full-fledged hoarder - NOT AT ALL.  But, the girl can accumulate some stuff.

In all fairness to Jaime, I will set the stage from the beginning...  It all started with me buying a small dresser at an estate sale.  I asked Jaime on Friday night if she would help me pick it up on Saturday morning.  True to form, Jaime readily agreed and I told her that I would be by at 9:30 a.m. so that we could pick it up.

When I arrived at Jaime's house, she was under the impression that we were going to take my car.  "No silly, we are picking up a dresser and thus need your Jeep."  Jaime, being the good sport that she is, said "No problem, but my car is a little bit messy."  Key words - "A little bit messy."  No big deal at all - whose car isn't a little messy since we all practically live in the things?

We arrive at the estate sale to pick up the dresser and Jaime scores a jar of vintage buttons that were priced at $85.00 but she only paid $15.00 (which, of course, will be used for future Knotty Krafters projects).  If you know sweet Jaime, you would not think that she could drive such a hard bargain.  Not true!  For our Jaime, getting a good deal is like clubbing a baby seal.

(No animals would EVER be hurt by any of us --- we are all animal lovers and would not tolerate the clubbing of any animal.)

After Jaime and I haul the dresser out to her Jeep, Jaime opens the back hatch so we can place the dresser inside.  HOLY CRAP IN A CANOE JAIME!  There was trash, debris, and stuff EVERYWHERE in her Jeep.  Jaime takes my astonishment, amazement and (let's face it folks) mockery in good stride by saying "Ya, um, I know."  At one point, I am running into the yard of the house of the estate sale retrieving papers that have flown out of the vehicle.

As we are trying to load the dresser in the back of Jaime's Jeep, it is important to note that the back hatch of Jaime's Jeep doesn't stay up in cold weather on it's own so poor Jaime is trying to hold it up with her head while we try to lift the dresser inside.  And, although Jaime has attempted to move most of the debris to the seat behind the driver's side seat, we were still trying to place the dresser on the carcasses of who knows what.  Luckily, two kind gentleman came to our rescue.  One held the back hatch up and the other helped us lift the dresser in.  After we placed the dresser into the Jeep (mind you, it is laying on mounds of TRASH/STUFF), one of the gentleman says "you really need to clean that."  I then respond "I know but, just so you know, it isn't my car."  He then says "No, I meant the bottom of the dresser."  I simply said "Are ya kidding me?  Do you not see the crap in this car?"  What I wanted to say was "Hey Ray Charles, do you not see the level of freakin' debris right in front of you!!!"  He didn't even miss a beat and says to Jaime "I would have hauled this for you in the back of my truck for just a cocktail."  Here Jaime is with her dirty little secret literally falling out of her car for all to see and this guy is hitting on her.  Go figure...

Here are some pictures of Jaime's Jeep with the dresser inside -

The back driver's side seat:

The back hatch beside the dresser:

The view from the front into the back seat:

 Jaime presenting her knotty little secret (what a good sport!):

Of course, my OCD tendencies kick in and never one to miss an opportunity to help someone purge and organize, I tell Jaime that we are cleaning this car out the instant we drop off the dresser.  Jaime readily agreed.  So, when we got to my house, we developed a plan - starring a recycling bin, the trash bin, and a place to put the items that she was keeping - and we went to work.

 Here is a list of some of the items that we found in Jaime's car:

1.)  Countless newspapers (and I mean countless because I had to stop counting);
2.)  Numerous half-empty water bottles;
3.)  Empty diet coke and soda cans;
4.)  An emergency rain poncho (who doesn't need one of those?);
5.)  1/4 of a bottle of vodka;
6.)  a manicure kit;
7.)  Jaime's dog, Buddy, that has been missing since 1997...

now fossilized...

8.)  Tights, socks, a suit jacket, etc.;
9.)  1 cheetah shoe (Jaime:  "I wondered where that went.");
10.)  The lost continent of Mu and her people (look it up people);
11.)  A fancy winter hat;
12.)  QT cups;
13.)  Dog food;
14.)  Canning jars (2 packages) and countless other items.

Here is Jaime with some of our favorite finds:

After purging many, many items (read trash can and recycling bin practically full) and washing and vacuuming her vehicle, Jaime and I headed to Big Lots to buy her a crate to keep her essential vehicle items in.  Yes, the rain poncho stayed but the bottle of vodka went inside as well as her random items of clothing.

Here is Jaime with her newly cleaned vehicle.  And, no, there is nothing in her front or back seats.  Who knew one little $3.00 crate could make someone so happy?

All in all, a productive Saturday for 2 of the Knotty Krafters.  And now my first blog post is done and done.  A BIG thank you to Jaime for letting me reveal her knotty little secret.  God knows we all have them, what's yours?

And, Jaime, you are not allowed to reveal my secrets and where is that bottle of vodka?  We'll need it to get through burying Buddy...

Vodka

Fossilized Buddy

+

=  GOOD TIMES!

- Jennifer