The Junk Drawer

Hi, guys! I’m finally getting around to announcing the winners of the latest What’s That contest.

A lot of you guessed correctly on the first item, which is a vegetable dicer. That was far too easy, but don’t you worry. I’ll have much harder ones in the future, as I know how much you like to beat your heads against a wall.

Melody guessed correctly first, so she gets bragging rights and prizes.

The second object is a rack that you attach to the inside of a clothes dryer to rest items on that you don’t want tumbling around getting mangled.

For my non-U.S. readers, that baseball cap is for the Philadelphia Phillies, who are doing quite well this season. I have a co-worker whose office is filled with Phillies paraphernalia, so much that it looks like a bloody massacre from all the red. Go Phils!

Babs Beetle guessed that one correctly, although I wasn’t 100% sure she meant that it went inside the dryer. So I’m also awarding prizes to Lin too, who said it was actually for the dryer itself. I’ll pop you emails shortly.

Hope to be back to regular programming soon. Work has been challenging of late, but I just got my Boo the Round-Headed Dog book, so I’m delighted by that.

I look at it whenever I’m stressed and it makes me happy.

Wouldn’t you be, too?

And, yes, it’s a real dog.

We have a winner for the What’s That Wednesday contest. The object in question is a brake for the turntable on a 103-year-old Victrola gramophone.

After some serious consideration, I decided to award two people because they each guessed so close to perfect, just a little bit off on the function of the piece.

Mo, via Babs Beetle, nailed the gramophone part and so that gets her the win. However, she said the metal piece is “the switch that makes it spin.” Although the piece does affect spin, it’s not what makes it spin. The hand crank on the side of the unit does that.

Jen of Redhead Ranting further guessed that “it’s the speed control on a gramophone.” There is a “speed regulator” dial on the device, but the brake obviously controls speed (to stop spinning while changing records), so I’m giving second prize to Jen.

Congratulations, ladies! I’ll be in touch with you both soon.

Here are more pictures of the Victrola. It belongs to my brother-in-law’s family and it was such a treat to hear old records being played on it. We all find it incredible that it’s in such good condition for its age. You can see how well it’s been loved!

Manufacturer’s stamp (inside the lid):

Again, here is the What’s That object (the turntable brake):

Here is the arm that holds the record needle:

Receptacles for needles:

The speed regulator dial:

Here is the piece in its entirety. Records stand on edge at the left. There are angled slats inside the right half of the unit. The doors in front of them act as crude but effective volume control. The hand crank is barely visible, also on the right:

Here’s a one-minute video so you can hear it in action!

UPDATE: See additional photo below!

Like always, I hope that today’s What’s That item is hard enough to make your head hurt, but not so hard that no one gets it.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and your choice of bacon bandaids, chocolate chip cookie soap or toasted Post-it notes.

Item Info:

1. This item is rather old.

2. It is not mine.

3. It’s very cool.

What’s that?

Since no one got it yet, here’s another picture. Same part of the object, different angle, more revealed.

Does this help?

In other Junk Drawer news:

In June I gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal about the loud Sun Chips bag. A marketing reporter found my blog post and video about the ear-splitting noise the 100% compostable bags make.

The article finally appeared yesterday. I’m quoted in the third to last paragraph. They also used a snippet of my bag demonstration 25 seconds into their video (click the Video tab at the top of the article).

Now go stare at the picture above for an hour and drop your guess in the drawer.

Go on! Get going!

We have a winner! Stephanie Barr guessed yesterday’s What’s That item correctly, though not by its official name. She described it thusly:

“Looks to me like the receptacle for a fastener, like a snap or a rivet, where you pound the fastener in and it’s deformed by this receptacle into the right shape.”

For the record, the object is called a dapping block.

The item belongs to a friend of mine who makes handwrought sterling silver jewelry. She says “Each side of the steel block has a different size indentation.  Metal is placed on top and another tool is hammered into it.”

Here are some pictures showing the object in its entirety, along with the other tool that is used with it.

Thanks for playing this week’s What’s That! I expect to have another one next week, so keep your eyes peeled.

Congratulations, Stephanie! I’ll contact you shortly about your prizes.

Today’s What’s That item comes with not one, but two, hints! I’m so generous.

Hint #1: It doesn’t belong to me.

Hint #2: It is always used with a second object not pictured here.

There. Wasn’t that super helpful?

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and your choice from a fine selection of novelty bandages. Nine out of ten clown doctors say that novelty bandages work better than regular ones.

OK, so here goes. What is this?

And now for that FYI:

I’m leaving Entrecard in a few days. If that’s how you usually visit The Junk Drawer, please consider bookmarking me or subscribing to the feed. I’d love to keep you as a regular visitor.

You can always find me over at Tribal Blogs and on Facebook, too! Stick with me, will ya?

————-

CONTEST CLOSED! We have a winner!

I’m sending out a prize package to Babs of Beetle Blog for winning the latest What’s That Wednesday contest.

She lives in the UK. I’m in the US.

My post office insists I complete a customs declaration for overseas packages, including a description of items being sent.

The clerk probably thought I wrote this just to see if anyone pays attention because, aside from the card, tell me this doesn’t sound totally made up.

Note to Babs: Be sure to take the monster out right away and feed him. He’s going to be hungry by the time he gets there. And probably angry.

I love when all of you go off the tracks making wrong guesses for What’s That? items. Lots of you guessed the neck of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar or ukulele. That’s exactly what I wanted you to think. But you were all wrong. Tee-hee!

There is a winner, though. Buried in the comments was a single word answer from a guy named Tux (comment #8). He’s our lucky winner because this is the inside of a toaster!

The picture was taken down the side of the toaster. The two metal bars are the heating elements.

Here is the view from the top, with an arrow pointing to the section photographed above.

Kudos to Tux for figuring this out. But Tux has a problem. He gave a bogus email address in his comment and he doesn’t have a blog, so I can’t contact him to send him the prizes unless he reads this and contacts me. So, Tux. This is your chance to be a proud owner of a Junk Drawer magnet and box of cupcake bandaids.

If I don’t hear from you in the next week or so, I’m going to pick a random winner and they’ll  snatch your prizes right out from under you! Please see my About page for my email address.

Thanks for playing everyone and I hope you all have a pleasant and snow-free weekend!

Good day, peeps! Do you have your thinking caps on? I’ve got a What’s That? item for you.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a box of cupcake bandaids. (In the absence of bacon bandaids, cupcakes will do just fine).

Go!

We have a winner! Surfie guessed correctly that yesterday’s What’s That object was a bunion stretcher, used to stretch points in a shoe to allow more room for bunions if you’re so afflicted.

Surfie gets a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize involving eyeballs. Surfie, if the package is leaking when you get it, don’t open it. Just kidding. Maybe.

In other news….

I’ve been enjoying a leisurely vacation from work this week. Leisurely up until the point when I had to take my cat to the vet. He’s been sneezing for two days.

Ever try to load an angry cat into a carrier? Yeah. I was all prettied up and ready to leave the house when the time came to introduce Lucky to his mode of transportation.

I quickly found myself in a fit of aerobic activity over what should have been a cinch. He always went into the carrier easily before. Today he challenged me to a duel.

I tried head first, then butt first, then any way I could first.  The boy was having none of it. Ultimately, I had to unscrew eight connectors on the carrier lid, which is tedious, and place him inside that way.

I later learned it’s best to go butt first, holding the cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand, then holding said butt while securing the hind legs between the fingers of your other hand. Next, lower the cat into the carrier that’s been placed on its short end, or at least on a diagonal. Got it? Sounds so easy on paper.

My recommendation? Bundle up in your thickest clothing, cover all your skin, wear a ski mask if you must. Or pay someone else to do it. And throw in a box of Band-aids.

p.s. Lucky is fine, but I’m wondering about my vet. She suggested to me, in all seriousness, that my cat could have caught something from my husband who is sick this week. She said if he has the flu (he doesn’t) Lucky could have picked it up from him. Do I have to check my vet’s credentials or has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Daisy, you’re a cat. Can you confirm?

Today I have a weird What’s That item for you to chew on. It’s on loan from my brother-in-law. He doesn’t use it. He got it from a store that was going out of business. The proprietors had it hanging on a wall for decoration.

The object is very heavy and I almost chipped a tooth on it during Christmas dinner. I jokingly held it up to my mouth as though it were some kind of medieval dental device and whacked myself in the teeth. I dumb.

How to play:

Simple. First person to guess this object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize involving eyeballs.

What the heck is this? And lookie here. I’m even showing you scale.

This is the object fully opened.

Fully closed.

This is the business end up close.

No one stood a chance.

Since Wednesday’s What’s That item posed such a challenge, I decided to post another picture on Saturday that revealed more of it. Within five minutes of doing so, Grace of Hugz Before You Go entered the winning guess.

Here are the two images I posted:

Grace guessed correctly that this is a cigar cutter. Here are some alternate views:

For the record, I caught heat from my sister at the Thanksgiving table that this object wasn’t mine (it belongs to my brother-in-law). My sister thought I’d always claimed the What’s That items were items found in my house.

And then she punished me by making me prepare the mashed potatoes, corn, dinner rolls and gravy.

Tough crowd.

So, for all future items featured for What’s That?, I’ll disclose whether the object is mine or borrowed.

Congratulations, Grace! I’ll have your prizes in the mail soon!

Hey! For all my friends who aren’t busy preparing for their Thanksgiving tomorrow, here’s a What’s That? item to mull over.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize.

I may not get to pop in and see your guesses much tomorrow, as I will be busy shoveling turkey, fixins and pie in my face for most of the day.

I hope everyone has a Happy Gorgefest tomorrow. Don’t forget the Tums!

What’s that?

UPDATE: OK, looks like you’ll need a little hint. No one has guessed correctly so far. Not even in the ball park.

Here’s a picture that reveals a bit more of the object:

Now do you know what it is?

Congratulations go to Kathryn of the From the Inside … Out blog for being the first to guess that Monday’s What’s That item is the part of a lawn sprinkler that controls the orientation of the water spray. You can see here that you line up the wheel with the hose connector to whatever kind of spray you want to come out.

Kathryn, your magnet is in the mail!

A special shout-out goes to Linda Kreitz who cracked me up when she suggested “Whatever it is…has to do with birds. You used the word “crumb” and referred to us as “peeps” on Facebook.”

Trust me, I’m never so creative as to think something like that up.

Thanks for all your great guesses! It’s so much fun for me to see how your brains work!

I know, I know. I usually have a What’s That item on Wednesdays, but my cold from last week is still clouding my head and I can’t think of anything else to write about.

You guys usually have to suffer for that because it makes me turn the tables on you and now you have to think.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet, a mystery prize or 500 Entrecard credits.

Go!

What’s that?

UPDATE: I’ve made this too hard. I shall now give you the slightest crumb of a hint. Here goes:

The item is used only outdoors. Also, the portion shown in the photo is not an internal part of the item. What you see here can be found in plain sight. I guess that was two crumbs. I’m such a giver.

CONTEST CLOSED: Click here to see who won!

Congratulations go to Grant, commenter #7, who was the first to guess that yesterday’s What’s That item was a Scrabble tile rack. To make things more challenging, I turned the rack on its side and shot it on the short end. Grant, you have a keen eye! Your prize is in the mail.

For those of you still in a guessing mood, head over to Bill White’s blog. Bill is a columnist for my local newspaper, The Morning Call.

He found an item in his basement that he can’t identify and wants some help from his readers. He also gave me a nice shoutout for my little What’s That contests and made it sound like I know what I’m doing. Thanks, Bill. You’re aces!

Today’s What’s That Wednesday is probably so easy I’ll regret putting it up. Of course, I’ve claimed before that something was so easy, only to have you guys go all crankypants on me.

Please don’t yell at me if you find it too hard. I’m still smarting from that math post the other day, wherein I posted something too easy.

How to play:

1. Simple. What is this?

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize.

Go!

What’s that?

We have a winner! Kristin correctly guessed that the What’s That Wednesday item is a metal detector.

The part shown was from the base of the unit. Please don’t ask me what the hole is for. I know nothing about metal detecting except that I’ll never do it again.

My husband Dave spent some time with it a few years back and found a ton of coins, a few rings and incidental items, enough to keep him interested. The most valuable coin he found was a mid-1800s three-cent piece, worth about $75 today.

Me? I tried it once and found a dime and three pennies, worth thirteen cents today. I simply do not have the patience for something like this. After scanning the ground for an hour and not finding much, I quickly lost interest. The device isn’t too heavy at first, but it feels like a bar bell when you carry it around for a while.

Has anyone ever gone metal detecting? Did you enjoy it? What was the coolest thing you dug up?

Thanks for playing! I love this series because your guesses are so good and are a blast to read. Kristin, I’ll contact you shortly about your prizes.

You would think What’s That? posts would be easy to do, but you’d be so wrong. I’ve been looking for something to feature for days and nixed a ton of stuff. Muh head hurts. After a long struggle, I found something that made the cut.

This item has the following characteristics:

1. It does something.

2. I used it once and hated it.

Crystal clear, yes?

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize.

Most likely a prize involving bacon, since people keep giving me novelty bacon items they find in their travels. My desk drawer at work looks like a deli. Apparently, everyone I know thinks of me when they see bacon. How did that happen?

Go!

What’s that?

UPDATE: It appears I need to give a hint since no one has guessed the object correctly.

Because my brain didn’t hurt enough coming up with this item, I decided to write a clue in the form of a limerick. Limericks are hard to write at 5AM. Just sayin’.

I actually wrote better ones, but they would totally give it away. So here you go. My vague limerick:

You use it not inside, but out.

And hold as you walk all about.

It would be really swell

If it caused you to yell

"I’ve got something here, I’ve no doubt!"

In my last post, I asked you to tell me what your favorite gross food combinations were. You didn’t disappoint. I told you I would pick one disgusting combination and award a Junk Drawer magnet for best worst one.

Since there were so many icky combinations, I decided to put some of them to a taste test because I’m nothing if not adventurous. Or stupid.

The ingredients:

• Cheerios cereal
• Pre-cooked bacon
• Peter Pan peanut butter
• Italian bread
• Minute Maid orange juice (concentrate)
• Sweet pickle slices
• Breakstone’s cottage cheese (Eek! I’m gonna eat it!)
• San Georgio elbow macaroni
• Welch’s grape jam
• Whole milk and spaghetti sauce (not pictured because I’m a dumbass and forgot to put them out)

For my journey, I started with the combinations I thought were gross, yet intriguing, and moved toward the ones I thought were sure to make me hurl.

First up, whole milk and orange juice concentrate, suggested by Babs Beetle. She says "I used to half fill a glass with orange juice, the kind you have to dilute with water, then top it up with milk and wait for it to curdle – about 10 seconds. Once it was all lumpy I would gulp it."

I put about 2ozs. of concentrated OJ in a glass and then filled the rest with whole milk and stirred.

This stuff is delicious! It reminds me of a place that may still be popular in shopping malls called Orange Julius. I’d forgotten all about it until I drank this. My recommendation is to make sure you do use full-fat, whole milk and perhaps add crushed ice. It’s extremely rich, though. You have been warned.

Grade: A

Next items: Orange juice and Cheerios cereal, offered up by Jenny, who wrote: "I guess I discovered this next thing when one day I poured a bowl of Cheerios and then discovered we had no milk. So I put orange juice on top and … WOW! IS THAT EVER GOOD!"

I took the rest of the concentrate and diluted it to make regular OJ. Poured it over the Cheerios and dug in. It was a fairly enjoyable sweet treat for breakfast, but the OJ gave it a biting aftertaste. Think of it as a candy bar in a bowl. With a kick.

Grade: C+

Next, we have the peanut butter-related combinations.

First, peanut butter and sweet pickle slices. Heather says, "I like peanut butter & pickle sandwiches, but the pickles have to be hamburger dill slices."

I have to admit I thought this was pretty high on the gross scale. To me, pickles should only be eaten straight up or on a burger. Let me tell you, this stuff was divine. The savoriness of the peanut butter, mixed with the sweet and tart flavor of the pickles, makes for a surprisingly good combo. And who doesn’t want a little crunch in their sandwiches?

I took a good four bites out of it, but had to discard it because I had a lot more to eat. If not for the calories, this one would have been completely finished off.

Grade: A+

Our second bacon-related combination is the one I believe was mentioned most often in the comments — bacon and peanut butter. I had such high hopes for it. I think you’re all familiar with my bacon addiction. What could go wrong?

Here’s what can go wrong. Apparently my bacon addiction is so bad, I now need 10x the bacon to get the same delirious reaction to it as I once got. I couldn’t taste the bacon! Did I make it wrong? How many slices should I have put on? Five are pictured here. All I tasted was the peanut butter. I’m so depressed.

Grade I wanted to give it: A+

Grade it got: D

Damn.

Now here’s where I encountered my first feelings of trepidation. The very idea of mixing grape jam and macaroni is so completely bizarre to me, and when I combined them in a bowl, I wanted to throw it out before tasting it. But I soldiered on.

Just look at it. Think about it. Does it look appetizing? No. Would you want to eat it? No. How did I like it? I didn’t. IT. IS. NASTY. Grape jam belongs on only one thing. Toast. Period.

A woman named Kathy suggested this and I wish she had a blog so I could link to it, and you could all go over and tell her she needs to have her head examined. Or her stomach.

Grade: F

For our last test, I spread my culinary wings. I don’t recall ever having eaten cottage cheese in my life. Why? Because to me it looks like yogurt that’s a year past its expiration date.

SewDucky suggested this concoction: "… cottage cheese, heated, with either pistachio pudding or spaghetti sauce mixed in. Everyone thinks I’ve lost my mind."

Everyone is correct.

I still have the aftertaste of this dish, and not a good aftertaste. I would characterize the flavor as sort of like manicotti filling, without the benefit of being enveloped in a blanket of pasta and being flavorfully-seasoned. Couldn’t take more than two bites. Warming it up did not help.

Grade: D

I hope you enjoyed my little taste test. You’ve all been so good waiting patiently for me to announce a winner.

******* Drumroll please *******

Winner in the category Worst Food Combination I Never Thought I’d Like: Peanut Butter and Pickles

Winner in the category Word Food Combination I Wouldn’t Eat Again For Any Amount of Money: Grape Jam and Macaroni

I’ll contact the winners shortly. As soon as I clean up my kitchen and explain to my husband why the garbage is full of half-eaten sandwiches and mushy things.

WARNING: This post is not safe for reading while eating. Put your forks and spoons down and proceed with caution. Even if you’re not eating, you still might puke.

I’m about to show you what the Friday What’s That? item is. Lots of you were really close, guessing it was some kind of nest, pod or cocoon, that if poked, would ooze spiders, bugs or other crawly things.

The correct answer is much, much worse.

The object pictured was part of an owl pellet. According to Wikipedia, a pellet is the mass of undigested parts of a bird’s food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird’s pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth.

Teeth!

Still with me? OK. The woman who took the picture was alerted to its presence by the keen eye of her daughter, who recognized it from a lab she took in grade school. Apparently she sends her daughter to a school whose teachers don’t mind their students blowing their lunch having to dissect these.

Yummy!

You might ask yourself where you can get one of these find specimens to dissect yourself (or not). If you do, you can order a variety from Pellets, Inc. Now don’t rush the site all at once!

I’ve had my fair share of school lab grossouts. In high school, we dissected frogs and I was glad to not be part of the group who discovered that their frog was pregnant at time of death. I remember someone screaming. I don’t know if they continued on with their dissection, but I’m very sure no one ate the rest of the day.

Sorry no one guessed this edition of What’s That? But I promise next time I’ll go back to regular household items that don’t have teeth and hair in them. Promise!

By now you know that my What’s That Wednesday series isn’t always on Wednesday. I don’t know why I keep calling it that. If anyone has a better idea, raise your hand and make a suggestion.

Today we have something very unusual. This picture was taken by my colleague Heather. The only detail that I’ll give about it is that I think it looks like a face. That won’t help you guess what it is, since I’m not inclined to help you in any way. Ha!

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize.

Go!

I have a little tip for some of you. If you are irritated that people make guesses well ahead of you, consider following me on Facebook. My new posts automatically appear there when I publish, so if you’re on Facebook more than your blog reader, you’ll see them sooner.

UPDATE: OK, folks! Here’s a hint from Heather: "It is organic material.  It has not been processed by a human in any way.  And it is indeed gross."

Wow! I gotta tell you guys. Your guesses for the What’s That contest were outstanding! So many good ones, but only one correct answer and only one winner.

The first person to guess the object correctly was Maya, who said it was part of a Brita water filter.

Congratulations, Maya! I’ll be in touch with you shortly about your prizes.

In other Junk Drawer news….

I spent Thursday in a hospital with my husband Dave, who had rotator cuff surgery. Despite an annoying four hour delay, all went very well and he’s coping OK with the pain, thanks to some delightful Percocet.

Commence mini-rant.

There is perhaps no greater annoyance in hospital waiting rooms than a too-loud TV mounted on the ceiling that you can’t turn down or control the channel. That is why I spent most of my waiting time in the cafeteria reading a book in peace and quiet.

After playing nurse and not getting enough sleep last night, I had a doctor’s visit myself this morning. While sitting in the waiting room, I was subjected to the horror that is early morning TV news, complete with inane chatter and all-too-chipper people for eight in the morning.

Is it just me, or wouldn’t people who are probably not feeling well rather just sit quietly waiting for their names to be called? Instead, we had listen to a performance by the Dave Matthews Band outside the news studio. Since when did morning news shows involve screaming loud music before people have had their coffee?!?!

For all the people who hate this sort of thing, I’m pleased to tell you that I risked getting yelled at by the office staff, stomped over to that TV and MUTED IT!

That’s right. I’m a badass. Fear me.

Next up in waiting room annoyance reduction? Throwing my shoes at loud cell-phone talkers.

You’re welcome.

Time for a What’s That? contest!

This is one of those times where I think the object will be either incredibly easy or mind-numbingly hard.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a bacon-related mystery prize.

Go!

What’s is that?

Pssst! I have a secret. I’ve discovered a quirky, little-known game that’s played every year at Harvard commencement. It’s a game anyone can enter. All you have to do is show up and buy a ticket to get in.

Here’s how you play:

1. Show up within one hour of the ceremony. If you check-in between 11AM and Noon, it costs you $20 to get in. If you show up later, you have to pay $50. But half of that goes to financial aid fundraising, so it’s still worth it.

2. The neat thing is you can get part or all of your entrance fee back by looking for randomly-placed graduates eating cheeseburgers in their seats.

3. The game is played by taking pictures surreptitiously of up to three people eating cheeseburgers and presenting your photos to an appointed judge. Any picture showing a graduate who spots you taking the picture doesn’t count.

Each valid picture is worth a certain dollar amount off the price of admission. For example, if you have one cheeseburger picture, it’s worth $5 off. If you have two, you get $10 off. If you achieve the trifecta of cheeseburger picture-taking, it’s worth $20 off.

You can see that if you arrive between 11AM and Noon, and paid only twenty dollars to get in, you can possibly get a refund on your entire ticket price!

Aside from the chance to earn back your entrance fee, the photo judged the best is signed by the university president and gets displayed outside her office for a week. And you get monster bragging rights!

Do you believe me? You shouldn’t, because this is just one more bizarre dream I’ve had in a long line of dreams I tend to have as a result of seeing or hearing things before my head hits the pillow.

How this dream came to be:

1. I watched a show on the Travel Channel called Extreme Pig Outs, wherein some pub makes a 15lb. (6.8kg) cheeseburger and if anyone manages to eat it, they get their name on a plaque and eat free at the establishment for the rest of their lives.

2. I fell asleep watching an episode of Gilmore Girls, wherein daughter Rory announces she wants to go to Harvard.

3. I watched the Kentucky Derby, wherein longshot Mine That Bird stole the race at 50-1 odds and paid $103.20 on a two dollar bet. A trifecta win paid a whopping $41,500.60.

It’s possible my next post will be about me writing a post about a dream I had that led to writing a post. Or maybe after reading this, you will.

We have a winner! Blogless Donna was the first to guess that the What’s That Wednesday item was the stake of a landscape light. Donna’s been trying for some time to win a Junk Drawer magnet, so it’s my pleasure to send her one, along with a mystery prize: a box of bacon Band-aids!

I’d love to show you what the lights look like in my lawn, instead of on the floor with my cat, Shadow. But I never did figure out how to install them.

I remember when I bought them at Home Depot. A guy standing next to me said "Oh, those are really easy to put in" and I believed him. It didn’t take me long to discover they would be a pain to install and my husband never wanted them bad enough to do it for me. So they sit unused in our garage.

Anybody who lives near me want them? Email me if you do and I’ll be glad to part with them free of charge. There are 10 in the box.

Now, about that panic attack. I wanted to post a picture of Windy because she’s being swallowed up by new leaves on her tree. When I went out on the roof to take a picture, I COULDN’T FIND HER!

I always know right where to look in her tree. I just saw her a couple days ago and she was easy to spot. But when I couldn’t see her today I panicked and ran around to three other vantage points to see if I could get a better angle.

Nothing!

I went back to my office and a colleague of mine asked if I was all right. My sullen face said it all.

"I can’t find Windy!"

"Let’s go look."

We went to a couple spots: the steps, the third floor window, and then finally out on the roof again. We decided to zoom in with the camera as much as possible and see if we could spot her in the picture.

Here she is, limp and lifeless, and for the first time ever, I have to use an arrow to show you where she is. It rained today and I think that’s why she looks so bad.

Yes, I know it makes me insane to worry about a bag. But if you’ve been following her as closely as I have, you’d know what a loss it will be when she’s gone. Windy, don’t scare me like that!

Yeah, where I live there’s five more hours left of Wednesday. So this counts.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize that may or may not be bacon-related.

Go!

What’s that?

Finally! We have a winner!

Jodith of Administrative Arts guessed correctly that there were exactly 252 "Robin’s Eggs" in the container.

There aren’t that many now, though. Despite deciding they tasted gross, my husband Dave and I kept eating them. What is wrong with us? Don’t answer that.

For guessing correctly, Jodith will receive a Junk Drawer magnet and a small bag of non-funky Robin’s Eggs.

Thanks for playing!

OK, OK! Enough torture! In my last post, I showed you a picture of a small part of an object and asked you to name the object. No one guessed correctly with the first shot, but Dazureus got it with the help of the second.

The above pieces are part of a drum head tightener on a conga drum. My husband is a bass guitarist, but somehow when his band broke up, we got the drum. It lives in the basement and never gets played. So sad.

Thanks for playing the What’s That game. Your guesses always crack me up.

Dazureus declined the Junk Drawer magnet prize because, as he says, "It’s fun enough just to figure things out." See? These games don’t have to make you insane.

I still want to award a magnet to someone, so how about another challenge? Whoever guesses the exact number of candied malt balls in this container wins! It should give you a smaller-sized headache than the first contest.

Go!

CONTEST CLOSED: Click here to see who won!

I have a bad feeling about this. Something tells me someone is going to guess this object right away.

What is that?

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet, your choice.

Go!

UPDATE March 30

I read through all the comments so far, and only one person is close. And I only mean "close" by the way he described the top part of the object pictured.

Shinade asked if I’m enjoying torturing you. Why, yes. Yes, I am. But not so much that I won’t give you more of the object to go on. This picture shows the bottom half of the part you see pictured above.

Does this help?

No, it wasn’t an owl. No, it wasn’t an alien. They certainly weren’t alien nipples (Sushi Freak, you kind of scare me). Thanks for all the guesses on Tuesday’s What’s That? challenge.

Teddi from Counters and Compartments got it correct early on. It’s a windshield wiper fluid sprayer on my car. Teddi, I’ll be in touch soon about your prize.

Again, I wouldn’t have known what this item was if I hadn’t taken the picture myself. You guys are amazing!

I don’t think I even noticed these thingies on my car until the last year or so. I’m just not that into details. Which is bad, because I got called for jury duty next week.

Tell me, do they expect you to pay attention and take notes and stuff? Because that sounds an awful lot like school and I thought I had that all behind me.

I’m starting a prayer circle if you want to get in on it. Send me your prayers that I get out of jury duty! And if you need a little help with anything, I’ll pray for you too. I’m all about spreading the love.

UPDATE: I only now realized you have to register to join the prayer circle. Since that’s a pain, please disregard. I will, however, accept your offline prayers. Last I heard, deities don’t make you register.

I hope this What’s That? challenge is so hard it makes you insane.

I hope you curse me, scream at your computer, get a migraine and vow never to play this game again. Sounds like fun, huh?

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet, your choice.

Go!

OK, boys and girls. Put your thinking caps on. Today we have a What’s That? item for you to mull over.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet, your choice.

Go!

What the heck is that?

UPDATE: CONTEST CLOSED

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Who has pencil sharpeners like this anymore? You guys really surprised me. I don’t even use regular pencils. They make ones you can click like a pen, you know. And the last sharpener I used was electric. So how old are you people?

For the record, this sharpener came from my childhood home. It was mounted on a half wall in the kitchen. The day my parents moved out of their house, I unscrewed that baby, still full of shavings, and stuck it in a bag, where it remained until today when I got the idea for a post.

Congratulations, Anne! I’ll contact you shortly about your prize.

If I can find another object today, I’ll put up another one. A harder one. Geesh.

I’m still in shock. Another bag flew up into a tree at my building.

All fresh and new and STUCK.

So which one of you put it there? I know you’re all trying to make me insane. You know this means war.

At least our Windy has a friend now. FOREVER.

I’m serious. If I find out one of you put it there, I’ll hunt you down and make you climb up and get it out. And I don’t care if you break all your bones when you fall out.

You know what this means now? New bag needs a name. Drop your suggestion in the drawer and I’ll run a poll after I’ve picked a bunch that I like.

I wouldn’t have believed this if I didn’t see it with my own two eyes. Windy got a mate.

Don’t ever let me judge a contest of any kind. Yesterday’s What’s That Wednesday drew three guesses that were so close to being correct that I’ve decided to award prizes to all of them. Hell, if I could afford it, you’d all win!

The object pictured was the top of a salt grinder.

Here’s how the winning answers came in:

Michelle of Hartz Design guessed it was a pepper grinder. Got the grinder right, wrong seasoning.

Kev at Special Kind of Stupid guessed it was a salt shaker. Got the right seasoning, wrong container.

Laurelei of Maybe It’s Me guessed exactly right that it’s a salt grinder.

I’ll contact all of you shortly to see what prize you’d like. Since none of you use Entrecard, you can pick either a Junk Drawer magnet or the mystery prize, which may or may not be a goat.

For this contest, I’m also awarding a prize to Ken of Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff because I thought he had the best wrong answer: a spool on a VHS tape.

Thanks to everyone who played!

Crappity crap crap. Writer’s block strikes again!

This is bad because it means you’re getting a What’s That? Wednesday so soon after the last one. But it’s good for me because I don’t have to do any thinkin’ or writin’ and stuff. Muh head hurts when I do that.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits, a Junk Drawer magnet, or a mystery prize!

Yes, just like Let’s Make a Deal, you can opt for what’s behind Door #2. Careful, though. It might be a goat. And he’ll be real angry going through the mail. Choose wisely if you win!

OK, so what is it?

CONTEST CLOSED: Find out what it is and see who won!

I’ve punished you long enough. Yesterday’s What’s That? challenge elicited 83 responses and I couldn’t keep the contest going any longer, especially because we had a winner at Comment #36.

Stephanie Barr of the Rocket Science blog guessed correctly that the hole is an ink well from an antique desk.

Stephanie, you have a very good eye! I’ll be in touch shortly about your prize!

This partial row of desks is probably over 60 years old. It came from my old grade school. When they were renovating in the 70s, they said anyone could come and cart them away.

They sat in my parents house for a good 20 years before they were finally moved to my own home, where they sit gathering dust in the basement.

Among my grade school nightmares is one involving these desks. I will never forget the day a kid in front of me vomited all over himself and his seat.

The teacher took the vomit-dripping lad to a restroom for a hose down, while the rest of us students sat in the stanky room for a while until the janitor came to clean up the mess.

What annoyed me most was that I was asked to help clean it up. Why? Why me? Because I had the misfortune of sitting behind a kid who couldn’t hold down his lunch?

To this day, I can remember the smell of the vomit and the smell of the salts that were sprinkled on top of it to soak it up. Thanks for the memories, St. Jane’s Catholic School of the Vomiting Children.

Got an easy What’s That? post for you today. I thought I’d be nice and not tax your brains too hard on a Sunday.

You know the drill:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet, your choice.

CONTEST CLOSED: Click here for the winning entry!

Of the 70+ guesses made on the Sunday What’s That? post, only one was correct. A hearty congratulations goes to Becca of the Gray and Becca blog!

The object shown was part of a paper towel holder.

The hint I gave you might have thrown you off track. I said it may or may not be Christmas-related. Do you hate me? I didn’t mean to confuse or trick anyone. (Yes I did.)

And now for something totally random!

I hate my own name today. There are five Kathys at work with whom I conduct business regularly. It’s a nightmare when several of us are involved in the same issue, as was the case today.

It’s pretty much a given that half the emails I read or send today will be from a Kathy or to a Kathy. In one exchange I talked to four Kathys in two minutes. I’m all Kathied out! Kathy Kathy Kathy! Doesn’t my name sound weird when you hear it over and over?

My phone just rang. It was from a Kathy. A Kathy who doesn’t work here. That’s it. I’m being stalked by Kathys.

This will be a short post, as I was out very late last night at a dinner engagement. We were still being served food at 11:30PM, which means I’m very tired and bloated at the moment. I considered it marathon training for Thanksgiving dinner.

Here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for AND the moment I missed because I was shoving pecan pie down my gullet.

The Junk Drawer’s 10,000th commenter was ……..

ImitationAngel !!!!

For winning The Junk Drawer Comment Extravaganza, ImitationAngel receives a Junk Drawer magnet, mug and mousepad, as well as a mug or mousepad with her blog’s logo on it. She’ll also receive a $20 Amazon e-gift card.

Thanks for all your comments leading up to the big moment! I could feel the frenzy by late afternoon and it was great fun wondering who the lucky winner would be.

I considered trying to get out of the dinner by explaining that I had to stay home to blogsit. But I’m not sure that reason would have gone over well with the host.

Don’t worry, though. I plan to staple myself to a chair for comment #20,000. I’m not missing that!

Thanks again everyone, and enjoy your Sunday!

—–

Now I’m workin’ on 10,000 smilies at Humor-Blogs.com!

Stinky doesn’t want you to forget about the chance to win cool prizes. And I want to make sure you know it’s possible we’ll reach the magic number this weekend. Please don’t miss the window of opportunity.

Cancel your life for a while if you have to. Just be there at #9,999!

UPDATE: I removed the counter since we’re getting so close. The removal of the counter ensures that no one will really know when we hit 10,000 and we can keep the winning comment truly random.

***** The Winner’s Circle *****

The latest winners of the Random Comment Picked-by-My-Husband Contest are:

From the last post, comment #42, Karen of A Strange Life Revisited.

From the post before, comment #84, Gandalf and Grayson.

Congratulations on winning a Junk Drawer magnet! I’ll be in touch with both of you shortly.

——–

One final thing, I’m tired of hanging out in the basement of Humor-Blogs.com, so if you click this link and smiley me, it might get me up to the first floor where all the cool kids hang out.

My husband and I attended a wedding yesterday at a ski resort. On the way to the ceremony venue, we passed this sign near the ski rental shop.

It killed me to see it hanging from a ceiling, because if it had been hanging on a wall where I could reach it, I’d have pulled out my lipstick and corrected it.

I know. I have a disease. Pity me.

It’s sep-A-rate, people! And “an pole?” An pole??? And why is “Rack” capitalized?! What’s so special about the rack? Please tell me this sort of thing bothers other people.

I mean, if you’re going to the trouble to make a giant sign, what’s the harm in running the text through a word processor or at least having two people check it for spelling? Drives. Me. Insane.

******* The Winner’s Circle *******

Today’s Comment Extravaganza winner is Bryan of Philly Today! My husband picked a random comment (#37) from yesterday’s post and his number came up. Congratulations, Bryan, on winning a Junk Drawer magnet. I’ll be in touch soon.

Babs Beetle joins Bryan in the winner’s circle by correctly guessing that the What’s That? Saturday mystery item is the stopper for a hot water bottle. Congratulations, Babs!

I’m pleased that only a few of you guessed correctly. It’s my goal to post an item that no one can guess. I’m getting wicked better at it!

Don’t forget — have your trigger fingers ready for the 10,000th comment! It might come sooner than you think.

I knew when I started the What’s That? Wednesday series, I figured there’d be times when I’d forget to post one on Wednesday. As it’s turning out, not only do I not always have an item for a Wednesday, I feel like posting one on Saturday. I’m scattered like that.

So here goes, your weekend version of What’s That? Wednesday:

How it works:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet, your choice.

What’s That?

Today also brings us our first Comment Extravaganza winner, Bernie O’Hare! In my last post, I wrote that my husband would pick a random comment from each post leading up to my blog reaching its 10,000th comment. The winner receives a Junk Drawer magnet. Dave picked #23.

Bernie runs a very popular political blog called Lehigh Valley Ramblings. He stumbled onto my blog through the blog of newspaper columnist Bill White, who mentioned The Junk Drawer. When Bernie spotlighted my post about grade school memories almost a year ago today, it gave my readership a nice shot in the arm and I’ve never forgotten what that did for me.

I share this history with you because it illustrates how much sheer luck is involved in growing your blog. If Bill White hadn’t mentioned me, Bernie never would have found me and then a year later he wouldn’t have suggested me to our regional paper to be a member of Valley Blogosphere. I’m eternally grateful for the new exposure, both in print and online.

So if you’re a struggling blogger and you think no one’s reading you, don’t give up. Keep writing your best stuff and you never know when someone with influence will find you and give you a boost. It can come from anywhere, anytime. Be ready for it.

CONTEST CLOSED. We have a winner!

A lot of blogs kick my giant butt in search engine optimization (SEO). Indeed, I get only a small percentage of visitors from search results.

But what I lack in those kinds of visits, I more than make up for with a loyal following and a healthy amount of comments, and that makes me happier than a pig in poop. Oink!

Comments are the life blood of my blog. I write, you comment, I jettison coffee out my nose reading what you have to say. That’s how it works.

My sidebar displays a live comment counter, and as you can see, we’re reaching quite a milestone — 10,000 comments!

So what shall we do about that? How about a Junk Drawer contest to beat all other contests?

To whoever leaves the 10,000th comment*, you will receive:

A Junk Drawer mug, suitable for any beverage or for putting under a spotlight on your mantle.

A Junk Drawer mouse pad, because mice want to click in style.

A Junk Drawer magnet that your fridge will appreciate.

A $20 Amazon gift card. Money good.

A mug or mouse pad with YOUR blog’s logo on it.

In case you’re worried that the 10,000th comment will be left in the middle of the night and you’ll miss your opportunity, I’m also offering chances to win a magnet with your logo or mine, your choice.

Until we hit the magic number, my husband Dave will choose one random comment** from new posts (including this one). I’ll give him the total amount of comments for each and he’ll pick a random number. I’ll take the final total as soon as I put up another new post.

I cannot tell you how much it means to me that you guys keep coming back for whatever it is you find entertaining here and stop long enough to chat about it. It’s what makes The Junk Drawer what it is today. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Give yourselves a hand and watch that counter!

* Spam comments are not recorded in the counter.

** Resist the urge to leave a million comments because it’ll disqualify you.

I’m happy to announce the winner of this week’s What’s That? Wednesday contest. New reader, ethanator1088 of PWNED Video, was the first to guess correctly that it’s the strike plate of a stapler. Congratulations! As the prize winner, you have your choice of 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet. I’ll contact you shortly.

Because Shieldmaiden96 of Dispatches from the Northern Outpost guessed further that it was the Swingline model 545, she can have a magnet, too. I’m equally scared and impressed that she knew that.

Now, I decided to close the contest a little early because of the flood of stapler guesses. So what you’re all saying is that these are too easy, right? I’ll have you know that the photos are reviewed by my husband and, this time, my sister and niece, who said "Oh, that’s too hard." Clearly not.

Since you guys are so smart, the next one will be impossible to guess. Do you hear me? IMPOSSIBLE!

Today’s post also includes an update on our Windy, stuck in the tree for 228 days now. I took this video out on the roof of my building.

If you watch carefully at the end, you can see that Windy was a little embarrassed by being a Walmart bag, knowing how much most of us hate them, and she covered up her name. It’s OK, Windy. We forgive you.

 

Here ya go, folks! Another installment of What’s That? Wednesday.

How it works:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins either 500 Entrecard credits or a Junk Drawer magnet, your choice.

3. Guesses accepted until 6AM EST Friday, November 7. If no one gets it by then, a prize will be awarded as soon as someone does.

Really super helpful information: I realize it looks like a face if viewed standing on your head. That it looks like a face has nothing to do with the object. I didn’t photograph it right-side up OR upside-down. The thing doesn’t have an up or down. Well, it kinda has both. Oh, nevermind.

There now, didn’t that help?

What the heck is it?

CONTEST CLOSED: So many of you guessed correctly that it’s the strike plate of a stapler! I announce the winner here. Keep in mind, the next one will be much, much harder to guess!

I’m pleased to announce the winner of this week’s What’s That? Wednesday contest. Ron of the Vent blog was the first to guess correctly that it’s the tip of a battery-operated nose hair trimmer. Or, if you have particularly hairy ears, you can use it there, too.

Congratulations Ron! I’ll contact you shortly. Since you are not an Entrecard user, it looks like you’re getting a Junk Drawer magnet.

Thanks for playing, everyone! Look for another What’s That? contest in two weeks.

Commence with the guessing about who in our household uses this thing for what kind of wayward hairs. Or not. Yeah, let’s not.

I think I did a dumb thing. When I opened up the balloon-counting contest, I made the deadline for guessing an entire week from the post date. What I didn’t realize was that we’d see 86 comments in less than 40 hours. Wow. You guys love contests, don’t you?

It’s safe to say that’s enough guesses, so I’ve decided to close the contest and announce a winner right now. You’re going to be very annoyed because the “person” who guessed the exact amount of balloons was the 4th one to leave a comment. The next 82 of you never stood a chance.

Congratulations Daisy the Curly Cat for correctly guessing that I blew up a gross of balloons. How much is a gross? A dozen dozen, or 144.

For those who didn’t see my responses in the comments, yes, I blew them up myself. It took about three hours, counting the times I had to sit down and suck enough oxygen to continue.

Daisy, as the prize winner, you have your choice of a box of 15 bacon bandages or 1,000 Entrecard credits. I’ll contact you shortly. I might even throw in a little cat toy because you’re such a smart kitty!

Now, if you’re disappointed you didn’t win the balloon contest, I have a What’s That? Wednesday challenge for you. I hope this one is so hard you all hate me and hate me good.

If you can guess the object pictured here, you’ll win a Junk Drawer magnet or 500 Entrecard credits, your choice.

Remember, this photo shows only a small portion of a larger object.

Go!

What’s That?

CONTEST CLOSED: See who won!

A co-worker who reads my blog suggested there was something terribly wrong with me because I kept five old containers of Parmesan cheese in my refrigerator for so long.

Oh, yeah? Is that right?

A few days later she had a birthday. Heh-heh. Have fun tryin’ to get at your desk.

When she arrived this morning and the shock wore off, she asked me how she was going to get any work done.

"Hmmm. Don’t know. That’s your problem."

Is there a lesson here, kids? Sure!

It’s best not to suggest I need therapy, at least not to my face, or you might find yourself the victim of something circus-y. Next time it might be the animals.

Anyone up for a contest?! The first person to submit a guess closest to the number of balloons pictured here wins a box of 15 bacon bandages or 1,000 Entrecard credits, your choice.

Helpful information (or not): There is a 17" box monitor buried under the balloons in the first shot.

Rules:

1. One guess per person.

2. You can’t ask me if it’s more or less than some number. In fact, I’ll get it over with now. It’s more than 1, but less than 500.

3. The closest guess can be under or over the actual amount.

4. Entries must be received by Monday, October 27, 6PM EST.

CONTEST IS CLOSED. It turns out the response was way over the top. Future contests will likely not be open for more than a few days, long enough to allow a reasonable amount of responses. Thanks for playing! Click here to find out who won.

Today’s post is doing double duty.

First, for those playing What’s That? Wednesday, you have another chance to win a Junk Drawer magnet if you can guess the object pictured here. Remember, this photo shows only a small portion of a larger object.

Congratulations to blogless Marlene for guessing that last week’s photo was stick deodorant. Ah! The smell of sweet success! Your prize is on the way.

                                        ****

Next up we have the first ever Junk Drawer interview with — drum roll, please — ME! I have a nasty habit of asking my readers questions about themselves, but I seldom answer the questions myself.

My pal Beamer of BMW Rules either decided enough was enough, or he’s really interested in digging deep within the recesses of my cob-webby brain.

Either way, I owe you guys some answers. Depending on how well it’s received, I may never agree to another one.

One side note: I disclosed my miserable high school SAT score in the second half of his two-part interview. A day later, I told him I had regrets about telling the world how lousy it was, and he graciously allowed me to pull it.

You might learn more about me in the interview, but you’ll never know my SAT score. It dies with me.

So head on over to Beamer’s place and check out Part I of The Junk Drawer interview!

UPDATE: And now you can read Part II of The Junk Drawer interview. Beamer posted it today. Maybe I should run another contest to see if anyone can guess my SAT score?

—–

Let’s say this post is doing triple duty. Smiley me at Humor-Blogs.com, will ya?

Today marks the beginning of a new Junk Drawer series that I’m calling What’s That? Wednesday. It may turn out to be a supremely stupid idea, or it might be really cool and fun and awesome and everyone will steal it from me.

How it works:

I post a picture of part of an everyday object or product and you try to guess what it is.

First one to guess correctly receives something from the Junk Drawer Stuff gallery.

The caveats: I might forget sometimes if it’s Wednesday and not have anything to post. The pictures may be less than perfect and you’ll be annoyed at my crappy photo-taking skills. Or, I may tire of it at any time and discard it, just like all those bunnies I got rid of when they stopped being so cute. Just kidding. Really. I’M KIDDING!

If that’s OK with everybody, here goes!

OK, so what’s that?