This isn't one of my finer moments...

Due to popular demand, Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a messy car carnival, where we reveal what's lurking in the deep recesses of our vehicles. Are you scared yet? You should be.

We upgraded to a minivan in August of last year. With the birth of our third, plus carpooling to my daughter's school, it was a necessary investment.

Driving off the lot, I remember looking around at the sparkling interior, inhaling the heady scent of new leather and thinking, "Finally, I'll be able to comfortably shuttle around the kids and keep all of our 'stuff' in place."

But in the months that followed, I discovered something about vehicles -- they are a lot like purses. The bigger the purse, the more junk you can fit into it. And, if you're anything like me, it doesn't matter how many pockets or compartments there are, inevitably everything ends up lumped together at the bottom of the bag. The same principle holds true for my minivan.


Are you ready to take a peek? I'm warning you, it ain't pretty:






Here's the "main cabin." We removed one of the seats to better facilitate my strapping three preschoolers into the back row. This minor alteration has provided additional space, which you see I've filled with a case of bottled water.


Because I take hydration very seriously.


The blue box with all the junk necessary everyday items piled on top was my one attempt at "backseat organization." I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to how that's working. By the way, the white things you see on the floor are not used tissues, they are socks. My kids love to fling their socks off when I'm driving. It's a ridiculous habit and doesn't do much for keeping the car tidy, but you've got to choose your battles, my friends. It's not the hill I want to die on.

Obviously, if my kids are flinging socks, that implies that they first flung their shoes. My son has come to view the back of the minivan as his own personal closet. At any given time, one can find several pairs of shoes strewn around, which I feel keeps us prepared for just about any social occassion. Naturally, we also have an assortment of various toys that accompany us on errands around town.

Moving on to the passenger seat, you'll notice two containers of sidewalk chalk and the remnants of two "end of year" party bags. You'll also see a life vest. You never know when you'll encounter a water emergency, and I am all about the personal floatation device. Underneath the life vest are a few of my daughter's school papers and a scrapbooking magazine, for those moments when I find I have nothing to do (which is like hardly ever). Today's mail is on the floor in the lower right.

And finally, the piece de resistance -- I present the trunk. I realize from the picture, that it probably looks quite tame. A package of paper towels for my daughter's school party, a lightweight stroller and a beach bag. But, what's really impressive is all the crap necessary items I've managed to crush neatly store underneath. What you can't see are the pool toys, the sand toys, the picnic blanket, the boogie boards, three separate ziplocs with a change of clothes for each child, and the restaurant activity bags I've packed for each child. Always prepared, that's my motto.

I don't know about you, but I'm heading over to Shannon's place to make myself feel better check out all the other messy car posts. I'm hoping I'll find myself in good company. And then, I'm going to go clean out the van.