The Great Pantry Cleaning

You know the drill: Every year, after the holidays have come and gone, you realize that your house has, as my mother would say, "Gone to Pot." Where that saying came from or what it originally meant, I have no idea. But for my use, it means a once lovely place has been neglected and is a in a very sad state!

Let me give you a quick preview of my messy pantry: hidden behind the door lies in wait sprouting potatoes lying on the floor, birthday cupcakes ground into unrecognizable crumbs, cereal & cookie boxes stacked very precariously on the top shelf just waiting for an unsuspecting short person to fall on, water bottles and soda liters rolling around, empty boxes and packages of snacks that Nolan had devoured in the pantry, moldy bread that could be considered biological warfare material.... I think you get the picture. If not, take a peak of this picture:

Yes, I realize I'm a bad mother for letting my baby sit in the middle of this mess. I kept plucking him out, but he would just crawl back into it. I couldn't fight him anymore, so I just made sure he didn't eat anything that would cause permanent damage.

If you have ever cleaned with children, you know that a job that would normally take 20 minutes gets turned into an hour or two, or in my case, nearly three. Why? Who knows. But I think the results speak for themselves.

So much better, right? I can see the floors, the kids can no longer get into any snack they want because they found their right homes in the containers, and the bio-hazards no longer exist! Yippie! I do love me a clean and organized pantry.

I shouldn't be too happy though. As every mother knows, when you take one step forward in cleaning your house, your kids make you take two steps back. Hence the picture below.

Oh, well. At least I made a little progress today. Rome wasn't built in a day. So, when are you going to jump into your spring cleaning?