The Mess is Coming from Within (And a Giveaway!)
The list of things I'm good at is a long one, but so is the list of things I consistently fail to do effectively. At the tippy-top of that list, constantly threatening to fall over, are my cleaning skills (or lack thereof). Long ago, extended family threatened to buy me a t-shirt that said "Domestically Challenged" for Christmas.
I would have worn that thing with pride.
The thing about being bad at cleaning is that it's the sort of thing that triggers a domino effect. I fail one day and then the next day I have double the failure, and then triple, and so on. The mess accumulates and the next thing you know, there's an entire cat's worth of fur clinging to the curtains.
Whoops?
Go ahead and guess how having a toddler in the house makes all of that so much better. Actually, it's the opposite of better because did you know that toddlers are sticky? ALWAYS? I swear I can give Mila a bath, wrap her in a towel, and three minutes later she's magically sticky again, even though she hasn't left my arms. I legit have no idea where she finds the sticky. Does it ooze out of toddler pores? It must, right? Because WHY ARE TODDLERS SO STICKY?
To aid in concealing my domestically challenged ways (there is no cure, just things that can make me look like less of a failure), I like to surround myself with shortcuts. I'm not going to drag out the vacuum to clean crumbs off of the kitchen floor, but if there's a broom that's stored in a convenient place, I stand a chance. I follow the same sort of logic when it comes to keeping disinfecting wipes around the house. I could use paper towels and spray, but the disinfecting wipes bring together the best of both of those worlds in one convenient to store package. Besides, I can never find the paper towels. I'm sure I left them around here somewhere...
ANYWAY.
I'm picky about my disinfecting wipes, for the record. It's that lazy thing. I prefer Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes with Micro-Scrubbers because one side of the wipe is textured and does a great job when scrubbing sticky, crusty, gross messes. The other side is smooth and does great when I need to wipe away dirt.
Given that there is a toddler in the house, the answer to sticky and crusty or just dirty is YES. The answer is YES. Both. Always.
Which reminds me of a certain mystery in my life. You know how there is glass on your oven door? Have you ever had the space between the glass get dirty? Well, can you explain to me how Mila managed to spread her sticky to the inside of my oven door? BECAUSE I CAN'T.
I have no idea how she managed it, but one day I walked into the kitchen and could see sticky toddler fingers all over the glass. I tried wiping the outside but quickly realized the mess was coming from within. It was like that threatening phone call, but with less creepy music playing in the background. Even more mysterious, there was cat fur stuck to the sticky, as if Mila had disassembled the door, wiped her sticky hands all over it, and then tried to clean her sticky with a cat.
An hour later, I figured out how to clean the disaster. It involved a bent wire coat hanger and a handful of Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes with Micro-Scrubbers. The best part -- I didn't have to disassemble the door.
YAY FOR CLOROX® DISINFECTING WIPES WITH MICRO-SCRUBBERS!
You can learn more on Facebook, follow @Clorox on twitter, or visit the website.
What's the oddest mess you've ever had to clean up? Tell me in the comments for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card.
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Thursday, May 5, 2016
Reader Comments (153)
The oddest stains I have cleaned are the stains in my brass sink from toothpaste and handsoap.
The oddest mess I've had to clean up was gum in our daughter's hair.
Don't care to do that again too soon!
thank you
Tweet https://twitter.com/JalapenoMama/status/748344558979846144
My oddest "mess" I had to clean up was when my daughter put gum in my hair and I had to get it out of there!
Well just tonight I discovered why the sink was reeking and the disposal wasn't working. A kid had put a washcloth down there and it was stuck and getting it out flung smelly mess everywhere!
I had to clean up red Kool-Aid and brown hair color for the carpet.
I once had to clean up a pile of worms my kid brought in the house.
At home I once found what I think had been a banana on the shelf of the guest room closet. It had basically petrified.
(and I used to work at a psychiatric hospital - we had some messes there that were truly mind-boggling, but this is a nice family blog so I will keep mum!)
tweeted: https://twitter.com/tinawoo21/status/748407477625102337
Probably mess left behind by a pet squirrel when I was younger.
I cleaned up black pepper and spices spilled on the floor
2nd entry https://mobile.twitter.com/Esham4life/status/748448676029337600
My girlfriends mascara marks all over our dresser... and in the carpet...
Empty cups always under my sons bed.
When my daughter had forensic classes in high school, she had to do an experiment on how bodies decompose in different conditions. I can't remember what stage the decomposing meat was in (I think dirt), but she spilled it on the floor. Never had to clean up something with such a stench and maggots.
One of the oddest things I had to clean was m & m's. My dog got into a bag of them, ate them then threw up a multi colored rainbow all over my new beige carpet. Thankfully both the dog and carpet survived.
Most of my toddlers messes are a little odd. No idea what it is or where it came from.
Umm tons of fuzz out of a dog bed that my dogs shredded. It doesn't seem odd, but when we first got home it was like.. "What happened in here? What is all this??" so it appeared odd at first.
My daughter somehow threw her sippy cup hard enough on the floor of the car and the lid cracked, red kool-aid everywhere. It was a huge sticky mess, and there's still red spots.
https://twitter.com/Stephanie64030/status/748484791138291712
It's probably some combination of food that is my worst mess.
When my daughter was a baby I was changing her diaper and poo shot out of her butt onto the wall! Thank goodness for Clorox Wipes!
My daughter got hold of a bunch of red licorice and put each piece in her juice and went around the kitchen and stained everything. Sticky red mess. I asked her way she did it and she said it was fun.
The oddest mess I've ever had to clean up was my life!
https://twitter.com/Attea2d/status/748525748416286721
My daughter got gum in her hair - right in the front in the middle. Someone told me to use peanut butter to get it out. What a mess! I kept telling her she better stay away from squirrels that day so they didn't try to lick her hair. She didn't see the humor in that.
I can't recall anything out of the ordinary or odd - just normal food messes
I posted a tweet here:
https://twitter.com/purplepanda1966/status/748544307754209280
The oddest mess I had to clean up? Sometimes what the dog throws up is pretty odd. I guess I have more gross messes than odd messes.
the oddest mess i have ever had to clean up is the mess my dog made with paper towels.
somehow another wound up having to clean a mix of glue, play doh and paint out of the rugs. shaking my head...
Not odd but a mess I am always cleaning is paint. My daughter loves to paint and never cleans up so I'm always having to do it. Thank you!
Play duh mushed into my carpet
https://twitter.com/NICKIEISIS3/status/748558265773137921
a watermelon half I was cutting up shot across the counter and on the floor. There was juice, seeds, and chunks of watermelon everywhere. It took forever to get it up.
The oddest mess I have ever had to clean up was when a pantry cabinet fell over after my daughter was hanging on the door and baking supplies came crashing down and all over the floor. Thankfully my daughter was not injured and the cabinet has been properly secured now but boy was it fun trying to clean flours and other supplies from the floors.
dog poop on my pants
https://twitter.com/purplelover04/status/748567799660838913
This is really odd. When my boys were little,, they decided to "paint" the floor in their bedroom with Vaseline, then dump baby powder all over that. That was not a fun clean-up!
The oddest mess you've ever had to clean up is always spilled mustard. It does almost certain damage to fabric.
I publicly Tweeted this giveaway: https://twitter.com/versatileer/status/748587037188493312
the oddest mess i have probably ever had to clean up is when my dog got sick!
my daughter spilled paint all over the kitchen floor. that was fun.
I can't think of anything really odd. The biggest mess was when I dropped a can of warm root beer and it exploded everywhere. It was on and under everything in the kitchen from ceiling to floor.
The oddest mess I have ever had to clean up was some of our roof in the kitchen when Hurricane Katrina hit our state.
One of the oddest messes I ever had to clean up was green paw prints in the kitchen after my cat stepped in wet paint.
I tweeted. https://twitter.com/DarkMysticNight/status/748640341012602881
My oddest mess was cleaning the kitchen after a spaghetti food fight.
Thanks for the contest.
https://twitter.com/slehan/status/748651489845862400
#SweepstakesEntry tweet:
https://twitter.com/thrincor/status/748661405134495748
kacor7@hotmail.com