Clean out & re-organize the kitchen cabinets.

One of my kids wants something pretty bad but a paramount stipulation of her even remotely having a chance at getting what she wants, is that this place has to be clean – pretty much from top to bottom.

Well, she self-motivated the other night. She has those moments just like I do, though hers always seem to be driven by getting what she wants rather than “just doing”, but nonetheless she even managed to recruit her big brother and the two of them jumped into one section of cabinets. He did no small amount of dish washing (pie plates, that sort of thing, dirty from just sitting in the cabinet for,... well, a very long time) and she cleaned out that section of cabinets with Pine-Sol & water. I haven’t checked her work though. See, I can’t readily get to those cabinets because of how much stuff they left in the kitchen floor when they ran out of steam that night. Everything from those cabinets will still be washed (like everything else) and while some will find its way back to where it belongs in a neater, originally intended, organized fashion and place… some of it is no doubt going to find its way into a box for a yard sale or a mixed-items donation box.

It was a start though and they also put a lot of effort into one section of very-cluttered counter-space and I followed up behind them washing some of the things from that area. A long ways to go though, but the little increments with several of us pitchng in, I think will work… will get it done… at least I hope so. The other methods employed, result in the other half being an ass and complaining – on the one hand he says make the kids do their chores, share in the tasks, “make them work” and then on the other hand and often in the same breath, he’s all over my ass about me telling the kids what to do. It’s a no-win situation for me most of the time. And just like with the entire domestic scene I get so low… so utterly discouraged because of the no-win situations, feeling like no matter what I do – even when I do things myself – it’s just going to bite me in the ass or that I can’t do anything right.

One section of cabinets washed… at least 10 more ‘sections’ to go….

First and foremost, via TFN I was able to secure a replacement stove for mine that has gone out. The thing is, the replacement isn’t the same size – it looks like I will need to cut away some counter-top to provide enough “depth” and additionally supplement with some support in order to not have it fall through – in effect, shorten the “length”. I’m not complaining, not at all. I just know that in order to do all that, I first have to clean out the dual-cabinet underneath that stove area and the top side/counter surrounding that area, and probably the deep freezer’s top too since it is backed up against the back edge of the counter there.

Beyond that dual-cabinet, both my upper and lower cabinets kitchen-wide need to be emptied, cleaned, dried, bug-sprayed, contents washed or re-washed since things have sat for so long and been shuffled around. I even need to wash canned goods off – which I am thinking about writing the names of things on the cans with a permanent marker and tearing off the bug-inviting paper labels themselves. I need to go through the cabinets that hold plates and glasses and stuff like that as well and get all of those organized.

My kitchen is a total shit-hole at this point. No one, and I do mean no one, here is willing to lift a finger except me and as soon as I get something cleaned – a counter area, dishes, whatever, someone comes along and dirties or messes it up or uses it and doesn’t clean up or pick up after themselves. It’s very discouraging for me. The same applies to the cabinets though. No one here but me seems capable of grasping the concept of putting things (clean) back where they belong – they just toss or jam things into any ol’ cabinet without regard for whether or not it is the “right place” for any given item. It really burns my buns.