Pros got it easy....

[phatch]

Not really, but they don't have this happening.

I'm reading a book and my kids are playing, the youngest napping. I hear a cabinet in the kitchen and know something is not right. I turn the corner and my 2 and 4 year old are throwing handfuls of flour in the air. I've got 5 pounds of flour packed in the grout, gracing the ledges of the raised panel doors, in the vegetables and bulk food containers and over many shelves and contents of the pantry.

I filled one normal vacuum bag with flour and my shop vac shut down from overheating with clogged filters. No, I didn't sweep first as that stirs it up more so it would fill the whole house and the vacs all have filters.

The flour tub has cheerios mixed through the top five inches of flour

Next is the mopping and damp wiping. No cooking for a while yet. If it's as bad as washing flour dust out a 4 year old girls long hair the screaming you'll hear out West is me. Gots me a load of flour laundry waiting too.


Phil

[Peachcreek]

You are right! If I want someone to screw up my inventory, break my equipment, waste food and make messes I HAVE TO PAY SOMEBODY!

[ShawtyCat]

Oh Phil! Poor you. I definately know how that feels. My kids were supposed to be playing when it suddenly got very quiet. And Im sure every parent knows what that means So I let myself into the kids room and found my 4 yr old asleep and my 1 year old was covered head to toe with chocolate pudding! The carpet, the walls, the TV, most of the toys. It was everywhere!

My 1 yr old screamed all through his bath. I had to clear everything out of the room, wash the walls and everything down, then rent a professional steamer vacuum from the supermarket. Took me two days to finish cleaning. I think I may have to have the walls repainted.

So sorry to hear about what happened. I did get the video camera out so now they can't deny all the trouble they got into.

Jodi

[Risa]

In my case, it was the puppy and a large bag of potting soil. He found the bag in the laundry room, dragged it across the kitchen and into the living room. Then, he tore open the bag and scattered soil all over the living room. I vacuumed up most of it, but something in the vacuum cleaner burned out and now the beater brush doesn't work. Just when I have company staying with me! (Even if it is only my younger brother.) There are large brown areas on the light, beige carpet. I tried cleaning it at 6:30 this morning using one of those foaming carpet cleaners but to no avail. I'll have to rent a Rug Doctor later this week or get the carpet professionally cleaned. I love my Pippin, but he's taxing both my patience and my pocketbook.

[Jill Reichow]

Consider yourself lucky. When my friend's daughter was little and still in diapers.....ahem. She had filled her diaper, proceeded to take it off, finger paint the walls, the spindle posts on the crib, the mattress, the dresser. You know the saying...**** happens. And she was soooooooo pleased with her artwork.

[Pastachef]

Jill, My toddler, (who is now 37) did the same thing, almost daily at nap time. Even double pinning her diapers didn't help. And she was so quiet about it. I had a couple of incidents like the flour thing too, only it was corn starch. Try vacuuming THAT one up. Another time it was Comet bathtub cleanser. All I had done was answer the kitchen wall phone. They're fast. I quickly learned that the messes came up easier if I just sat down and had a good cry first.

These stories are hilarious! And yet, my heart goes out to each of you! Organic messes can be the nastiest of all to clean up. (Look bad, smell bad...smell worse over time.) I am blissfully childless but I've had a lot of experience cleaning up after critters, having worked in nature centers for a few years.

I've found that clean-up success depends a lot on the tools one uses. Clorox and borax are two items no home (or nature center) should be without. At home we have a "Little Green Clean Machine" for accidents on upholstery and rugs and a 'Steam Fast' for hard surface (and some fabric) clean-ups.

Powdery messes like flour (or Borax) are best handled by scooping up the bulk with two pieces of cardboard. Then vacuum what remains with the *hose attachment*. Fine powder in the works will trash a vacuum cleaner very quickly. (Been there...repaired that.)

I once told my neighbor's kids that the only way I'd feed them (messy eaters) would be to put them in bathing suits, pile them in the tub and serve them there. It would be so easy to hose them down afterward! They thought that idea sounded like a lot of fun, actually.

Be strong!

[ShawtyCat]

My baby girl did the same thing when she was 2 to our guest bedroom! I had to hose her down in the tub, buy a new mattress and pillows. Try explaining those stains to a guest. I wonder what the fascination is with babies and dirty diapers???

[chiffonade]

So that's what I heard .

Sounds like you had your hands full there for a while. If only that scene were in a sitcom, it would have gotten a laugh and then cleaning service people could have come in and made the whole mess disappear.

Daughter was about 18 months old, not yet in a bed. Her crib was next to a cabinet in which I kept my sweaters. On top of the cabinet were those big makeup kits. One hot summer night, I went into her room to check on her and her coloring didn't look right. I turned on a light. She was covered in eye shadow from head to toe. The only clean part of her was under her diaper!

[Peachcreek]

All my employees are young enough to be my "kids" even though they are all in their 20s'. My morning prep guy got in in a hugh fight with his girlfriend this weekend, ended up in a bar fight and came in Monday morning with a black eye. My line cook pulled a groin muscle playing softball a week ago. A gal who worked for me balked about working a catering because she was wanting to go out with friends....Twentysomethings and toddlers are not all that different.

[Athenaeus]

Another messy category of kids is "middle aged husbands" they can create a mess everywhere: kitchen , bathroom, living room .
EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

[cape chef]

But Middle aged husbands are mature enough to clean up after themselves, can't always be said for the kids

[Athenaeus]

Greek men never do such things cape chef

We honor our men we do not make them wipe floors

[ShawtyCat]

Hey ~A~,

You'll like my Greek hubby then....he does more cleaning than I do! The man is a real clean freak....he actually hand washes his marble floors with vinegar, water and coffee filters.

He also agrees with Peachcreek. I keep telling him that having to deal with babies all day is a pain. He replies, "what do you think my customers are? It's gimme this, no wait, gimme that. Can I substitute? Do you have those little martini umbrellas? It's a diner not a bar for chr***'s sake!"

I guess he has a point!

[Athenaeus]

Believe me Shawty Cat

if you changed for 1 month he would beg on his knees to take the customers back LOL

Ask Peachcreek