Visitors to our house almost always love our funky kitchen, its baskets and pots hanging from the ceiling beams, the wood stove and cast-iron cookware, the Blue Willow items, and the profusion of things. Things under things, things on top of things, things hanging on the wall, things in the window.
But the bad thing about all these things is that they are serious collectors of grease and dust.
It began with the window by the sink. Having just scoured the sink, I thought I should wash the window. Of course, that involved taking down ninety-'leven odds and ends--3 hippos, 3 rhinos and a little triceratops, as well as assorted prisms and jars and bottles--all of which were greasy and dusty. And that was the first day.
Once all that was done, I looked at the woodstove--another catchall.
The stove itself was in need of a good wipe down--once I took the clutter from it. Greasy, dusty clutter, it goes without saying. And behind and under the stove was amazingly awful--withered bits of veg that had missed the compost bucket, lids to long departed pots, a mouse mommy were a few of the challenges I faced. And that was the second day. (I'm slow because I have to go sit down whenever my back complains and it complains a lot.)
On the third day I tackled the wood box, wherein was wood for the (rarely used) woodstove and assorted baskets and bits of woodware. Everything out--including the logs which got dusted. At the bottom was a pile of newspapers dating to the late 90s and early 2000s. That's how bad it was. Embarrassing but true, (Note: all of these pictures are after cleaning.)
With a tiny bit of energy remaining, I tackled the mug storage and the wall beside it. Washed the blue and white stuff up top, as well as the things on the wall. Then I noticed how messy (and greasy and dusty) the hanging produce baskets were. And that the sheaf of recipe printouts in the top basket really needed to go elsewhere.
I really want to go through the whole kitchen this way--taking things out of cabinets, washing and re-arranging. At first, I thought it would be nice to have it done by Thanksgiving. But realistically, maybe Christmas. And then there's the pantry . . .
And the rest of the house.
