Finally late this morning, they left for their camping trip. As mentioned previously, I opted out.
Soon as they were gone, I started a kitchen purge and deep clean.
I didn’t even really mean to tackle this now but there was a smell… 😏
I opened up the drinking bottles drawer and discovered, under the apron and oven mitts, a forgotten bag of buttermilk scones.
Aha! The source of the smell.
My first question was ‘how did they end up in that drawer?’ and my second was ‘why didn’t anyone notice?’
But there was no one here to answer my questions.
So I chucked the bag in the garbage.
Gross. Makes me wonder, with all the dogs I sit in this house, none of them discovered the smell?
😜
Then I sorted out all the SIGG and other reusable water bottles and purged them too: the ones that leak, don’t have a matching top anymore, or that I haven’t seen anyone use in the past year.
Gone.
😊
I could never do this with the family here…each purged item would be someone’s favorite, or they didn’t know where it was which is why they haven’t used it, or no it doesn’t leak…
🙄
While I was doing this I got several texts from my 10yo girl child.
Nothing like a bit of distraction while cleaning an empty, quiet house.
She was complaining to me after an hour and a half in the car.
Understand that all of us, including the driver of the car (her dad) knew this would happen. It’s inevitable – the minute the three of them get into a car for any trip longer than 30 minutes they immediately start salivating about junk food.
She decides to text me her troubles.
She’s hungry. And they’re laughing at her.
(She’s always hungry…for junk. When I told her to pack a snack for the 4+ hour trip she didn’t feel like it.)
Her texts are hilarious though:
The texts themselves are full of emojis. If you have a girl, or at tween, or a young teen, then you know what I mean…
With my daughter, there’s drama in everything, and texting especially gives her an opportunity to expand her creative outlet. It’s entertaining to a point usually, today especially, because I’m here in the house and she’s miles away in a car. I can’t hear the high pitched whiny sounds… so the texts are cute and funny. 😂
After she got her food and texted me their choices (burgers, fries and soda pop, what else), my phone was silent for a while. I am anticipating another slew of texts when they’re about an hour away from the final destination, with words like ‘bored’ and ‘ice cream’ peppered throughout the conversation. 😁
They’ll be stopping at a base camp to register, and that’s the place where the kids will pressure daddy to get ice cream. I can guarantee it.
In the meantime, I get to sit here and watch the Food Network (Valerie Bertinelli is serving lunch to friends), have a tea, and then head back into my chaotic kitchen to finish up. My aim is to complete the kitchen today, so I can devote tomorrow to purging the kids’ rooms.
TRUST ME, this is easier (and quicker) done when they’re not here, as well.
🙂
Writer of Words, etc 
Staying home sounds wonderful. Of course if I stayed at home, I would spend the first day cleaning the house, knowing that it would stay like it for a little while. And then I would regret not going with everybody else 🙂
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I wander into the kids clean room’s at least twice a day just to marvel at how it should look all the time! 🙃
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That sounds amazing! I wish I could send mine off camping 🙂 My youngest of three (she’s 10, almost 11) is a junk food junkie/dramatic actress too – she sounds an awful lot like yours!
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They’re all so similar, aren’t they, the little tween girls! 🙂 Thank you for stopping by! I’m in the process of procrastinating right now, but I have 3 bags of stuff purged…
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I suspect you should be able to get a lot accomplished 🙂
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on bag 3…mostly clothing. 🙂
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I do much better purges when Sunshine os away, so I completely understand😁
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Yayy! Happy purging!
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Everything is so much easier without kids under foot. 🙂
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Totally agree…you can’t do stuff like that when they’re home! Hav3. Great time!!
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Ahh the bliss of pottering about at home when the family are away. Can’t you go have a massage and a martini or something? So sad that that’s exactly what I would do – tidy up and clean all the crap! Satisfying though it is it’s not a 🍹! Hope you have time to treat yourself too
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Massage will have to wait till Tues or Wed, it’s a long weekend here (Mon is a holiday) but I definitely want to do that, my back is sore. And maybe get my eyebrows done, a facial at the spa…!
so far so good.
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Ooh sounds lovely – enjoy!
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Time to turn on the music, clean, and have a glass of wine, try on clothes, write, and enjoy.
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Lolol! So similar to the texts i get from my daughter when im out of the house! I think she thinks texts are only useful to convey complaints. Then when i talk her down she tells me my messages are too long! 😂…..and i can’t clean with her around either because she dumpster dives every damn thing i donate because shes nostalgic about it somehow!!
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My vacation, my terms. 🙂 She can text me all she wants, I can read, or not read, right? (I already miss them)
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I know its double edged getting time to organize but then everyone is away!
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