Isn't It Ironic

About 15 minutes ago, I was sitting here at my computer having a pity party because I didn't have anything to blog about. As I perused other blogs, reading the witty, insightful words of others, I felt pretty bad that I couldn't think of anything to say. Let alone anything witty or insightful. All these other bloggers have exciting lives; many are in Chicago this weekend for a Healthy Living Summit; many others travel, eat incredible food and take beautiful pictures. I don't do any of that. My life is simple. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy simple; simple is uncomplicated. Simple is predictable and safe. Simple is good, but simple is dull.

So, as you can see, I felt awfully perplexed by the fact that I couldn't think of anything to say.
That is, however, until I walked into my kitchen.....

Before I tell you about my kitchen, let me back up and say that hours earlier, after I returned home from the gym, I walked into my quiet home (Caroline was at her friend's house) and couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly joyous about the fact that my house was clean. I know it sounds sad and Monica Geller-ish to say, but nothing makes me happier than coming home to a neat and tidy home. After my shower, I dusted my bedroom a little, because I like the furniture to be shiny, and I laid on my bedroom floor and enjoyed how lovely and clean everything looked.

I know. Stop rolling your eyes mom.

But don't you worry, my words came back to bite me the moment I walked into my kitchen a little while ago.

You see, Caroline and her friends like to create sticky, dirty, disgusting concoctions. The messier, the grosser in color, the slimier, the better. They like to use pantry items and things found in nature (dirt) to make potions and food for their Webkinz. Every time they do this, a mess of gigantic proportion results. That's a part of child rearing that I've fully accepted. The girls have fun stirring up a mish-mosh of ingredients; sometimes I even find their potions carefully wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator or freezer for preservation and safe keeping. Like I said, it's messy but I hate to deter them from being creative when most kids these days would rather park themselves in front of the television.

Anyway, the girls came in asking for any of my unwanted pantry supplies to concoct their newest potion. Sometimes I say no and to go make a mess at someone else's house, but other times I feel charitable and full of good will. Today was a good will sort of day (must have been because my house was so tidy). I searched my pantry and came up with an expired cake mix, paprika that I never use, 1/8 of a box of elbow macaroni and some whole coffee beans that I mistakenly bought. They're of no use to me because I don't own a coffee grinder.
The girls took my proffered items and added some water and some rosemary, that continues to grow against all odds, from our deck. Little mud pies were diligently formed, carefully placed on plates and expertly embellished with a sprinkling of paprika.

As I said above, this type of activity naturally results in a mess. However, today's mess went above and beyond the norm. Today's mess was epic. It was so epic, in fact, that I made them leave so I could clean it up. Normally, I'd make them clean up; they were the culprits after all. Even with the smallest messes, after the girls "clean up" I have to go over it again to pick up the excess. Knowing that their "help" would only make my job harder, I told them to the scram. These were tasks required to be tackled by an expert: coffee beans scattered, piles of sticky paprika on the counters, cake mix dusting every surface of my kitchen island.

A good blogger would have stopped to take a picture. However, when I go about describing myself, neat freak reigns far superior over the title of blogger. I couldn't stand to stop for a single moment until I had my kitchen sparkling again.

Obviously, this isn't a horrible, life altering tale; it's actually kind of dorky. We're all still alive, with all of our limbs intact. I certainly wasn't going to drop dead over the fact that I had coffee beans swimming in my sink, Ziploc bags littering my counter tops and a trail of wet cake mix drops leading from the sink to the garbage can. Hey, the fact that they tried to get some of their mess into the garbage is a victory in and of itself.

I just found it slightly ironic that on the very day I pat myself on the back for having a clean home I end up with a paprika/cake mix volcanic eruption to deal with.

And even better it gave me something to blog about.
On days like this, I'll take what I can get!