When In Doubt, Clean It Again (With Bleach)

Today we're going to play "What's under the 50 year-old contact paper?"

I'm sure someone thought this was awesome when they put it down in 1960something. Now? In 2009? Not so much.

When we move, getting the bedroom in order is always the number one priority. This way, we can have at least one room that isn't piled high with boxes. And, it's nice to wake up to some sense of normalcy before you open the door to chaos. And trust me, that's exactly what is on the other side of the door. Chaos.

Second on the list is the kitchen. You know I like to cook and bake, so getting things put away and usable is of the utmost importance. When I opened the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen, I saw what you see above: roses and bees, slightly rotten, with a touch of mold and just a pinch of foul-smell as a bonus. We did pay someone to come in and clean the place top to bottom last week, and it took her about 9 hours to do the whole place. (Because I will clean up after myself all day long, but refuse to clean up after other people, especially if I don't know them.) She was a hard worker, but I truly don't think anyone could have gotten this place completely spotless in that short amount of time. So, when I opened the drawers and found this, I was disappointed, as well as adamant that there was no way I was putting anything in there until I cleaned them again with some strong chemicals.

You may be thinking this is incongruous with other behavior you have seen from me. Just let me say this: for day to day maintenance and upkeep, I DO use environmentally friendly cleaning products. But for nastiness and crustiness, only the harsh stuff will do, especially when food is involved. I've tried the "green" stuff. It just can't do the job. So, we removed the contact paper and this is what we found:

Pink, yellow, and brown!

White! (sort of)

Pink and mint green!

Pink, white, and natural wood!

So we scrubbed and scrubbed, and scrubbed some more, and I still didn't feel quite confident enough to put my eating utensils in these. So, what did we do? We bought more contact paper! Because I'm anal, OCD, and a germaphobe. And, because I'm also just a little bit white trash, we got this:

The look of "natural" wood.

See? Much better.

No really, this is the most normal looking contact paper they had at Fred Meyer. I've only been to a Fred Meyer like twice since I've moved here (one of which was just yesterday). I thought it was like the "Wal-Mart" of the Pacific Northwest (because they don't seem to really have Wal-Marts here). I said that to someone, and they emphatically disagreed with me, that Fred Meyer is waaayyy better than Wal-Mart. So, now I don't know what to believe. I'm sure I'll find out, though, because there's one pretty close to our new house and it seems to be where all our neighbors go for stuff.

Anyway, after scrubbing, bleaching, and putting down new contact paper, I can confidently say my dishes are put away. There isn't quite room for everything yet, and there's no pantry so right now a lot of stuff is still in boxes. But we'll get there. I'm panicking a little bit, but we'll get there.