Under The Kitchen Sink.

*cue the creepy music*

Under my kitchen sink is frightening. Really scary. The stuff of nightmares. All those pipes and bottles and ant traps and mouse traps and poo.

Did I just say "poo"???

Let's back up. We live in an old-ish house. The main part of the house was a tiny leeeeetle home, about 650 square feet. It was built on a crawl space in 1947. Then someone added a bedroom and kitchen on a basement, bringing the square footage up to about 900. Then someone else added a living room on a slab. Presto--1100 square feet. Then WE bought the house in 1997 and KERSPLODED it in 2000. (yes. Kersploded is a word. My kids do it to the playroom all the time.) We added a dining room and a 2nd floor and now have about 2500 square feet.

Ok, this architecture lesson is necessary because it explains the poo. Have you ever lived with a crawlspace? They seem to attract bugs. And spiders. And rodents. I should mention we live VERY near a major park system...we have wolves in our neighborhood and a hawk and a seriously creepy bat population in summer.

Sidetracked. Again. (organizational mojo gone, people). Anyhow, because with live near a large park system, because we have a crawl space, because we have heat and the furry disease-infested beasts do not, we get a mouse (or 6) from time to time.

Brad recently spotted and subsequently, killed a very tiny furry beast. I guess the laundry by the basement door in our kitchen (that's an entirely different post) started moving one morning and then a mouse shot out. Eek. (!) I moved the fridge & stove and cleaned after we caught that one, and steam mopped the floors, but never went under the sink.

Remember--the sink is seriously creepy.

Anyhow, that's the poo story. I very infrequently clean under it; it's actually a very awkward space because the sink is in a corner of my kitchen, so the opening is only one door and then the sink box is a pentagon shape. It's quite spacious under there and completely under-utilized. And it's Day 5 of the 21-day cleaning challenge. So I HAD to clean it. The blog is making me do it.

Here's a "before", looking towards the left side:

And a "before" looking towards the right side:

I pulled everything out and put it on a work towel that earlier mopped up snow. (don't want poo on my kitchen floor).

(what is all that junk, anyway? Mr. Clean eraser sponges---TWO boxes, empty plant food container, TWO empty spray bottles, more ant/mouse trap gizmos, a dish drainer we NEVER use, a flower pot (more on that gem later) and assorted brushes and cleaning things.

Here's the "before" of the dirtiness:

And another "before", just for giggles & proper horrification (the poo is waaaaaay in the back):

I sprayed everything down with a vinegar/water spray bottle that I use for cleaning and wiped it all out. The bottom of this cabinet is stained and a bit water damaged and really, doesn't look much better now that it's clean. But it's clean and literally decrapified and that's what is important here.

Dish drainer. Major casualty. I've never liked this particular dish drainer and honestly, I don't think that I *personally* have used it in 4 or 5 years. YEARS. Why the heck am I holding on to it? The dish drainer police will NOT come to my house and fine me for NOT having one. right?  Right. Buh Bye.

I emptied the boxes of various pest traps and put them in that little red flower pot my BFF made me. It's too small for a plant, and this is a good use for it. I put all the cleaning supplies back in my dishpan (ahem. I didn't use the dish drainer, do you really think I use the dishpan???)

And this slightly cracked but cute flower pot? My oldest "made" it in daycare when he was 15 months old. I can't part with it. I just can't. Call it memory clutter, call it "mama can't let go", call it whatever you want. I'm keeping it. I put my lone Brillo pad and that weird cranky/key gizmo for the garbage disposer. So there. Repurposed.

Remember the grossness:

 And the poo-free organized DISH DRAINER free after:

Nice. Clean. Poo-free. Life With Boys. (and rodents, too!)