# Pros got it easy....



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Not really, but they don't have this happening.

I'm reading a book and my kids are playing, the youngest napping. I hear a cabinet in the kitchen and know something is not right. I turn the corner and my 2 and 4 year old are throwing handfuls of flour in the air. I've got 5 pounds of flour packed in the grout, gracing the ledges of the raised panel doors, in the vegetables and bulk food containers and over many shelves and contents of the pantry.

I filled one normal vacuum bag with flour and my shop vac shut down from overheating with clogged filters. No, I didn't sweep first as that stirs it up more so it would fill the whole house and the vacs all have filters.

The flour tub has cheerios mixed through the top five inches of flour

Next is the mopping and damp wiping. No cooking for a while yet. If it's as bad as washing flour dust out a 4 year old girls long hair the screaming you'll hear out West is me. Gots me a load of flour laundry waiting too.


Phil


----------



## peachcreek (Sep 21, 2001)

You are right! If I want someone to screw up my inventory, break my equipment, waste food and make messes I HAVE TO PAY SOMEBODY!


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Oh Phil! :lol: Poor you. I definately know how that feels. My kids were supposed to be playing when it suddenly got very quiet. And Im sure every parent knows what that means  So I let myself into the kids room and found my 4 yr old asleep and my 1 year old was covered head to toe with chocolate pudding! The carpet, the walls, the TV, most of the toys. It was everywhere!  

My 1 yr old screamed all through his bath. I had to clear everything out of the room, wash the walls and everything down, then rent a professional steamer vacuum from the supermarket. Took me two days to finish cleaning. I think I may have to have the walls repainted.

So sorry to hear about what happened. I did get the video camera out so now they can't deny all the trouble they got into.

Jodi


----------



## risa (May 11, 2001)

In my case, it was the puppy and a large bag of potting soil. He found the bag in the laundry room, dragged it across the kitchen and into the living room. Then, he tore open the bag and scattered soil all over the living room. I vacuumed up most of it, but something in the vacuum cleaner burned out and now the beater brush doesn't work. Just when I have company staying with me! (Even if it is only my younger brother.) There are large brown areas on the light, beige carpet. I tried cleaning it at 6:30 this morning using one of those foaming carpet cleaners but to no avail. I'll have to rent a Rug Doctor later this week or get the carpet professionally cleaned. I love my Pippin, but he's taxing both my patience and my pocketbook.


----------



## jill reichow (Mar 12, 2001)

Consider yourself lucky. When my friend's daughter was little and still in diapers.....ahem. She had filled her diaper, proceeded to take it off, finger paint the walls, the spindle posts on the crib, the mattress, the dresser. You know the saying...**** happens. And she was soooooooo pleased with her artwork.


----------



## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Jill, My toddler, (who is now 37) did the same thing, almost daily at nap time. Even double pinning her diapers didn't help. And she was so quiet about it. I had a couple of incidents like the flour thing too, only it was corn starch. Try vacuuming THAT one up. Another time it was Comet bathtub cleanser. All I had done was answer the kitchen wall phone. They're fast. I quickly learned that the messes came up easier if I just sat down and had a good cry first.


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

My baby girl did the same thing when she was 2 to our guest bedroom! I had to hose her down in the tub, buy a new mattress and pillows. Try explaining those stains to a guest. I wonder what the fascination is with babies and dirty diapers???


----------



## chiffonade (Nov 29, 2001)

So _that's_ what I heard .

Sounds like you had your hands full there for a while. If only that scene were in a sitcom, it would have gotten a laugh and then cleaning service people could have come in and made the whole mess disappear.

Daughter was about 18 months old, not yet in a bed. Her crib was next to a cabinet in which I kept my sweaters. On top of the cabinet were those big makeup kits. One hot summer night, I went into her room to check on her and her coloring didn't look right. I turned on a light. She was covered in eye shadow _from head to toe_. The only clean part of her was under her diaper!


----------



## peachcreek (Sep 21, 2001)

All my employees are young enough to be my "kids" even though they are all in their 20s'. My morning prep guy got in in a hugh fight with his girlfriend this weekend, ended up in a bar fight and came in Monday morning with a black eye. My line cook pulled a groin muscle playing softball a week ago. A gal who worked for me balked about working a catering because she was wanting to go out with friends....Twentysomethings and toddlers are not all that different.


----------



## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

Another messy category of kids is "middle aged husbands" they can create a mess everywhere: kitchen , bathroom, living room .
EVERYWHERE!!!!!!


----------



## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

But Middle aged husbands are mature enough to clean up after themselves, can't always be said for the kids


----------



## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

Greek men never do such things cape chef

We honor our men we do not make them wipe floors


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Hey ~A~,

You'll like my Greek hubby then....he does more cleaning than I do! The man is a real clean freak....he actually hand washes his marble floors with vinegar, water and coffee filters.  

He also agrees with Peachcreek. I keep telling him that having to deal with babies all day is a pain. He replies, "what do you think my customers are? It's gimme this, no wait, gimme that. Can I substitute? Do you have those little martini umbrellas? It's a diner not a bar for chr***'s sake!" 

I guess he has a point!


----------



## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

Believe me Shawty Cat

if you changed for 1 month he would beg on his knees to take the customers back LOL

Ask Peachcreek


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

~A~

He said that last week before I left him with the kids for a few hours to go to the doc for a checkup then ultrasound.

He still says that the customers are like kids but he doesnt know HOW I do it spending 24 hours a day with our little monsters. Then he handed over the baby and the diaper fell off. :lol:


----------



## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

White wicker cribs....need I say more?
I had 1 gl of veg oil spilled by my first child....that was a joy to clean.
My babies are all teenagers now, but my brother has a 17mo old that plays in the dog food and water on a regular basis...she also enjoys wearing her food bowl on her gorgeous red hair....Great to visit, glad I'm just the auntie that can go home....done my time.
And to think I was actually talking about having another child 2 years ago.


----------



## malpert1 (Jan 3, 2003)

Italian Restaurant Art Work
I specialize in Art work for Italian Restaurants where would be the best place to advertise my work. www.creativeartphotos.com/album
[email protected]


----------



## chiffonade (Nov 29, 2001)

Did you get pictures???


----------



## malpert1 (Jan 3, 2003)

not sure how this board works.... can u email me at [email protected] thanks


----------



## leo r. (Nov 10, 2001)

Phil,i know how you and all the other parents on here feel.I have a nephew who liked to wear his food on his head.Why do children have to impersonate Carmen Miranda?
My niece who is now 20,once put chocolate in my video player!She then gave me a beaming smile as if her handywork was really needed!!How i laughed whilst sorting that out.
An old friend of mine has a son who regularly fell asleep in his food.Now he is an apprentice chef,ihope he doesn`t do the same at college. 

Leo.:chef:


----------



## shimmer (Jan 26, 2001)

I make messes well enough on my own. At work, we have a huge container of cocoa powder sitting on the shelf below the table. Well, we always try putting more down there than really fits, because then its easier to grab ingredients. I knocked over the cocoa powder. Have you ever tried to clean it? You sweep it, and the mess gets bigger. Mopping it (adding water) makes it into a paste that grinds into the floor and paints the tile. *sigh* 

I always hope the owner doesn't come in while I'm working (I work early in the mornings, make the desserts, and leave), because she always comments on the mess I make. I always assumed that this is why I have my OWN kitchen, upstairs away from everyone else! Nobody else could share my space, I'm too messy! Then there are the brain fart times when I turn the mixer on high after adding powdered sugar.... and I have to clean my glasses to continue working..... 

One funny story- my little sister (13 years younger) watched us use the VCR before she figured it out on her own. One day I pushed the Eject button, and a waffle came out! 

~~Shimmer~~:bounce:


----------



## georgeair (Jun 11, 2001)

Granted 2 may be a little young, but by 4 my charming kids learned that if they made a mess on purpose or by stupid actions (i.e. excluding legit accidents) there was no way I was cleaning it up alone. They do not like a grumpy dad supervising. Also helps to start them down the path of if one is doing something this stupid in the presence of the other, they are both in trouble equally. A little unfair to the "innocent" one - perhaps, but peer pressure and self governance has saved us many headaches, some we probably don't even know about.

Everyone's different, but our home is not a democracy-based playground for their amusement. You'd be amazed how few debates we have after the model of one-in-trouble-all-in-trouble sinks in. Started at 2 and 5, now at 7 and 10 they play together better than any kids I know. Gotta love 'em!

.... and both love to cook!:chef:


----------

