Because the freshly vacuumed floor was just too clean...

I do not compulsively clean our home. Over the past five years I have learned better systems and discipline so that I can keep the place looking peaceful, but I don't clean for love of the process. Today I vacuumed the children's room for the second time since we moved here in May.

Rewind a bit. A few days ago I received a package in the mail. It was a tidy little box and after I removed my item it was still about two thirds full of packing popcorn. The garbages needed to be taken out so I didn't have anywhere to dump the stuff and I thought Eli might want to add it to the stash at Exodus. So, instead of taking care of it I set it by the door so he could take it with him on his way to work.

Fast forward to this evening, right before dinner. I had forgotten to tell Eli about the afore-mentioned box of packing materials so he didn't even know it was there for the taking. I had been working on an Exodus project with my brother, Zack, all afternoon instead of preparing for our dinner guests so I was just hurrying down to get pork chops frying. While the cat was away, the mice had found the forgotten box. Its contents had been dumped, walked on and crumbled. Fluffy white popcorn crumbs were strewn across the freshly cleaned carpets and I had to get dinner on the table in an hour.

Thankfully, because I had been cleaning today, the vacuum was handy and the right attachment was in place. Packing popcorn vacuums up quite nicely. The garbages had also been emptied in the cleaning efforts of the last few days and since most of the popcorn had been sucked up by the vacuum there was plenty of room to dispose of the rest appropriately. I would say that a lesson has been thoroughly learned today, but for some reason I just don't think like a kid when I leave something as fascinating as packing popcorn lying around.