Really the only different between the state of the house four years ago and the state of the house now is the speed at which things move.

I used to get out a project and work on it, leave it a few days or weeks and it would still be there to remind me that I needed to finish it. Now if I get out a project and leave, it is still there to remind me but the pieces of the project are scattered anyway from under the chair and couches to a different floor of the house to stashed away in some passel of various items Priya or Sam has packed up. The really important projects I don't want fingerprints, spilled milk and scissors marks on, I put up in. Then I forget about them.

I do give Priya and Sam them credit for creativity, however. Since their toys have been in seclusion for the past two weeks, they really don't seem to miss them. They weren't important enough for them to pick up and put away and the point is further proven by the fact that I've heard almost no complaints about them being missing.They get out the pans and Tupperware containers regardless of where their toys are. Unfortunately the items stored in the kitchen don't stay in the kitchen when they play with them. For instance, one day all the potatoes and onions were filed neatly in some sort of pan in the toy room the other day. Today, all the picnic utensils from the camping container in the porch are laid out on a tablecloth from the kitchen on a plant stand that usually sits by the window in the toy room.

It makes cleanup interesting to say the least...