Top shelf, where momma hides the cookies

Despite the title above, this post has ZERO, nada, zip to do with hockey…(much the same way our beloved Buffalo Sabres have had nothing to do with hockey playoffs for the past 12 years).

AND…IF you’re a not a hockey fan (and my guess is most of you are not), and more specifically not a Buffalo Sabres hockey fan, you have absolutely no idea that this is a beloved phrase:around these parts.

Seriously, in Buffalo, this phrase is a legit thing. Go ahead, Google it.

You know what else is on the “top shelf where Momma hides the cookies”?

A good chunk of our med stash… and that’s the topic of this month’s “Where Bloggers Live” post: The Medicine Cabinet.

Gotta say, it COULD have been quite the invasive topic. Is that where we keep the mountain of Gas-X…purple pills…immodium…lactaid? Hey gang, here’s everything you never wanted to know about someone you’ve never met. (And now would also be the perfect time to cue the old Sesame Street tune, “🎶”One of these things… is not like the others. One of these things… doesn’t belong🎵.” JSYK🤣. And yes, I have the maturity of a 12 year old.)

When I grew up, we had a traditional medicine cabinet and it housed five germy toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, chapstick, nail clippers, razors, shaving cream, lather brush, my father’s mustache comb and his NEVER-to-be-touched trimming scissors. Those tiny scissors, however were the perfect size for everything I needed them for, so OF COURSE I touched them ALL. THE. TIME. Then, as it happened, I frequently borrowed them without returning them. Days later the booming voice would bellow “WHERE ARE MY SCISSORS?!!!” “WHY CAN”T YOU KEEP YOUR …(ahem) HANDS OFF MY THINGS?!!!”

To be fair, it was a reasonable request. But that apparently was not a lesson easily learned.

Ironically, the EXACT same scenario frequently played out decades later in our house where my daughter likewise had an affinity for little scissors and an inability to learn that they are NEVER to be touched.

But, no. No medicines were kept in our medicine cabinet. In my parent’s house they were always in the kitchen. Top shelf, above all the glasses in a cabinet that also housed a mirror behind the door with a taped list of phone numbers and bunch of business cards tucked all around. The mirror was important because we were a one bathroom family and people needed an alternate place to do their hair. I mean, nothing at all gross about that.

As heredity would demand (and despite multiple bathrooms and a linen closet, we likewise kept most of our medicines in the kitchen, formerly on the top shelf of the baking cabinet (that no longer exists)

…which I’m fairly certain would NOT be listed in the American Safety Council’s top ten places to safely store your medicines. There were two bins, one for most of the family and one for the resident hypochondriac (let’s not tell her I said that).

But alas, that cabinet is… no more. In fact, the wall is also..no more.

Now, as remodeling empty nesters, we are sadly down to one bin of meds… and with next-to-no kitchen cabinets as we speak, they are publicly displayed for all to see…still on the top shelf, but on a rolling rack of dust-covered essentials that HAVE to be washed before each use..

(When I first called this blog “Dust and Doghair” it was meant to be self deprecating and funny. You know what’s NOT funny? The amount of DUST that is EVERYWHERE in our house right now. The byproduct of months of sanding down our stairs, knocking out walls, taking down ceilings, tearing up our floors. I know, lovely things are around the corner, but holy hell..the dust refills immediately after mopping it up…our lungs must look very healthy…but I digress).

SO…are you ready to see our current medicine cabinet?

NOT SO FAST! First you have to see this (and thank you to those who already have because you kindly follow me on Instagram. ALL KIND PEOPLE are invited to follow me on instagram… and if you’re lucky you get to see my content before I delete it…. like the cringy original version of this video where I sang my own parody of an overplayed trending tune (oh wait, I’ve digressed AGAIN!!!). So, yes…before I show you our medicine cabinet you need to see THIS….

….because then you’ll know why we need SO MUCH of THIS:

The three staples of our current diet. Also, you never know when you’ll want to make a sauce for your Excedrin with some toasted sesame oil and cornstarch from the bin next door (that’s a joke, btw).

Let’s go snoop in the medicine cabinets of my blogging buds! Check out:

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own  
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style

Welcome to “Where Bloggers Live.” It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! 
Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes? The second Friday of each month is when this group of six bloggers links up to share their workspaces, homes, towns… or whatever our fearless leader, the fabulous Bettye, proposes.
Make sure you visit everyone to see where the magic happens!

15 comments

  1. Glad that first, sleek metal and glass medicine cabinet is a thing from your past. Way too ooo la la for my taste. Bins in the kitchen cabinet I can do all day long. I am just not sure why I haven’t thought of it myself. We do have our vitamins (which I failed to show) in a bin in the kitchen cabinet over the counter where the landline phone used to sit. But all hard drugs are in the bathroom(s). A little here and little there.

    Can’t understand why you need all the OTC pain meds! Ha!! NOT!! Good grief. Watching you guys scoot on your behind the length of the room, ripping up old flooring has me reaching for a double shot of Aleve over here. Your projects are so incredibly incredible. And on such a grand scope. I moved the pictures to dust and feel like I have remodeled. You are amazing.

    Hope you have a good masseuse!! Can’t wait to see the finished project. XO

  2. Well, I’m relieved to see that I’m not the only one who didn’t know the “Top shelf, where momma hides the cookies” reference.

    I think you showed great faith/foresight in naming your blog “Dust & Doghair.” You can count on me coming to you when I’m naming my next blog.

    I don’t know how you have the energy for all that you do. Have we done a WBL: What I Eat in a Day? Maybe we should. I want to know what’s super-powering your body.

    Re your response to Vee: your humor is not cringey. It’s witty and delightful. Never stop 🙂

    xoxo Bettye

    1. The cornerstone of my diet is pizza and blue moon. Too much of the latter lately as reward for butt-busting. Mr is veggie powered, but I try to keep those satan ingredients to a minimum and instead propel with empty carbs.
      I will confess here: we are POOPED!!! I am a sitter by nature, but Mr and my brother are the antisy types who are always moving. Brother, who has much construction/electical knowledge has volunteered to help with rebuilding walls and rewiring all the things, meanwhile is building a pond in his backyard, and converting my parent’s bathroom into a walk in. ALL TO SAY, I am surrounded by energetic types who have shamed me off the sofa.
      Also, thank you for not minding my humor.

  3. We had one of those useless medicine cabinets in our very first house. It lasted about a year before we tore it off the wall and hung up a mirror. Nothing fit, and if it fell out, it inevitably fell into the toilet! And, I also keep medicines in the kitchen. I think I started doing that because our second house had one of those really narrow cabinets that fills in a space. Medicines just seemed the perfect thing to put there. I still keep the medicines in a cabinet…sadly, there are far more now than there were in 1981!

    I can’t wait to see this new layout of your house and all the amazing things you do to it! I sure do wish we were neighbors because I think we’d get into so much trouble convincing one to change this wall color, maybe move that from here to there, and, of course, go to that wonderful “Barn Sale” where I’d spend my kids’ inheritance!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    1. I forgot about the toilet fishing… In our last house the, ahem, throne was located very close to the sink and things occasionally got knocked in and had to be retrieved! Core memory involved a very large, ill timed plumbing bill due to a full toilet removal after a Prince Charming figurine found his way down the hole. We never found out if he was sitting on the throne or if he was looking for love in all the wrong places, but he was a pricy little bugger!

  4. I am really trying to figure out what is going on with your blog. When I signed up for your posts, I was looking for creative, fun, LOW COST, simple things to make my home my own. Seems like you have strayed very far from your original stuff.

    1. Could be, Sue.
      It’s a life stages thing, I’d guess. We still do a lot of things ourselves to save $ (but just haven’t had time to blog it all…takes soooo much time). And lots of gardening on tap.
      But now that our kids are grown and we are on the brink of retirement, we’re taking a shot at making our house the way we’d like it. Ate a lot of pasta and rarely hit a starbucks while paying tuitions etc, and feel like this is the chance to shape our retirement home.
      Still doing my own sewing, looking to do low cost artwork, refinishing furniture and making all the home accents I can.
      I love crafting and making things…but I totally get where there’s some actual spending happening rn with the remodel.
      I genuinely thank you for your sincere comment and am sorry if I’ve disappointed you.
      Juggling very elderly parents (who I am blessed to have), and kiddos and puppers, I am definitely less focused on the quickie crafts of the past and wish I had time to blog more. But it is what it is.
      Again, sincere thx for taking the time to check in…life is a highway 🙂
      Either way, many thanks for the time you’ve taken sifting through my drivel. Hope you’ve found something useful along the way.

  5. I’m in shock. For some strange reason, I always thought a medicine cabinet was in the bathroom. The kitchen?? I’m still dizzy by the idea.
    But of course, with multiple people, maybe that does make sense. You can see that I’m from a small family and that didn’t change when I got married, haha.
    As for the dog hair, I’m just now including that in my daily outfits, hahahahahaha.
    OXXO
    Jodie

    1. Not strange at all! I always thought we were the oddballs, but it worked for us. Most of out stuff is pretty widely used so the kitchen was always central access…plus, i grew up that way.
      To this day, my parents medicine bins are in various places in the kitchen. Neatly organized in categories on the counter, in a cabinet and on top of their fridge…🤷🏻‍♀️

      I am very excited about Piper! Keep a sticky roller in the car and in your purse. She’s plenty worth it!

  6. Do. You laugh out loud when you write posts? Because I do when I read them ! 🤣
    Love hanging out with you! Vee

    1. Actually, Vee, there’s a time each post when I ask myself why I even keep this blog going…and then (if I’m lucky) I read a lovely comment like yours and it keeps me going for another month. What a blessing!!!
      As with my second most recent IG post, I wonder if ppl “get” my humor or if it’s cringy, but either way, it’s who I am.
      Love hanging out with you too! 🥰

  7. Interesting and hysterical! That’s my take on your post. I have to say, you are a very brave person. I could NOT go through a remodel and live in it. When my kids were redoing the floors in my house, I left home (and they were glad I did). As far as your medicine cabinet – down to one bin – that’s just not something that’s in my realm of understanding. But sounds great.
    Iris

    1. Hard not to live in it when you’re doing a lot of it, haha. Those stairs were a nightmare…yuck! Appreciate your opening sentence more than you know, Iris!!!

  8. I am not a medicine in the bathroom person either. Medicine in the kitchen? Yes. Medicine in the bedroom? Yes. Medicine in my home office? Oh yes. Pretty much everywhere but the bathroom! Thinking about the amount of dust etc. in the air at your house….sorry, gotta go sneeze…

    1. I know, right?! I keep drawing smiley faces on all my tables. Also, I did neglect to note the gummy vitamins on my bathroom sink!

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