They say don’t cry over spilled milk, but no one warned me about finding a potato in the pantry snack bin… or a sleeve of crackers tucked neatly beside the turkey in the deli drawer.

At this phase of motherhood, my greatest hack is the self-serve snack drawer in the fridge…stocked with fruits, cheese sticks, and juice boxes, and the pantry bins labeled for grab-and-go peacekeeping. It saves me during those 2 p.m. meltdowns, especially when I’m elbows-deep in landscape designs for manager or HOA questions from neighbors.

But today, as I was sweeping the kitchen for what felt like the eighth time, I found myself staring at that lonely cracker in the fridge, wondering… was it a toddler? A teen? A husband with no concept of food groups? Or was it me—a sleep-deprived mom juggling project deadlines, HOA duties, homeschool assignments, and the impossible pursuit of a “drop-in ready” home?

Everyone talks about mom brain like it’s a temporary side effect. But the truth? It’s a long-term condition caused by a thousand tabs open at once—meals, laundry, work, discipline, spelling tests, permission slips, and that mental note  about where the potatoes go.

So here’s to the misplaced crackers and pantry potatoes. They’re just part of the inventory of motherhood…a little chaos, a lot of multitasking, and grace for the things we accidentally refrigerate.

Because the truth is, the real “mom brain” isn’t about forgetting where things go~it’s about carrying where everyone else is going.

And sometimes, that means we forget ourselves in the shuffle.

So if you’re a mom who’s just found a sippy cup in the shoe bin or the remote in the fridge, you’re not losing it ~you’re just living it. Fully. Fiercely. And maybe a little frazzled.

Check in on your mom friends this week. Remind them that a cracker in the deli drawer isn’t a failure it’s proof they’re holding a hundred things together, even if none of them are in the right place.

And if no one’s said it yet today you’re doing a fantastic job.