Why is it sticky?

I'm trying to get on track by cleaning our home. Call it an early spring cleaning, if you will. I figure a girl can't be unemployed for three whole weeks and have nothing to show for it. I made a list, as all good Type A girls do, then promptly ditched it in favor of cleaning the fridge. I'm not talking about the inside of the fridge, which gets overhauled regularly. I'm talking about the outside.

Now, I'll be honest; I never really noticed how dirty our white refrigerator was, what with all the pictures, magnets, checkerboard, business cards, ultrasound photos......you get the drift. I removed everything from the front (and sides). I scrubbed. I bleached. I Simple Greened. I scrubbed some more. Look how it shines. OK not really shining, but clean nonetheless. With the front looking so spiffy, I figured I should clean the top, too. A friend recently pointed out how clean her kitchen looks with nothing on top of the fridge. Thanks, W, just what I needed...peer pressure. I removed the bags of chips, and the coin jar. At that point I realized that the top of the fridge is where my husband puts kitchen items to die. I found my travel mugs (4), a pasta measurer (not sure where that came from), a couple of vases, some random lids and the dustiest party tray on the planet. Under all of the this treasure (notsomuch) was dust. This was no normal dust. It's sticky and dusty. I don't know how it happened or where it came from. I prefer to think that the dust mutated and I've made a rare scientific discovery. The other options are just to atrocious to bear. It took the better part of an hour to clean off the top of that bad boy. Again a combo of bleach, Simple Green and sheer determination (and maybe an open window to let out the noxious fumes). Now it's clean. I'm not putting anything else up there - ever.

I am, however, inviting you to a dinner party at my place. BYO Step Stool. No way I'm wasting such a clean surface in this house.