Life before 2008 28 Jun 2006 03:25 pm
My (and some other) Big-Mouthed Babes
- yesterday morning, BC (before coffee), R pulled down the fryer full of oil (cold thank God) all over the kitchen floor. He screamed as a golden lake of thick fluid smelling of old french fries surrounded his ankles and spread over the
whitegrey vinyl. I stood there for a long incredulous moment, wondering how in the world to clean it up. It came of skin nicely, vinyl not so nice. After I had a fleeting image in my head of an elementary school janitor cleaning up some kid’s puke with sawdust sprinkled on it I got out my cornmeal and covered the oil. Two rolls of paper towel, half a bag of cornmeal, and half a bottle of multi-purpose cleaner later it was up.
Celia came in and said, “Well Mom. Be glad. At least the floor is white again.” 
- We had a beautiful, soul-restoring day yesterday, picking gobs of suculent blackberries. More on that later. We picked with friends, one of whom is definitely every bit as active as Andrew, if not more at times. He certainly knows how to find loopholes in the law better! There was a pen of goats not far from where we were picking and when the boys got bored with trying to find berries (we were unknowingly on the wrong row) they wanted to go play with those goats.
Our little friend asked his mom, “Can we go play?!”
She answered, “Yes but stay away from the cows!”
A said, “they’re goats, not cows!”
She quickly fired back, “You may not go into the pen of any living creature and do
not feed them!” (or something like that, knowing, that within minutes we’d soon
have kids that were wrestling goats under the rebuttal of, “but mom….you said
to stay away from the cows!”
- The oil wasn’t the end of R’s adventures. Before the day was out he’d sampled the flavors of sunblock and motor oil, and had a dried pea seed stuck so far up his right nostril that I had to work his cheek over his sinuses to coax it out. Anyone want to try and figure out why his latest joy is taking a bottle of windex and spraying his belly?
- After dropping A and C off to spend the night with friends I took W to get his new
jammies for surgery, which is a tradition for him. He picked out his Cars 3 piece set and a pack of new socks and after we got in the car he said, “Mom, I just hate myself.”
“What?!?! Why would you say that?!?!” I ask, my mind spinning with therapy
options.
“I just don’t have a truthful life.” said he.
Huh?!?
- On the way to the hospital this morning, in the wee hours when it was still dark, he said, “Mom? Why can’t we see the planets? And why can’t I rollerskate on those rings that go around them?”
- On the way home, still a bit groggy from the anesthesia: “Mom? How O’Clock is it?”
- C, coming home crying of a headache and all poofy from being in a car full of boys, “Mom, can we just not be around that many boys again?”
Me: “What? No…..”
Her: “Well, the 8 year old at least?”
Me: “You know, it would be better to be forgiving. 8 year old boys can be a little
obnoxious sometimes….”
W: “Oh yeah…tell me about it! So can 8 year old GIRLS be a little snobnoxious!”
Surgery went very well. A little bit of diligence to remind the staff on our part, and a little bit of flexibilty on theirs, thrown in with a blessing that there were no reactions, and it all went smoothly. We were home early and he’s felt fine all day. His ears are worse then we knew though. We’ll be doing this routine again in the not-so-far-off future. But he knows the TV was “Too Loud Mom!” and can hear me in a normal tone of voice again (even if he hasn’t yet returned to speaking in one!)
on 28 Jun 2006 at 3:31 pm 1.erin said …
Has R seen too much My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Windex is the cure all, ya know. The oil - was it worse or better than the cocoa incident? You’re life is SO not boring.
Glad to hear you’re of good spirits.
on 28 Jun 2006 at 5:49 pm 2.Sandy said …
So glad to hear W’s surgery went well. I’ve been praying and checking for an update.
The oil spill - ugh. Gotta love those toddlers.
Permanent marker on carpet was our latest incident.
Sandy
on 28 Jun 2006 at 5:57 pm 3.Tia said …
Did you get it off? I have a spot where someone (gee, I wonder who?) used a Sharpie on the carpet. I bought one of those Eraser things to try and have no other ideas. You?
on 28 Jun 2006 at 6:09 pm 4.Amy said …
I read that WD 40 would take off permanent marker … however, it may melt the carpet, so try it knowing that’s the risk. Glad that W is doing alright. Love the idea about the cornmeal though!
on 28 Jun 2006 at 6:33 pm 5.Sandy said …
Got most of it up (it’s still there but faint). We tried (in order) - dishwashing detergent, a little bit of acetone (fingernail polish remover), carpet cleaner with oxy clean (scotchgard brand), hairspray and finally, rubbing alcohol. I think the carpet cleaner and rubbing alcohol worked the best. Wetting then blotting up the stain (with a dry cloth) worked better than scrubbing it out. If all else fails you can cut some of the fibers down. Here’s a link w/ some tips for the alcohol. http://www.creativehomemaking.com/cleaning/permanent-marker-stains.shtml
Sandy
on 28 Jun 2006 at 6:49 pm 6.gina said …
I’m so glad to hear that W is doing so well! These are true Graham funnies! What a day you had, sorry about all the trouble with your closing again!
on 29 Jun 2006 at 10:27 pm 7.Cathy said …
Just had to add this tidbit. My friend swears by a product called “Spot Shot” (at least, I think it’s called that). She’s gotten fingernail polish out of carpet with it. BUT, it’s pretty powerful stuff, so I’ve never used it, as I didn’t want it in my house accessable to little ones. But, if the sharpies find the carpet in my house, I’ll probably break down and go get it to try it. Here’s a link to the epinions website about the stuff: http://www.epinions.com/pr-Housewares-Heartland_14_Ounce_Spot_Shot_Stain_Remover_Spray/display_~reviews