Life's Lessons: The Hard Way

Hello, dear blog readers! I had the pleasure.....Well, no, that would be the wrong word. I had the....privilege(?) of learning a very simple yet disastrous lesson: never take colored, artificially-flavored beverages into an area of the house that has carpet, even if you are the adult who is consuming said beverage. It's just asking for your toddler to come along and knock the whole liter off of the coffee table. I just spent about the last hour and a half trying to work out a bright red carpet stain. The online tips tell me that I can pretty much just count of that stain existing permanently, although with regular treatments, the stain might fade in time. Lucky me.

And then there is the issue of cleaning the steam cleaner. The vacuum actually has to be dismantled after use with a screwdriver if one wants to get all of the nasty carpet lint out of it. Yay.

And then there is Big C, who much to my surprise, didn't find the cleaner something to fear. Instead, the first thing he did when I was finished relegating him to his bouncy seat was to crawl over to the soggy spot and stand in it. He then proceeded to get a hold of the roll of paper towels I had on the coffee table and unwind most of it into the vacuumed puddle while I was trying to clean the various cleaner parts.

All I can do at this point is laugh about it. At least we don't own this place, but I feel terrible about ruining carpet that isn't ours. Fortunately it's a tan-brown shag carpet, so it works well at hiding a lot of spots. (Our last apartment had a cream-colored carpet throughout the living/dining areas, which would never have survived a baby.)

Another thing the websites recommended is using a shop vac. I think my parents might have one for their shop(?), but I can't imagine it would take the massive amount of effort to clean it each time it's used. Plus, it probably has better suction than my Bissel, which, by the way, has proved to be something of a disappointment. When we own a home someday, I'm going to be a big fan of hardwood floors.

I see C. heading for the garbage can. Better go catch him before he gets in it.

Happy Thursday, dear blog readers, and may YOUR carpets remain stain-free today!