Friday, February 24, 2006

Lessons learned the hard way

I raised the garage door after work on Wednesday to find my kitchen rug suspended over lawn chairs, soaking wet, with drip pans under the corners.

A mystery! Did my kid actually shampoo rugs today? Highly unlikely, but a mom can still dream.

I opened the door into the house to find Brian and his friend in the kitchen with every old towel in the house, just finishing up wiping down the floors, laughing a little, and trying to look innocent. Brian spoke first "sorry, Mom, I'm sorry Mom."

Brian has learned the hard way: Do NOT use dish soap in a dishwasher! Apparently I missed all the fun, the water, the flooding, the 2-foot-deep bubble bath my kitchen got. In fact, it is Friday now, and my dishwasher is STILL full of suds. They simply will not go away, no matter how much scooping, vinegar rinsing, cancel/draining I do. I'm considering buying that anti-foam stuff they put in steam carpet cleaners next.

And I scolded my kid: "I hope you've learned your lesson! NEXT time there's a disaster in the house...

...will you at least take a picture of it so I can put it on my blog?"

[He offered to re-enact the scene, but I passed.]

13 comments:

  1. Well, at the very least, he deserves credit for making the effort to wash the dishes. Not a strong point for most men.

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  2. Everybody has to do this once in their life. I learned this lesson in college - we didn't have a dishwasher in the house I grew up in.

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  3. Anonymous11:58 AM

    Brings back memories, can't use dish soap in the washing machine either............don't ask!

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  4. Poor Brian! And he was trying to help too. Can you imagine the awful feeling in the pit of his stomach as the first seepage began to occur???

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  5. WRElectra: You're absolutely right: Kudos to anyone that does my dishes.

    Hi MadMary! Can you imagine no dishwasher now? A chilling thought,

    Melissa: Thanks for the heads' up; will txt message this info to Brian immediately!

    Holly: Yah, I can hear the suspense music playing the background: the kitchen's flooded and Mom's on her way home from work...[insert them from Jaws here]

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  6. Anonymous4:33 PM

    i just did this and i'm 50

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  7. I just snorted my coffee. Thanks. I needed a coffee snorting moment today.

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  8. OMG! This is exactly what I needed! Thanks for the levity! Our dinner company just left as the 8 year old puked on our front lawn and our green chicken chile and unbelievable jalepeno corn bread are sitting on our lawn in such a state! Sorry for the description - couldn't help myself. Just wish I had your son to help with the dishes!

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  9. That's a great story and I love your attitude about it. Experience has a way of teaching us things our entire lives.

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  10. This was a really nice post. xx
    I find whenever I make a serious blunder in someone elses' house, it takes me six times as long to have done with it, it's like the apprentice magician and the broomsticks, they must have been through it alright!
    I'm very impressed with the way they got on with clearing it though!

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  11. BP: Glad I could help clean out those sinuses.

    Wendy: I'm going to get over the state of the lawn and get that chili recipe from you.

    Theresa: You're right about experience; I believe this is one that he got the first time.

    FJL: Yes, actually, my floors haven't been as clean in such a long time. Turns out that flooding the place is a pretty good way to get into the corners.

    Ruben: Oh, I know, if only I hadn't stopped at the bank on the way home, I would have had photographic evidence. Ah, the if-only's...

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  12. Oh dear. You poor thing. :-) Still, pretty funny though.
    I think the apprentice magician is a good analogy. Happy blogging!

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  13. Heh, it sounds like something I would do. In fact, this may be the post that STAYED my hand from putting dish soap in the dishwasher.

    I'd never really thought about the results. :)

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