Black Cherry IBC and Sand

The very idea. Giving a 7 yo black cherry soda for his birthday. The nerve of some mothers; they're obviously rich beyond compare such that the idea of ever cleaning up after such a gift would cause so much trouble would never cross their minds. How dare them.

Really, I'm glad for the gift. It's a mixed blessing, you see, I don't like cherry flavored drinks - unless it's cherry coke (with caffeine that I'm not supposed to have!) or a cherry blo-pop. Why don't those set me off? I guess black cherry IBC is better chilled! However, all my kids like the black cherry IBC flavor. That's the other side of the blessing, M gets to share. It's really fun to watch him do what he's been taught to do. He does it very well and quite naturally. So as they are sharing, S who is always unsettled in his chair at the table, does a 360 with his cup in his hand. There you have it. The source of my new carpet stain. A really rich mom would've had the kids drink it out on the brand new deck, but apparently I'm not that smart.

So, how is all this a real blessing you ask? I have a routine for carpet stains which is why my carpet isn't more stained than it is. It involves a hoover mini-vac that pretty much inhales just about everything in it's path. It's famous. I have friends who borrow it just for special occasions. Well, I worked long and hard on this stain - did I mention that it was black cherry IBC stain on my carpet? I worked on it twice. It may be time for professional help. I digress. When I emptied out this awesome mini-vac which had worked for a very long time on these stains There must have been an entire cup of sand.

We live on beachy sandy soil so sand in the house is a given. But this was ridiculous. How could I clean this area and collect an overflowing cup of sand? Well, apparently this is an overlooked area of my house. It's kinda gross, really. And I use RESOLVE (You know the commercial I'm thinking of right?!) But that's not all. Tonight I picked up the living room specifically so I could vacuum after all the kids had gone to bed - I hate vacuuming in the day time, I have no idea why. I took special care to vacuum the aforementioned area. Again, I picked up an overflowing cup (I really didn't go to the effort to measure it exactly) in my wonderful spectacular fantastic Bissell Healthy Home Vac. If I thought you'd read it, I'd tell you more about my vacuum and how I decided to get it. Suffice it to say, a dear friend bought one, recommended it with caveats and now I own one.

So, to all my friends who've visited before, I'm sorry. I had no idea there really could be that much sand in one area. Guess I'll have to vacuum that every day like Danny says.

For the record, M even shared a root beer with me.

Vacuuming Legos

We love LEGO. I grew up receiving huge boxes of them as a kid when they were first created! My mom still possesses the remainder of what my brother and I cherished. We built everything you can imagine including Alcatraz (yes we grew up watching whatever whenever!:0) and a candy keeper (I grew up right down the road from a Suwanee Swifty and change from lunch always in my pocket). I never understood what all the fuss was about when I was a kid.

Now, as the mother of three boys I have, at times, been put on restrictions from buying any more legos. It's not very much fun when you see a great set on sale for half price and you have to pass it by! But as of today more than ever, I understand the fuss my mother made over those darn legos that her MIL sent to us every year.

MM wanted to dust out his computer (Why do we call it that and not de-dust?, you can answer that in the comments section!) so he dragged the vacuum out and plugged it in. Everything was set including the hose and it's attachment, perfect for computer cleaning! Then he threw the switch to the on position and quick as he could back off again! The squeal pierced my ear. "What was that?" I exclaimed from the boys' room where I had been reading to them. I leaped from my abode hoping against hope that my 11 yo vacuum had bit the dust! Could today be the day that I get to fork over a modest car payment for a dirt picker-upper? I really do want a new vacuum!

Backtrack a little here. Some say that boys need to tear stuff apart to find out how it works. I tend to agree with them. Just a few days before L was looking for some broken tool/toy/article to dismantle in hopes of repairing with the tools he received for his last birthday. I have always wanted to be a flexible home school mom who went with the flow of things, and I am right brained. Now was my chance to fulfill both of our desires.

All three boys followed me down stairs,

one with tools(L), one with a camera (M)and

one with himself (S) (he's too little to carry things down a flight of stairs!). As we got started I said a prayer. I wanted L to experience all the thoughts that I go through when I'm fixing something around the house. Step by step we walked through the journey of dismantling the vacuum. M was busily pressing the button and making us paw-oo-say (French for pause!) for specific poses if he missed the good picture. He was really good at it.

Before it was all over and I had gotten to the motor (that's the business part of the whole contraption) we found ourselves looking at a propeller with some strange object lodged between it and the housing. Not wanting to really get into the motor, I stopped and had L take a gander. Could this be the culprit? Would my vacuum last a few more years? Oh, I hope so. With screwdriver in hand we pried the wayward lego out of its prison. It was a sad day in LEGOland, this brick would no longer click!

The moral of the story: In order to get a new vacuum, imprison more LEGO...