What A Mess!

So I shared with you how Bradley decided to try potty training without me and the pursuant removal of his pull-up and the pee graffiti on my wall, followed by the dump on my tile.  Well, I didn’t tell you that I cleaned all the carpets the next day because after rescuing him from slipping in his own mess, he chose to sit his butt on my carpet to wait for me to rescue his pull-up.  Why am I telling you now?  Well, I scrubbed the carpet severely, then chose to steam clean the next morning while he was at school, no more slipping and sliding for Bradley on wet surfaces.

Fast forward to the next morning.  I get him on the bus and his oldest sister out the door.  I have about an hour before I take Sydney to school - she doesn’t have a first period class.  While waiting, I finish picking up and vacuuming the living room.  Then I start up the steam cleaner and get to work.  Problem.  I don’t see the dirty water tank filling up and I can’t get the upholstery attachment to work either.  So now, I have basically flooded my carpet with water and carpet cleaner and have no way to pick up the dirty water in the carpet...slosh, slosh, ugh for sure.

So I take Sydney to school then come back to the house and try to troubleshoot the machine.  No joy. So next, I start researching best reviews and then which local stores have what, all while trying to now beat the clock to see if I can get it not only all done before Bradley gets home, but dry enough to be safe for him to walk around on.  A perk would be dry enough that it doesn’t get the carpet more dirty to have people walk on.  I am not optimistic on that last point at this point.

I find a cleaner I want, I figure out where to get it and I head out.  Thirty minutes, cleaner is in y van and I am headed home, but feeling a little shaky because breakfast has not happened yet.  Then I remember; October, pumpkin everything so I should be able to get a pumpkin muffin at Panera bread.  Swoop in for a quick stop to try to salvage the morning.  First I am pleased to see the same group of adults with Special Needs at Panera that were at the store I was just in.  So we all say Hi again.  And one young man sees my shirt and says: “Cool shirt.”  I thank him with a big grin.  And since I only have work waiting for me, I don’t mind waiting while they all work out their orders.

Another lady is in front of me and she starts making small talk.  I think my Acceptance brought out her acceptance, because she seemed like she wanted to quell someone else’s potential annoyance by commenting how she thought the baked goods looked delicious but she recently had to go gluten free and couldn’t have anything.  Maybe she chose Acceptance and patience because I was wearing my Down syndrome Awareness shirt that has Baby Groot hugging a blue and yellow ribbon.  Whatever it was, we were chatting.  She told me she was driving to Palm Springs for a Memorial, and I told her I was sorry for her loss and hoped the traffic wouldn’t be too bad with all the closures because of the fires.

Next, there was a comment on how another clerk came to help which was nice, but she had time to wait out the longer ordering time needed.  I merely said: “I have plenty of time, my carpet cleaner died so I had to run out for a new one mid-clean.  So only work is waiting for me.”

She replied: “Your cleaner died mid-job?”

Me: “Yes, floors are soaked and it’s a mess.”  I laugh.

She looks concerned now and goes: “I’m sorry, do you mean there is a dead person in your house right now?”

I start laughing: “No, I was cleaning my carpets and the machine died.”  We both start cracking up, “What you must have thought of me...dead man in my house and I’m just cleaning around him.”

She wipes her eyes, “I’m going to be laughing at that all the way to Palm Springs, and probably tell them all about it when I get there.”

Me: “Well, I do what I can.”

We get our orders in soon after then go our separate ways and as I sit in my car I just start to laugh and it hits me, I am living in a city well above my income ceiling when I talk about a carpet cleaner and someone assumes I am talking about a company’s person,  not about me cleaning it myself.  With the way we have accidents with Bradley so often, it would be insanity to not have a carpet cleaning “machine” to help save the carpets.

After that, the rest of the day was a bit mired.  Yes the new machine works great, picked up the water and cleaned the carpet, and the clean up was so easy I was ecstatic...but the carpets stayed wet throughout the whole day and night and into late morning the next day.  In terms of planning, epic fail.  But I will say, the whole time I was pulling the water out with the new machine, I kept picturing myself cleaning up water from around a chalk outline in the middle of my floor, and that just kept making me laugh.

Bradley trying to graffiti his name with pee and then leaving poopy moon prints on my carpet were what I thought would be the highlights of funny in my week, turns out the clean up was much funnier, and still keeps making me laugh about it.

On a side note, now I have a working machine and I am ready for the week long Thanksgiving break and the next potty training attempt with Bradley.  I’m hoping he gets it this time and I am hoping he keeps the graffiti to a minimum...but at least now I have the properly operating tool to clean up the mess, so there’s that at least.

Night all!  Happy Monday, as if Mondays can be happy  - ever!  Ending today’s 31 For 21 Blog Challenge For Acceptance and Awareness.