The One That Doesn't Segue Well

Spring? Is that you?

It's been 70 -- or above! -- the last couple of days. I can't tell you how good it feels to be outside again.

"What is this light on my face? It's bright. In the sky. Mom? Is it a big light bulb?"

"And this green stuff. Slightly crunchy, a little pointy. Yet I can't stop touching it. It's ... addictive."

"I think I want to eat it. Can I eat it, Mom?"

"Mmmmmm. It just needs drool. And some milk."
---

Good news: The stomach flu appears to have moved out of the Love Well house. For those of you who wondered -- and for the Google searchers who will doubtlessly end up here -- I was able to get the vomit stain out of the carpet.

When I walked into the kids' bedroom Wednesday night, the lights were off. My sleep-fogged eyes only saw a huge, dark puddle next to Natalie's bed. Since Connor and Natalie share a room, I didn't want to turn the bedside light; I foolishly thought the night light would do.

Big mistake: After five minutes of retching and timidly wiping, I finally turned on the light. And I discovered the damage was much worse than I initially thought. (Funny how much the light can reveal things like that.)

(Hmmm. I sense a sermon illustration there. But I'll leave that for others to glean.)

Natalie, bless her heart, had apparently leaned over the side of the bed when she got sick. The nastiness ran down her sheets, down her bed skirt and onto the carpet, where is splattered onto Connor's bed skirt (bed kilt? bed skirt doesn't sound very manly) and the nightstand.

Oy.

Many rags later, I had taken care of the chunky part of the mess. And we all returned to bed to wait for morning.

Long story short: I used carpet cleaner, which helped. I vacuumed, which also helped. I Googled (naturally), which gave me some ideas. I called carpet cleaning services, where I learned that orange vomit (hateful carrots) on beige carpeting is the single most difficult stain to clean.

But in the end, the item that really worked was Dyson Zorb. I got a complimentary bag with my new Dyson at Christmas. (Thanks again, Corey!) Its essentially a carpet powder that works to absorb dirt and other nasties in the carpet. I sprinkled it on liberally -- like Markos Moulitsas liberal -- and then waited 60 minutes for it to work its magic. (Which is double the time suggested on the Zorb package, but since my carpet was damp before I started, I wanted to give it extra time to ... well, zorb.)

Lo and behold -- it worked. The stain was gone, the smell was gone. I was amazed, honestly. And thrilled.

I suspect kitty litter, a frequent suggestion from Google to clean vomit in the carpet, would also have worked this kind of magic. But it probably wouldn't have smelled as good.

The one thing I would do differently is wait longer for the Zorb to do its thing. Since it was still slightly wet when I vacuumed, it gunked up my Dyson's rotator brushes. But I was able to clean those the next day.

A little elbow grease versus $100 minimum for a carpet cleaner to come in and try to get out the stain.

I'd say the Dyson is starting to pay for itself.

---

After that story, I bet you really want a Dyson.

Sorry. I'm not as cool as Shannon.

But I do have a really great book to give to Jill.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

24

Timestamp: 2008-05-18 03:47:40 UTC

Congratulations, Jill, your number was chosen by the A.I. that runs Random.org. Your autographed copy of "What Women Want" will be in the mail next week.

And if you didn't win, but you really want to get something for free, come back next week. I have THREE AWESOME CDs to give away next week. THREE!

I'll even clean the vomit off of them before I stick them in the mail.