Thursday, September 17, 2009

My no good, very bad hour...

My fridge needed cleaning. Enchilada sauce had tipped over and spilled down the back and into all the nooks and crannies. The veggie draw had mushy, ex-fresh produce as the majority population. Unnamed sticky stuff skimmed the top of each glass shelf. My Dad's nurse came to change his catheter so I took the opportunity to dive in. Of course, he finished with the nurse (or the nurse was finished with him!) before I was even half done with the fridge.

"Would you like to go for a drive?" my Dad asked. "In a minute," I replied while dashing like a mad woman from the fridge to the sink and back.

Three minutes later, "Shall we go on that run?" "As soon as I put this stuff back," I answered.

That same scenario is repeated several more times and I had just put the last few items on the shelf when I realized that I had forgotten to put in the meat drawer. In an effort to slip it in without taking out all the stuff already there I once again tipped over the open can of enchilada sauce and it spilled down the back of the fridge, into the fresh produce drawers and all the nooks and crannies.

Clapping my hands for joy (lie detector immediately beeps) I took EVERYTHING out of the fridge to wipe up the why-was-an-open-can-in-my-fridge-in-the-first-place sauce. I noticed the red tomato stain wasn't coming out of the nice clean white interior of my not yet 6 weeks old fridge. I ran down stairs to get some Oxy-Clean, the miracle stain remover. The laundry hadn't been switch for a day or so. I opened the door of the washer wondering if I needed to re-run this load so it wouldn't have that stayed-in-the-washer-too-long odor. I hastily grabbed the first article of clothing and hurriedly took a whiff. MUCH to my surprise the load had not been started, but the Tide with Bleach (Costco brand) had been added. I recommend if you are going to take up sniffing something that it not be Tide with Bleach. Yes, I admit it did give me a buzz, something akin to being shaved by a blow torch.

I groped my way up the stairs sneezing, eyes watering. My Dad inquired, "Is that you making all that noise? When are we going for a ride?"


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sally, I've been where you are. The everyday living/dealing with a parent and the stresses involved can be soooo overwhelming and/or so funny, yet you wouldn't have it any other way. So I took the liberty of sending you a book: "The 36 Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life." I think this might help you as it did me. It'll come to you from Amazon.com (used). I hope this is OK. I didn't read the WHOLE thing, but it's various sections helped me immensely in caring for my Mom/myself, and were such a relief! I'll check with Bethany to make sure you get it. Karen

Kimberly Cantrell said...

Ha ha ha! Considering I just cleaned my fridge in a very calm environment without anyone looking over my shoulder I thought this was very entertaining! Sorry I couldn't have helped!

kara said...

I hope it's okay that I laughed out loud. It's fun to get a glimpse into your household! Thanks for sharing with a sense of humor.

Kristin said...

That clapping for er 'joy' happens rather frequently at my house. ;-) Did the oxy clean work? Perhaps the Magic eraser? You are in my prayers