Rants, reality and learning to embrace the little things.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Baby Showers and Shop Vacs

Yesterday my youngest sister, Erin, and I threw a baby shower for our middle sister, Heather. It had a retro them complete with vintage children's books, yarn puffs, old school fabrics and mismatched serving accessories. It was perfect! I can't wait for my brother-in-law, Brandon Chesbro to post the pictures so I can share them with you. I'm high on the success of the party but also, high on the fact that the shower is over. Who knew planning the "perfect baby shower" could be so stressful!

I think things would have gone a lot smoother had the party planning duo not been two ADD, scatterbrained, women. We failed to realize how consuming all the last minute details can be and didn't allow enough time to complete those final tasks. Luckily, our mother recognizes that we inherited those traits from her and came early, along with Heather's sister-in-law, to help wrap things up. My friend, Robin, plans events in the same manner as I and also came early to help out. Our men and my kiddos showed up too. Without them, the guests would be eating out of Tupperware bowls and the only decorations would be a half ironed, white table cloth.

*Side note to all of you people who arrive to the party early: STOP! Stop it right now! If you get to a party 10 minutes early and were not specifically asked to, sit in your car dammit!*

I'd also like to give props to the dear friend with a pink flask full of bourbon. You complete me.

Despite our handicaps, Erin and I, along with the mad crafting skills of our pal, Amy, pulled off a successful shower that Heather could not stop gushing about. Her smile and joy was worth the cussing, crying, nausea, and every single anxiety attack and zit that showed up on my face. Now that's love.

I'd like to end with a tip on how to get two quarts of fruit tea and orange pulp (or child vomit, pee, coffee, etc) out of the floorboard of your car:

Locate a shop vac (beg, borrow or steal if need be)
Vacuum up as much liquid as possible
Mix 1 cup of carpet cleaner (the kind for steam cleaners) with 7 to 8 cups of hot water (can be modified depending on the size of the spill. This was enough for the entire passenger side floor board and the mat)
Pour directly onto the soiled carpet and agitate with your hand (or a scrub brush if your not too lazy, like me, to walk into the house and find one)
Vacuum again until the carpet feels dry or only slightly damp to the touch
Bada Bing Bada Boom, your carpet will be cleaner than it was prior to the spill! I'm thinking about doing this to the rest of my floorboards as it was so ridiculously easily and successful beyond my expectations.

Yee Haw!