Monday, January 21, 2013

baby, it's cold outside

Thanks for the vinegar suggestion, anonymous mystery poster, WE tried that last night, it helped a little, but Diesel is still a little stinky and so is the downstairs bathroom.  Actually, on that first night that Diesel got sprayed and WE gave him a bath, WE then took a shower and doused himself in apple cider vinegar, he said he tried to think of something that smells as bad as skunk that might help diffuse the smell and apple cider vinegar came to mind, he then gave himself a second dousing of mouthwash to cover up the vinegar smell.  He was rather pungent by the end of the evening.

We've been hit with a coldwave, things got below zero today and are going to be just as cold tomorrow.  This is the first sub-zero temps we've had so far this winter, so I guess we can't complain too much, but I still don't have to like it.  Nineteen years ago, when Angel #2 was born (her b-day was Jan 16) it was so cold the day we took her home from the hospital that school had been cancelled, I think it was -35 or something like that, so things do get cold around here occasionally.

I was reading a short story written by a guy about when his house had started on fire when he was a kid.  His brother woke him up, but he didn't realize that it was because it was a fire and he just thought it was time to get up for school.  He got dressed and was in the bathroom brushing his teeth when his brother ran and and yelled "Why are you brushing your teeth?  The house is on fire!"  This little story brought back memories of the time MY house started on fire when I was a kid.  I was in Jr High at the time, so 7th, 8th or 9th grade.  My sister and I had a bedroom down in the basement and I remember my mom yelling down the stairs that the house was on fire.  I pulled on some clothes and was putting in my contacts when my sister yelled "Why are you putting in your contacts?  The house is on fire!"  So, can you see why that story brought back memories?  Unlike the guy in the story though, I knew the house was on fire and had a logical reason for what I did.  This was back in the day when contacts and glasses were really expensive and I had the choice of getting one or the other, but not both.  Of course, I chose contacts, but that meant that I was without back-up glasses.  My eyesight was so bad back then that I was considered legally blind and there was no way that house was going to burn down, taking my contacts with it, while I staggered blindly around for the next two weeks waiting for a new pair of contacts to arrive (this was pre-one hour eye places).  My siblings and I spent the next couple of hours sitting in one of the fireman's cars, sharing the backseat with a giant fruit basket, for some reason.  I don't know why a fireman was driving around putting out fires with giant fruit baskets in the backseat of his car - maybe one of you have a logical explanation I'd be eager to hear.  You'll be relieved to know that our house didn't burn down, though we had to get new carpeting in our hallway and replace all the towels and stuff that were in the linen closet (that's where the fire started).  I also remember there was a school dance that next night (I think the Valentine's Day dance) and I had to borrow my friend Liz's clothes because mine all stunk like smoke, which is a real buzzkill when you're trying to attract that sexy 14 year old boy you've had your eye on for the last couple weeks.  So, now you know the exciting story about how my house started on fire, something I haven't thought about in probably 20 years.  Apparently my life is so exciting that something minor like my house starting on fire gets pushed waaaay to the background of my brain.

1 comment:

Jeanie_C said...

You must have been reading the Oatmeal's post about the fire when he was a kid. He grew up in Idaho and lives in Seattle now. I read his comics regularly.

How did a fire start in your linen closet? That's an unusual place for a fire to start.

Someone gave him a fruit basket and he was taking it home, natch.