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blueshoefarm at gmail dot com.... and that would be how to reach me

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Family - Mom story


As in my mom. Grandmother Heidi. She, for fun, cleaned out my car. It took her 3 and a half hours over two days. (Wait, should I be embarrassed to type that?) This is the minivan. The one that took me TWO TRIES to buy. As in, I went car shopping for a minivan ten years ago when I was pregnant with Wilder since I knew one kid was the load limit in my Nissan truck.... and ended up with a 4WD jeep. Black. Then, seven years ago I went out to buy that minivan to handle carpools yadee yada... and came home with an old Volvo wagon. I had major minivan issues. It would be the end of my free and independent way of life. My art degree would shirk in shame in the back of my closet (wait, where is my degree? did I even really ever get that?) People would roll their eyes and say that I have embraced the soccer mom way of life. I would need to vote differently in the presidential elections... and get really good at baking things for soccer parties. (never mind neither urchin played soccer at this point) I was seriously worried. Very much like when I was worried about leaving the husband because all of a sudden I would be living in said minivan in Walmart parking lots because for some reason I would be instantly destitute. I may be prone to over-exaggeration.
Anyway, the volvo could no longer carry our ever getting bigger kids, so then came the minivan. From day one, once I found it and bought the big white puppy, I was one happy camper. I cannot believe how much I love this car. Besides the fact that I go blazing by police at a higher rate of speed than posted (not much, not much) and never get tickets ("Oh, that mom in minivan must be thinking of her children... she is not paying attention, she is a good egg, not a safety hazard") when my pals in zippier, littler, sportier vehicles get pulled over for going speeds less than me. OR I can fit a full couch or 5 bales of hay or my recycle bin and garbage can or 6 kids plus two dogs or enough gear to last for a 5 week camping trip or 1 grumpy cat, a twin bed, and two dressers. I think you get the picture. This is the perfect family, farm, late-to-the-doctor, carpool and racecar for me.
The only downside is other cars hate being stuck behind me, so frequently whip by me, only to SLOW DOWN when they pull in front of me. Oh. Nothing gets my ire up as this drivin' behavior. Part of the American Driving Pysche of no-white-big-butted-minivan-is-getting-in-front-of-me.
Sorry. Now I will return to the original topic after that little wayward story. The clean car part. After we went out for dinner, the kids plopped back in my now clean car. Wilder pipes up from the back seat "why does the car smell?" I had to point out that it was clean... the layers of coffee, milk, 1.5 year old mint chocolate chip ice cream that my daughter assured me she had cleaned up which I assumed was done until her grandma cleaned it up....and that he was smelling fresh and windex and all things sparkly.
Wilder answered "It smells horrible." Rose and I cracked up. But I will try to start cleaning out my car more often. I think my son should not think clean cars smell horrible. Sigh.

1 comment:

Buffy said...

I'm bad too with my van. I just cleaned up a coffee and maybe peepee stain from my cat who escaped his crate while I was moving north two months ago. I cleaned the stain with car upholstery/rug cleaner. Did a pretty good job. I then found a coupon for an oil change and car wash and vacuum for only about $28.00. They didn't detail it like I do, getting all the dead bugs off the front and getting the wheel covers clean in all those crevaces and only vacuumed the front until I had them go back and vacuum the back. I've had the back seats out since about two weeks after I brought it home from the showroom, so I can camp and move things. They're really great these vans.

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