26. My Dirty Little Secret...

Day 26: A Blog A Day In May

Well I realized I have a nasty little secret. It's funny that it has taken me this long to confess. I guess when you live for so long in your own crud, you kinda forget how bad it really is. My car. Oh my poor, abused, little car. It's a 2003 Hyundai Elantra. We bought it in 04 with about 60,000 miles on it (I think). Living in Pocatello at the time, we made several trips to Burley and Boise. Then when we lived in Burley last year, Parker commuted to Pocatello twice a week for school. Then when we moved to twin, he commuted to Pocatello twice a week for one more semester. This car has a LOT of miles on it! Around 145,000 I wanna say. Here's the sad part. It gets washed maybe twice a year. Three times if it's lucky. And as the primary carrier of me and my children, it gets MESSY. VERY MESSY. It's constantly full of trash, dust, clothes, diapers, toys, and crumbs. It's VERY emberassing. Luckily, I never have to show it to anybody, cuz nobody ever rides in my car because the back seat is full of car-seats.

Well Today I'd had it. I cleaned my car. Inside and out. Is it dumb to wash your car only hours before a rain storm? I would say for my car....no. Because it needed it...rain or no rain.

I even took out the car seats and vaccuumed where they sit. I cleaned the windows, and the inside of each door....and did my best on those disgusting floor mats. They can't be cleaned really. The dust is embedded so deep, there's nothing that could get all that crud out. But I bang them off and vaccuum them to the best of my ability and call it good.
While I was cleaning my brains out, trying to finish before the looming storm arrived today....Caleb was there on the side-lines. He had a stick from his kite that spreads the thing so it'll fly. He'd been pretending he was directing a choir with it. But then when I stepped out of the car to put away the vaccuum, I saw what he'd done.

HE SCRATCHED THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF MY CAR!!! It looks terrible! I wanted to cry. Then came the rage. What was he THINKING?!! I took that little stick out of his hands (I probably should've snapped it in half....but I didn't) and spanked his little butt as hard as I could, and then let him cry for nearly twenty minutes. I was so angry. I sat there and tried to wash it again.....hoping it was just the white from the stick. It looked better while the surface was wet. Then it dried....and it came back. GRRRR! I showed him what he did, and how I couldn't fix it. And he bawled and bawled. "I'm sorry mommy!" Sorry wasn't gonna cut it. I ignored him while I fumed, and he just sat there on the lawn and cried. Then I started thinking....how long was I gonna cry over spilt milk? I couldn't change it....and he'd been punished. It was time to get over it. I went over and gave him a hug. Reminding him that he is NEVER allowed to scratch my car, and that he was in big trouble for doing so. And then we went inside. Add it to the list of abuse that my car takes every day. It seems that no matter what we do to this thing, it just keeps on running. We've done hardly anything by way of repairs. It's been such a reliable car. I was so grateful when we got the title to that thing....and we're pretty sure we're just gonna drive it till it dies. There's no way we could ever sell it.....it's too used. There's nothing special about it. And now it's covered in scratches. I really should treat it better. Get those oil changes exactly when I'm supposed to....and wash it at least every 2 months or so. I'm gonna be better little purple car. I will.

Lastly, I just wanted to share this. Angie was gurgling today, and I just thought it was so cute! She's such a joy. She'll be crying her little head off in her crib, and as soon as you go to get her, she just starts to smile and bounce her little legs. She's just happy to see you all the time. If only we could be more like our babies. If our basic needs are met.....we should be happy. If only life were that simple.