As I looked around the apartment this morning I couldn't help but to feel happy, although I am stressed out and overwhelmed by this move, today I realized I am still very happy about it. As I thought about where everything would go in our new home I glanced at our couch. Now we bought this couch 5 years ago, and it was great. All my couches before had been hand me down couches, so this beauty was my first new couch. Thinking back I am surprised we were buying new furniture when we were just dating and living together, but it all worked out {obviously} I was so excited the day it was delivered and it looked perfect, just perfect. It is a nice little sectional with a small chaise lounge off one end of the couch. The pillows were such a fun look, since they could be moved around to give the couch a "new" look. Then I remembered how sad I was when we could not use the couch as a sectional in our apartment, it just didn't work well in our living room {nothing works well in this living room, currently the couch is blocking the fireplace}As I started to get excited about having the couch used as it was meant to be in the new home I started to look closer..... the cushions were looking less than clean and just this morning my son had mushed some banana onto one of the pillows. Not only did they look dirty I knew they must be, my son likes to take the pillows off and jump on them. I now know that my next couch will be leather {easy to clean} and it will NOT have pillows, it will have cushions that STAY on the couch at all times. Knowing that there was not a new couch in my near future I realized I needed to do something about this mess in front of me, how embarrassing would it be to have people come see your new home just to see mashed banana stains on my couch {I think it would be VERY embarrassing} So I decided my only option would be to pull out the carpet cleaner and use the attachment to clean all the cushions and pillows. This seemed simple enough, I had done it before. Well this time I was boxed in, literally. With little to no room to move and with a toddler trying to ruin my efforts it was not as easy at it had seemed in my mind. I begin with the cushions. I go to pull the trigger and not only does the cushion get covered in the cleaning solution I do too. I guess the upside to this situation is that it is getting on the cushions, not just going on me. I try to adjust the little spray nozzle but it is no use, it seems if I want a clean couch I will be getting a spray down as well. As I spray, scrub, and suck up all the dirt my jeans are getting soaked. I soon move onto the pillows,this is when the machine makes a funny noise and stops sucking {which is a very important feature} I turn to the machine and see my toddler at the controls. Thanks Max, now mommy has to un-confuse the machine which now thinks I want to clean the floors. I end up having to un plug it and start over. After switching the controls way too many times I finally get my suction back. When I turn to use it I see that my son has taken the two pillows I had finished out to the deck, normally this would not be a big deal, but since it rained last night all of his chalk marks are wet and now getting on the pillows. I now decide it is nap time for my little man, I don't think I need his help to finish my project. As I get to the last pillow I run out of cleaning solution, of course, half a pillow to go and I have to go re load my cleaner. Once I have finally finished the pillows I prop them up and hope that they will dry FAST, because I just know it is going to be near impossible to keep my little guy off the couch all night. As I look at the pillows I feel better about the appearance of my couch, but still really want that nice brown leather one I just happened to see online last night. Why is it that we always want more? I mean, I have a couch, can't I just be happy with it? I wish I was happy with it, I really do, but when we bought it kids were not even on our minds, and so we did not pick the best sofa for durability. My only hope is that my next couch purchase will be a smarter one, one that can stand up to Max longer, and be easier to keep looking nice. But its not just me, my husband wants a new kitchen table. And I am sure there are many people out there who are just waiting until they can up-grade their current possessions. I guess I just need to learn to love it for now, knowing that eventually I can get a new one. A new one that will not leave me battling with the carpet cleaner. At least today I came out the winner, it never got the best of me, I stood my ground and now the couch is clean. Round One goes to Mom.
Kelly Callahan
No comments:
Post a Comment