My first carpet stain
Why must I love mustard and why must smoked meat go so well with it? Why, out of everything I was carrying, must it have been the “doggy bag” from dinner that crashed to the floor. And opened. And spilled out. Onto the ground. And why did that one piece of mustard covered smoked meat find its way to the carpet and not stay on the tile like all its friends?
<sigh>
It had to happen eventually, In fact, I guess it already has. But somehow this one is different. Not just because it's right in the front hallway for everyone to see, but because I was responsible this time. I think that's what really makes it different.
As you can see, I broke out the troops: industrial-strength carpet spot remover, club soda, and plain ol' water. For the record, nothing seemed to work 100%... as every guest from now until eternity will realize. Now, I don't hold it against the spot remover or the club soda; both are proven cleaners. I think that it was my attack that was wrong. You see, the instructions on the spot remover say, “Blot, from outer edge toward center [of stain]”. I may have misinterpreted “blot” as “push, jab, smash, stab, pressure, lean, poke, mash”. For future reference: I believe that the correct method involves only a moderate amount of pressure, wherein you hope that the stain will voluntarily leap from the carpet to your waiting damp cloth or paper towel.
In other words: Don't panic.
Why all the fuss over a small stain? Well, it's like this: with anything new, that first dent in the door, or scratch on the surface is tragic. Hell, you might as well just throw out this tarnished <insert item here> (e.g., new car, new guitar, new house, etc.). Once you've emotionally recovered from this however, anything else is pretty much a non-event. (Note: this does not mean that I won't care if a visitor spills grape juice in the middle of my family room carpet... you will be punished. Somehow.)
What should I do now? The stain is still down there, taunting me as I type this. While I did take the “dying patient” approach for the first thirty minutes (you know, don't stop trying for fear that you'll lose the war), I finally managed to pull myself up off the floor and... well, I got my camera - I saw this as a great blog topic for tonight (silver lining?). That, and the fumes from the cleaner were starting to get to me.
But the spot itself... I'm not done with it yet. In fact, maybe it's time for round two. But before I go, I have this piece of advice for anyone who hasn't spilled anything on their new carpet: go buy some spot remover now 'cause it'll happen eventually. Then again, I only picked up my bottle of spot remover a week ago today...
<sigh>
It had to happen eventually, In fact, I guess it already has. But somehow this one is different. Not just because it's right in the front hallway for everyone to see, but because I was responsible this time. I think that's what really makes it different.
As you can see, I broke out the troops: industrial-strength carpet spot remover, club soda, and plain ol' water. For the record, nothing seemed to work 100%... as every guest from now until eternity will realize. Now, I don't hold it against the spot remover or the club soda; both are proven cleaners. I think that it was my attack that was wrong. You see, the instructions on the spot remover say, “Blot, from outer edge toward center [of stain]”. I may have misinterpreted “blot” as “push, jab, smash, stab, pressure, lean, poke, mash”. For future reference: I believe that the correct method involves only a moderate amount of pressure, wherein you hope that the stain will voluntarily leap from the carpet to your waiting damp cloth or paper towel.
In other words: Don't panic.
Why all the fuss over a small stain? Well, it's like this: with anything new, that first dent in the door, or scratch on the surface is tragic. Hell, you might as well just throw out this tarnished <insert item here> (e.g., new car, new guitar, new house, etc.). Once you've emotionally recovered from this however, anything else is pretty much a non-event. (Note: this does not mean that I won't care if a visitor spills grape juice in the middle of my family room carpet... you will be punished. Somehow.)
What should I do now? The stain is still down there, taunting me as I type this. While I did take the “dying patient” approach for the first thirty minutes (you know, don't stop trying for fear that you'll lose the war), I finally managed to pull myself up off the floor and... well, I got my camera - I saw this as a great blog topic for tonight (silver lining?). That, and the fumes from the cleaner were starting to get to me.
But the spot itself... I'm not done with it yet. In fact, maybe it's time for round two. But before I go, I have this piece of advice for anyone who hasn't spilled anything on their new carpet: go buy some spot remover now 'cause it'll happen eventually. Then again, I only picked up my bottle of spot remover a week ago today...
