A spot-on (or off) shameless plug

One of the last nights we spent in my husband’s one-bedroom apartment before moving to our rental house, there was an accident. A potentially BAD accident when you have a security deposit riding on the move-out condition of the apartment…a glass of red wine, dashed across the cream-colored carpet, followed by a flurry of unhappy language from my husband who’d knocked the wine over. We hadn’t been exactly smart about it, both of us sitting in easy chairs with our glasses of wine on something but still sitting on the floor. To say my heart sank is a bit like saying the Titanic took on a bit of water!

I tried to stay calm and sent my husband off to Super Target to look for some sort of stain remover while I first hit the internet and then as I recall, although perhaps terror has altered some relevant brain cells, I kept the stain wet, the first and easiest thing recommended, (but NOT, I hasten to add, watered by any tears of mine), while dabbing at the stain with a clean (only briefly) cloth. I didn’t have hydrogen peroxide or white wine or whatever else my fevered glance read, but I did have salt. So on that went.

I called my husband and gave him the names of the recommended products from the websites. But they didn’t have any. So he shopped while I wet, salted and dabbed…and repeated…and repeated. Let me tell you, this stain wasn’t small. The glass had been about half full, so we’re talking a substantial stain.

When he finally arrived home, we followed the directions on the can. Believe it or not, Ripley, the entire stain came out. Yup, the whole thing. Gone. Enough gone that once it had dried, we couldn’t tell where the wine had spilled and obviously it wasn’t because we’d been drinking too much!! I don’t know what that can of stain remover cost, but it was a steal at twice the price!!

I suppose you’d like to know the name, the product for which I’m writing a stainless…er, shameless…plug. Let’s just say that if you have a similar problem, look for Spot Shot, Instant Carpet Stain Remover. It also says it works great on pet stains. All I know, is we had nothing to “wine” about when it came to doing what it promised.

P.S. After I got done cleaning the apartment later in the week, my husband met with the manager, who checked the apartment and then told my husband that it was probably the cleanest move-out he’d ever seen and that he wished all the apartments looked like that when someone left. Hurrah for getting back security deposits!!

P.P.S. Spot Shot, besides living up to what it promises, is made in the good, old U.S. of A. Hurrah for American ingenuity!

P.P.P.S. I can’t believe that when I used Google Images to find a picture, if possible, of spot remover, a picture of the very one came up!!

But the greatest of these is love

Monday at 1:30 pm, CST, my husband emerged from his three days of isolation following the ingestion of several  I-131 pills which started the iodine radiation treatment for thyroid cancer; no longer a glow-in-the-dark guy.   An “I-131 Therapeutic Regime” it said at the top of the page of “Instructions for Releasable Patient”, instructions about how not to get radioactivity on anyone else when said patient is released into the world.  Sounds pretty innocuous, doesn’t it, but au contraire, especially when right after taking the pills, the Geiger counter picked up radiation from 6’ away.

The radioactivity leaves the body mainly through the kidneys (i.e. waste products), but a small amount  (how small an amount of radioactivity is OK???) leaves via sweat, spit and so forth.  Unfortunately, those sneaky little pieces of potential badness don’t really obligingly glow in the dark or anywhere else, so it’s tough to see them when trying to clean up any that remain behind, lurking, looking for bodies to glom onto.  Hence, thorough cleaning must be done, but only after the three days of isolation.  Today that time was over; more than over, really, since it was Tuesday at almost noon and his isolation had ended almost 24 hours ago.

I called Nuclear Medicine in the morning and found out how to clean the room, etc. and now it’s all done.  And I do mean all!  I wore gloves and a mask (went through two sets of each so I could reassure my husband that I took all precautions), cleaned every surface and object in the bathroom with the Clorox wipes:  the floor, inside the tub, the shower walls, the toilet, the scale….every single thing. Or as in current parlance ….Every. Single. Thing.

I did the same for the bedroom:  every cord, every magazine, every PlayStation game box, every piece of paper, wastebaskets….well, you get the idea.  The rest of the bedding and the pillow went in garbage bags in the garage, along with the shower curtain.  At the end of a week, we’ll wash what we want washed and pitch the rest.  I wiped the top and sides of the bed (it’s a pad, so we can also toss it if desired) and when I was done vacuuming, I wiped the vacuum, wiped the inside of it and the roller, removed all the fuzz and got rid of the vacuum bag, the gloves and the mask in another garbage bag.  Believe me when I tell you that room is clean.  It’s also aired out because I had the window open and the door shut the entire time. Take THAT, nasty radioactive particles!!

The clothes he’s worn since Monday at 1:30 pm can be washed regularly and today’s load is done, although I washed them twice and the washer once empty afterwards.  The clothes, sheets, towels, etc. that were used during the three days reside for a week in garbage bags in the garage until they can be washed (the twice-washed routine, followed by a washing for the washer with detergent and hot water but no load.)

So we’re all set for being in that room again, as free of radioactivity as it can possibly be without a haz-mat team coming in.  That was Valentine’s Day.  What valentine or gift could be more precious?  Happy Valentine’s Day, dear.  I love you.