Sunday, October 15, 2006

My Poor, Poor Car







Friday night our daughter called to invite us over to her boyfriend’s house to play Farkle and drink some margaritas with his parents, sister and a few friends. We all hung out and had a very good time as you can see from the pictures.

His sister had a friend over and as soon as I sat down next to her we became instant friends. She was so friendly and funny. I had no idea that she’d been drinking a little bit of this and little bit of that, probably long before she even arrived at the house. She needed to be home by a certain time so when it was decided that she wasn’t driving herself, my husband and Khristin (the boyfriend’s sister) decided they would drive her.

They were gone for almost an hour when Travis (the daughter’s boyfriend) said they’d just called to let us know they’d be back soon but that their trip had turned into somewhat of a nightmare. Rosie (the friend) had apparently gotten sick on the ride home and puked all inside of the car and they’d been cleaning it up. Luckily, there was someone at the house to clean Rosie up and get her all taken care of.

We all discussed how she seemed so normal at the house and that we had no idea she’d had so much to drink. Travis’ dad made a comment about how he hoped they’d gotten the car all cleaned up, and then I heard him say something about them leaving in the white car. About that time my ears perked right up and I confirmed that they had indeed driven off in the white car. Well, that white car would just so happen to be MY car. I immediately started asking myself why they had to take MY car when both Rosie and Khristin had cars there, too.

They arrived back shortly after the phone call and then filled us in on the grizzly details of Rosie hurling right there all inside of MY car before they could manage to get the car pulled over for her, and then operation puke clean up in which they used an entire roll of paper towels and a bottle of Kaboom trying to get it all up. Poor Rosie felt so bad and was crying and apologizing about the mess. Apparently she’d mixed wine, margaritas and who knows what else earlier in the evening and it all hit on her on the ride home.

When we left to go home that night I opened the passenger door and immediately saw that they’d missed a few spots so I rode in the backseat, where according to my daughter, they’d also missed a few spots. She informed me that Rosie had obviously eaten chili and macaroni for dinner. Ewwww! I told her not to say another word about what she saw on the floorboard and to just keep her feet up. We had the windows rolled down and it was all I could do to keep from adding to Rosie’s mess on the drive home. No amount of wind or fresh air could mask the odor. It was overwhelming. You all know the smell. It’s so distinctive, unmistakable and lingers forever. It’s got to be one of the worst odors there is, although I’ve never smelled a dead body. (YET!)

Saturday morning I woke my husband up and told him that I had errands to run and that he had two choices, go and have my car shampooed or drive me around in his company car since I’m not allowed to drive it. Even though my husband didn’t actually do the puking himself, I still blamed him. I couldn’t help it! I just kept asking him why he had to drive MY car to begin with. I’m really not mad at anyone and Rosie was just too sweet to hold this against her, but you wouldn’t believe how bad my car smells and how much I dread even having to get inside of it. He took it and spent forever at the car wash and shampooed it and when he first brought it home it actually smelled good. Then I took off to run those errands but after my first stop where the car had sat parked for about an hour, the stench had already set back in by the time I got back inside. I left the windows cracked all night and he drove it this morning to get donuts and admitted that unfortunately, he could still smell it. I’m so bummed. Maybe I should just sell it!

Thank God it’s not August, though. If it was still 100-degree weather around here I can only imagine how bad it would be. I’m sure by next spring when the smell has finally faded; this will just be a forgotten memory.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carri..I don't quite know how to say this...but...I'm laughing and laughing and laughing and your car is ruined, isn't that sick???...uh-oh, I shouldn't have used the 'sick' word.

Look at it this way Carri, it could have been worse. How?? weell I don't know but I'll think of something, give me a minute..

How about you could have been in the back seat with poor Rosie dodging her gourmet chili and chese projectiles, kinda like the poor priest in the "Exorcist"

I think if the devil had thought things through on that projectile vomiting issue he would have chosen the chili and cheese vomiting instead of that funky green stuff. It would have certainly have been more disgusting...I guess even the devil has his limits.

I do know something that will cover the smell of anything up. I went fishing one time and had my hooch in a little brown bag and my frozen shrimp in an identical brn bag. When I finished fishing I heaved the little brown 'shrimp' bag into the weeds for the critters and threw my 'hooch' bag into my car trunk..About three 100 degree days later I noticed vultures circling over head and when I got in the car the smell of rotted shrimp put me into a state of olfactory arrest--In my dazed state (too much sun and alchol) I had thrown out the booze and kept the shrimp. Now if you can stand the rotton shrimp smell I Gaaaraunteeee you it will comer up the smell of the vomit...forever!!! If that's not acceptable (I know how picky Les can be) try 'Febreeze'

Better yet, sell the car to a zoo keeper ar stockyard worker, They probably won't even notice the smell
An even better idea, sell the car to somebody with a bunch of litte kids--they 'definitly won't notice the smell, if you know what I mean, cause after a few weeks it will smell like a food court mixed with dirty diapers...
See! things arn't so bad..good luck and mea culpa

Anonymous said...

Do you remember when we puked our the window & down the side of the landshark? Let me clarify that. One of us puked, but I don't remember who. Was is Caca?

Carri said...

Paul,
That is very, very funny! Your story, that is.....not so much mine! The drive in this morning was brutal. The smell is still lingering in my nostrils! Caden was as disgusted as I was on the way to school. Your shrimp idea isn't looking like such a bad one about now. It couldn't be any worse.

Teresa,
Bahahaha! Which time???? I'd wager it was all three of us at some point in time.

Anonymous said...

There is one smell worse than puke, in my opinion, and that is dog poop. But at least that is easier to clean up completely. I feel for you soooooo bad!

Try coating your car with several boxes of good old Arm & Hammer baking soda and leave it sit for a few days, then vaccuum it up (at the car wash, of course). Just a thought.

Even so, the party sounds fun and the pictures are GREAT! What a nice-looking bunch of people.

Lesson learned: no mixing, especially in large quantities!

Anonymous said...

Do you remember Angela (last name starts with A)? One time when we worked at PoFolks together, our manager put shrimp in her hub caps. She didn't figure it out for weeks. Now that was a gross smell. Shrimp in the Texas sun. Disgusting.....

Anonymous said...

One of you tell the story about when Lauren was about 8, you bought her the Barbie phone.

Anonymous said...

I miss pofolks!! They had the best chicken fried steak! <3 Carri, cute story to, by the way! hehe.

Anonymous said...

I bet that smelled good on a hot Houston day!! haha