Just Another Day on the...Laundry Room Floor?

The phrase "never a dull moment" seems, at times, to take on a life of its own in our home. Take this evening, for instance. As we were eating supper (only four of us!!), Shawn noticed a puddle of some liquid on the laundry room floor. (FYI - I have been plagued with "puddles" recently and, indeed, I have begun to think of them as "puddles of sanctification").

At first glance, it appeared that either the gallon of popcorn oil or the one of vegetable oil had leaked, but the substance was not completely oily. It was not the right color to be the disinfectant, which was next to the oil containers (I know - not a good combination). Hmmm, moving more things around, I ruled out the bottles of Gatorade, threw out the container of popcorn salt (had gotten wet), moved the case of Vienna Sausages and wiped the bottom of it, continuing to look for the source of the slightly yellow puddle. Finally, I had to do it. I stuck my finger in the liquid...and smelled it. (Ha! No, I did NOT taste it - fooled you, didn't I?) It had a slightly alcohol-ish smell to it, which confused me even further.

Sadly, I began to conclude that Charlie, our Black Lab, must have had a seizure in the laundry room, losing bladder control in the process (yes, this has become more of a problem recently). Odd that there were no signs of bowel issues, though, and the smell in the laundry room was not overwhelmingly of ammonia... Nevertheless, I set to cleaning up the mess with a roll of paper towels and a large plastic bag. (That is one way to get a floor clean, but not one that I would recommend.) My goal was to soak up the liquid with the paper towels first and then wipe the floor with a wet towel and dry thoroughly with a clean one.

Before solidifying my theory, though, I decided to investigate items on the bottom shelf, next to the floor. Wah lah!!! Success!! I was delighted (?!!) to discover that a gallon of apple cider had fermented, with gases building up to the point of causing a pin prick leak in the container! What a relief it was to know that I was only cleaning up sticky, icky, apple cider rather than...the alternative. (Yes, I did begin this by stating that we were eating supper. And, yes, the laundry room is right next to the kitchen, where we were eating. Lots of leftovers tonight...)

I guess they are pretty serious about the instructions to "keep refrigerated". Well, we can be very thankful that it busted a gut before we actually got around to drinking it, though! It is good to have opportunities such as these to put the detective skills I have honed over the years of parenting to use. :-) Now, on to solve the case of The Missing Toothpaste. Still can't figure out how a tube of toothpaste can disappear from a bathroom without a trace...

Parenting...it's not a job, it's an adventure!!