careless me!

Thanks Alie. It's some time since I have had to study mouse poo.

When DS2 was about 14, he was making home-brewed beer from a Boots kit. He had it in a 5 gallon bucket on the kitchen table, ready to siphon into bottles. He had, however, failed to support the leaf on which the bucket was standing. The inevitable happened: beer all over the carpet tiles, cats paddling through the mess and me so flabbergasted as to be speechless - which had to be a first. Every tile had to be taken up and laid out on the patio, eventually to be professionally cleaned. And oh the smell! Even with all the windows open, it was like living in a brewery.

If that had happened to me, KatyK, I'm not sure which I would have been most upset about - the mess or the loss of the booze. I think I would have taken a straw to the carpet before starting the clear-up!

Alie, I was finding glass in out-of-the-way places for ages after an incident in my kitchen. I had put some cooking oil into a small glass bottle then left the house for a few hours. I came back to find that the jar had exploded, presumably because the sun had moved around and the jar had ended up sitting in it.
The mess was indescribable, but at least no one was there when it happened!

I meant to add Anno's name to that last post too, regarding the spilled booze!

Ever dropped an egg on the floor....and had to wipe it up? Makes me gag.
But when I had a lodger with a dog, we just had to say 'Blondie, hoover!' and the egg was gone.

I was kneeling on the floor of the pantry, knocked the ironing board and it clipped the egg rack (pretty full) that hangs on the wall. It came down (the hook is wonky). Suddenly I had an egg rack and assorted eggs on my head, shoulders and back - and on the hall carpet. Ugh!!

That's one aspect of having a dog that I really miss. Not much made it to the floor in the first place with her around. For years after we lost her, I would find myself dropping pieces of fat onto the floor when trimming meat before realising that our four-legged waste disposal system was no longer with us!

Unbeknown to us a half pound of butter fell out of a shopping bag in the boot of our old car. It was during a very hot summer and the butter went rancid. Never could get the smell out of that car!

I once lost a cauliflower under a car seat.really vile. Kept accusing children of making nasty smells.

Stansgran

MamaCaz - on reflection maybe DH was angry at the loss of booze rather than the newly hung wallpaper! I was too shocked to think about the booze - I'm sure I did when the dust settled!

Rice, coffee, and beetroot juice, I've got more careful, but sadly more easily distracted. I'm also more bothered about mess, now I don't work full time. I had a necessary ability not to fuss to much when working full time, with children, grandchildren and elderly parents all needing me. I tell myself it matters less, but somehow don't listen to myself.

When DD was a toddler she picked up a tin of black gloss paint and dropped it on living room carpet. I can't remember how we cleaned it up, no kitchen paper, but after an hour or two there was no sign of the stain. I was very relieved as we did not have the money to replace the carpet even though it was only a square in the middle of the floor.

The talk of beer brewing takes me back many years to when DH and mates were into beer and wine brewing. Bottles of both were inclined to explode at random times. The wine was kept in racks on the back wall of the garage and the metal door had dents where it'd been shot by the occasional cork and beer frequently went to waste mimicking a geyser. The garage smelt wonderful. Then there was the ginger beer I made from a ginger beer plant I got from a 'friend' which I put in the bottom of the kitchen cupboard ........

Oh, and then there was time I went out to collect the kids from school and forgot to turn off the gas under a couple of eggs I was boiling..... It can be quite difficult to extract burnt egg shell from coving and artex ceiling.

DH reached out in his sleep last night and knocked over half a mug of tea which he had taken to bed. It ran all over the bed stand and onto several new books which he had put on the floor beside the bed. Grrrrrrr! Luckily the pages are not stuck together but they will be stained.

I can't get the vision of Harrigrans black paint out of my mind.

I had some wine - damson or blackberry, anyway, red - fermenting in the airing cupboard. It exploded over my sheets which were adorned with pink splodges. Can't remember how I dealt with it but I expect bleach was involved.

Home brew had a lot to answer for. I was thinking only the other day that it might be nice to have a go again. Don't think I'll bother!

Orange wine fermenting in the airing cupboard..... I think it had minced oranges and raisins in it. DH misread the instructions and capped it tightly. It exploded all over sheets, pillowcases and 2 dozen terry nappies that were airing. All over the ceiling as well.
I can still remember DH saying, "that must be a good one, I'll make some more".

Orange wine was that quick three week one wasn't it? Very quaffable I seem to remember - not so good if you had to suck it out of the sheets though!

Years ago when a friend and her new husband left for their honeymoon, his brother, ever the joker, hid a kipper under the passenger seat of their MG. They could smell a vague odd smell but thought nothing of it, parked the car at the airport and flew off for 2 weeks bliss. She managed to get a very bad bug, so they returned early and had to drive 200 miles back home in a car reeking of dead rotten fish. I don't think the brother has ever been forgiven and the car never smelt quite the same again.

Dropped eggs on a hard floor are no problem. Sprinkle thickly with salt and it can be swept up with dustpan and brush. Never tried it on a carpet.

Laughed out loud at lots of these. I've done the back peppercorns one recently too, so I also have the giant rodent problem. My worst was knocking over a brand new bottle of rosehip syrup on the work top next to the cooker. It ran all down the tiny gap between cooker and side, and puddled everywhere. Boy, is that stuff sticky. We were just about to go out the door to a big family do and already late ....

Whenever something like that happened (even if neither of them was to blame) my children used to rush off and do their music practice.