Cheerios and Color-Safe Bleach!

I bet you are thinking - mmmm! What a yummy combination! Before you get worried - Sean did not eat them for breakfast! Nor did he try to wash clothes with them. One of his favorite cereals right now is Honey-Nut Cheerios. He eats them dry or with soy milk for his dairy allergy. This day he wanted them dry and wanted to eat them out of the box! I let him because I had a lot to do and sometimes a Mom just makes executive decisions. Things that are not always allowed, are allowed at times, in order for a Mom to keep her sanity - and get a few loads of laundry done!

I knew it would probably happen but weighed the amount of peace I would get compared to the amount of time it would take to vacuum up Cheerios. The vacuum won. I hear Sean yelling from upstairs - "Mom the Cheerios spilled!" Did you ever notice how with little kids it is the fault of whatever spilled or broke. Like I might think that inanimate objects suddenly spring to life and decide to do some mischief or that babies who cannot even sit up yet move across the room!! It is always the Cheerios spilled - not I spilled the Cheerios. The toilet overflowed - not I put too many wipes in and made the toilet overflow. Justin's head hit my arm - not I just whacked my brother because I can. The VCR broke - not I put my PB&J in the VCR and now the tape won't go in!

So, I go upstairs and see that we have a new carpet in the living room - crunchy and nutty with a touch of honey! Mixed with dog hair and leaves and mulch and dirt! Just like living in the wilderness! Sean sees me and stares up at me with big eyes like a deer in headlights. He knows there is no getting out of this one. He says, "Mom, some Cheerios spilled." Okay a little more than some in my book - half of the box was on the floor. The only one who didn't mind was the dog! Sean says, "I don't know what happened, it just spilled." See what I mean - blaming the poor innocent box of Cheerios!

I tell him to start picking them up and got to get the vacuum. He threw a few handfuls in the sink and the dog ate a few mouthfuls and I vacuumed up the rest. Then I went into the kitchen to empty the dirt canister from the vacuum. In the sink I had left a bottle of color-safe bleach that I was using - along with Shout and Borax - to clean Brian Jr.'s Riversharks jersey. He thought it would be fun to slide head first in the mud out back and ruin his nice jersey. Oh wait a minute - he didn't ruin his jersey. He wore his brothers to go sliding around in the mud! Lovely! It took me two days and three washes with my scrubbing cocktail but I won this time! Mud be gone!

Okay - back to the Cheerios. I look into the sink and I had not put the cap back on the bleach because the cap was full of bleach on the counter. I was scrubbing the jersey with that and Borax and Shout using an old toothbrush. Well, I look over at the sink. Would you believe that with the whole sink as a target that all but about four Cheerios landed in the bleach. I think he had to be aiming for it! It was again one of those moments where I just stopped and stared for a minute. I got the ones out around the cap but the ones in the bottle will be there until the bleach is empty!

I tried to pour them out but they were floating in the bleach - so they kept going to the back of the bottle! Oh well - could be worse! Here are the pictures. I wish I would have taken one of the living room floor!

Cheerios in the cap

Cheerios in the bleach