Coffee Table Tales

Friends ~ Family ~ Bloggers.

Hear my cry. Heed my warning!

One 3.5 year old little girl...One unsuspecting little brother...One busy Mommy of 2...(oh wait, that's not me is it?)

One bottle of hand sanitizer.
Well, yes, 2 actually, but it was the gel kind that did the deed!One ruined coffee table!

Sigh...Who could have predicted that I would be blogging about my coffee table again? If you were spared the original drama, you can read about it here. But alas, today, on this Friday the 13th, I bring you another dose of coffee table tales.

Today was an extra special Friday. Ava had her Valentine's party at school. She got to wear her pretty pink dress and her big white bow. She was very excited. She proudly carried her valentine cards out the door this morning, along with 2 dozen frosted cupcakes for the big party. Sometime this afternoon, however, things turned sour. Could it have been all that sugar? All the candy and frosting? Those darn removable tattoos? We may never know.

Anyway, back to the drama. This afternoon, I walked past the coffee table on my way upstairs to put laundry away. I noticed a white film of some sort on the table, but I figured it was nothing big. Maybe some of the sugar from those sugar-stick candy things that Ava brought home from school. Not a huge deal, but I'd be back to investigate after my hands were free.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I couldn't wait any longer. I asked Ava what was all over the coffee table. She stood there peering up at me and said one word, "Soap." With that, I continued on and put the clothes away before heading back downstairs to take a closer look. When I reached the coffee table I could see that it was indeed white, but there was no residue or film or anything. That's when I realized that we had a problem.

"What kind of soap, Ava?"
She pointed to the diaper bag.
I asked her to show me what she was talking about.
She pulled out the liquid, gel hand sanitizer.
The little travel-sized bottle she was referring to is the bottle that I use on myself. I save the healthier version, foam pump thingy for her (when there isn't a sink in sight).

OK, deep breath. I revisited the coffee table. Apparently, hand sanitizer had BLEACHED my coffee table! Are you kidding me??!! I was rather annoyed. Very, rather annoyed. But, Ava felt bad right away. She kept apologizing. And besides, her nose was runny and I think she's coming down with a little cold. I couldn't get that mad at her. She shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place, but she didn't intentionally bleach my coffee table. I was just relieved that nothing else had happened with the awful stuff.

Well, after a half hour or so, I came to terms with the fact that this was permanent. Erghh! If you know me at all, you know that I am a stain-getter-outter! I will try and try, and try again till the stain is out! I didn't deal well knowing that I could do nothing to help my coffee table.

Then I was chatting with Bridget and she asked me if we had a protection plan. Yeah, we did buy one but I figured it was surely expired. She pushed me to look up the receipt, which I miraculously found within 5 seconds. Sure enough, we bought the protection plan and it doesn't expire until next month!! We bought this 5 years ago folks, I must have some good karma coming my way! I called the number and the wheels are in motion. SO- it looks like it'll all work out after all.

But, buyer beware. If hand sanitizer will do that to my coffee table, I don't want it anywhere near my kids hands...ever!
Or my coffee table!