The scene of the original crime?
This was going to be a Saturday Photo entry, but I decided it’s too good of a story for that. So, onward:
Last Tuesday evening, I worked out on my elliptical for an hour, got in the shower and soaped up. Before I had a chance to rinse off the suds, Emma came into the bathroom in a panic.
“Lily’s bleeding from her head and her back and there’s blood all over the living room!” she told me.
I rinsed off, grabbed a towel and ran downstairs. Emma was holding Lily, holding a towel to the wounds. And then there was the blood. Apparently, Lily thought my living room would look much better with red walls and carpet because she used what turned out to just be a scratch on her ear to paint the living room. Red droplets covered the entire carpet and a few spots on the off-white flat painted walls.
One of the "painted" walls.
Chris was out, so I called and asked him to pick up some OxyClean spot carpet cleaner — at least three bottles, please. Not to brag, but I know the stuff works. This, you see, was not my first time having to scrub blood out of my living room carpet. Although, last time, there was a lot less of it. That’s a story for another time and involves a large black cat rather than a small, obnoxious dog.
Although, for all I know, this incident also involved the same large black cat. Or a small white one. Or a small Siamese mix. I’m not sure — and will probably never know — which cat inflicted the mortal wound. It doesn’t matter. Lily hasn’t learned to stop chasing them, even after this particular incident.
I couldn’t do much until Chris got home, so I went back upstairs, finished my shower and then proceeded to clean what I could with the tiny bit of OxyClean I had in the house. Chris showed up shortly after with three bottles of OxyClean … laundry stain remover.
This, my friends, is probably a godsend if you have several loads of blood-stained laundry. It does not, however, work on carpet. Chris thought since it said it removed blood, it would be just fine.
Off to the store, which was ridiculously busy considering the time of night, but I guess it was just my luck. Three bottles of the correct cleaner later, I changed into shorts and a T-shirt, threw my hair up in a scrunchie and set to work with the carpet cleaner and what eventually turned out to be two old towels.
A trail leading to the victim? Or culprit?
It took a total of four and a half hours, but the carpet no longer shows a single sign that it was once the scene of an attempted murder. I tried to clean the walls, but only managed to fade the spots. Someone suggested I try the Mr. Clean eraser. I’ll let you know if that works. It is flat paint, after all. Did I mention that? Nothing cleans flat paint.
And for those readers who like to drink, I’ll add that the Oxy stuff works on red wine, too. I learned that when a poor dinner guest spilled hers on my carpet. She panicked. I reached for the bottle. Everything turned out fine.
Splatter
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