Cleaning the Working Moms Ride...

Yesterday, I spent a half hour of my Sunday afternoon cleaning out my car.  This is not a pleasurable task for me.   Since I am a working mother, my free time is EXTREMELY valuable and just as limited.  So, I am very careful as to which activities I choose to participate in during those precious moments of freedom.  Cleaning out my car ranks very low on this list, much lower than say, napping, painting my toe nails, or reading those next few chapters in my book. 

To be more precise, on my own personal scale of priorities, cleaning out my car is somewhere between cleaning out the fridge and organizing my pantry.  Basically, you can consider it somewhere between 'once in a blue moon and never gonna happen.'   Recently however, I have found myself telling the children such things as, "Please don't kick trash out when you get out," "Pick up those M&Ms...I heard you spill them back there!" and even, "Don't get blood on the seat...." so I knew the dreaded chore needed to happen soon.

And since I found myself walking right passed my car yesterday, I figured, "Eh, what the heck."   Here is a list of just the highlights of what was discovered in the Rachell Wagon....

 - Loose, various candies scattered throughout the floorboard and the seat.  Mostly M&M's (I knew I heard those little brats darlings spill them), skittles, fun dip sticks caked with fun dip powder, and numerous other unidentifiable brands.  I particularly appreciate how the M&M's & Skittles melt into the upholstery and carpet and make pretty little designs.  Fun.

-Empty plastic grocery sacks.  Yeah, I tried to get on board with the reusable grocery bags, but considering how often I grocery shop, I would need about 85 just to load up all my purchases.  So I stick with plastic and try to lesson my guilt by imagining all the wonderful, useful ways in which I will reuse them at home.  Well, about 17 of them never made it out of the car.  And while it would have been a fabulous idea to have left them in my car as trash bags, puke bags, or even emergency bags for soiled clothing, I'm just not that organized.  No, these bags once held gallons of milk, tide laundry detergent or big jugs of orange juice, etc that I knew would not make it up my drive and in my house without having the flimsy plastic handles bust.  I simply opted to pull the handled object OUT of the bag and leave the empty bag in my car.  These did however, form a nice middle layer to the filth and junk of my floorboards.  So it wasn't a total waste.

-Various clothing items.  The bathing suit bottoms of a bikini my daughter wore once this summer was somehow wedged between the seat and the console hump.  I found two sweaters, numerous socks, a sundress, and all kinds of hair bows, all belonging to my daughter.  I found a few items for the boys, but not much.  Mostly socks.  And shoes.  What's bizarre about the shoes is there wasn't a complete pair.  Just 7 single shoes.  So, what this tells me is that my kids are stripping in the car, walking in half naked, with one shoe on and I don't even notice.

-Receipts.  About 47 gazillion of them.  And since I do not balance my checkbook with them or use them for tax reasons, you may ask yourself why the heck am I even keeping all these useless pieces of paper.  I know I wondered that myself at first.  But, upon closer inspection I have discovered their purpose.  They make excellent lipstick blotters, as evidenced upon the multiple lip prints colored throughout most of them.

-Feminine Products.  Lots and Lots.  I would say somewhere in the vicinity of about 20 different products.  All unused...or unused for their original purpose I should say.  The unopened ones, I'm 100% guilty of leaving in there.  I keep my purse in the back seat whenever I drive to work, and sometimes when I reach back to get it, it spills out everywhere.  And since I'm usually in a hurry, I only grab the big stuff, and the loose change, receipts, and tampons get lost in the abyss of my car.  The used items, however, are all the kid's fault.  None of my kids are menstruating these days, at least God I hope not, so they don't need them for that.  But, whenever one of my kids get a bloody nose, picks a scab or gets scratched on the elbow by their mean little sister, (and starts to bleed), they get the most absorbent thing Mommy can whip out of her purse.  Nine times out of ten, it's a tampon/maxi pad.  It's not the most popular choice amongst those dwelling in the back seat, but it's better than nothing.  And it keeps the fighting and scab picking to a minimum.