glass or plastic?

now that i've had a couple of days to recover, i can post about the traumatic events of last friday night. thursday was a rough night for soren, which translates into an even worse night for me, especially since jim is out of town and i am doing this solo. not to mention the fact that i haven't been able to fall asleep easily since i found out we are getting thrown out of our rental house. so friday i was exhausted. decided that i'd like to enjoy a glass of wine while feeding soren the last time before bed to help myself relax. i get a bottle ready for the little guy, place a glass of red wine on a tray so as not to spill, and place it on the couch. what happens next? you guessed it. somehow i disturb the tray, and in super slow motion speed watch as the entire glass of wine drenches the couch. a butterscotch-colored couch.

it is like 10pm, jim is out of town living it up with people from his class, soren is screaming his head off, we will soon have no place to live, and i now have a couch that looks tie-dyed. so what do i do? my first thought was "i can dye the couch dark brown, i guess." and then i just started bawling. it was so typical of me - to do something for myself and only get deeper into a mess. so i fed soren sitting on wine-stained cushions, put him to bed, and call my mom.

bev arrived with an armful of old towels, a book about cleaning secrets, club soda, and salt. we read that the way to take out red wine is to douse the area with white wine and blot it up. of course the only white we had in the house was a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc given to us as a christmas gift. but it had to be done. so there we were, pouring white wine onto the couch, stopping for sips out of the bottle in between.

and you know what? it worked. the white wine reactivated the stains and took them away. the couch isn't as soft as it once was - it is kind of like sandpaper in areas, but at least it doesn't look like we stomp grapes in our living room. my mom is a lifesaver. i can't even tell you how great she has been since i've been back in phx. i don't think i'll ever erase the image of her drinking wine out of the bottle in the middle of the night while cleaning my couches. and sleep that night? i actually slept really well. so now i have a glass of wine before bed and don't end up worrying about everything. i just drink my wine in a slightly different glass:
a sippy cup.