That Brand New < Clean and Old Car Smell

There's something therapeutic about cleaning. This morning, after taking the dogs on a big walk, I did a little bit of errand work [including getting myself a camera fund tin that is disguised as something else. No one will suspect a thing!], came home, and did some cleaning. I cleaned up the living room a bit [left overs from last night's dinner and snacking, dirty socks, sandals, etc.] and then did the dishes. I then made room for the folding cutting board on the counter, chopped up another head of Romaine lettuce [I went through that other one already! Go salads!], cleaned up the knife and cutting board, and headed outside to the smelly box that rolls.

That would be my car.

It's interesting how many of my cars I've seen around here lately. I've had my car for a couple years now and until about a month and a half ago, I hadn't seen as many as 10 other ones. Now they're all over! I'm not complaining; what's not to love about my sweet Sentra? I just wish my bumper looked as sexy as the immaculate ones that I pass on a daily basis. And how weird is it to be stopped at a light right beside a car that mirrors your own in make, model, year, and COLOR as well?? With Sapphire Blue being my car's shade, it's a rarity to see something like it. Makes me feel a little weird.

So my many plastic bags [from grocery shopping mostly; I've been doing pretty good about not buying things I don't need] and I went outside and started cleaning out the ol' vehicle. Would you believe that I had a bag of beef sticks from about 2 months ago on the floor behind my passenger seat, rotting and stinking up my car? That and about five Mocha flavored Starbucks Frappucino bottles, 20 pieces of dental floss, receipts up the pa-toot, Jack-in-the-Box bags from who knows when, and in the trunk a blanket with vomit on it from the ride home when we got Murphy...

...in late May.

I then got the shop vac out, plugged it in, and sucked the nasty out of my car. I pulled off the seat covers and steering wheel cover [saved them in case I need them in the future], and my car looked like a brand new one. I then used some Armor-all[?] on the dash and my door panels, Windexed the inside of the windows, and then washed the outside of the car.

Monday needs to hurry up and arrive, or else I'm going to start sweeping the roof.

While I was at GoodWill getting the tins for both me and my sister, I picked up two books; one was a book published in 1995 and is basically another episode that neither Andrew nor I have seen of... drum roll please... X-Files! Oh yeaaa! The other one is by Tess Gerritsen, a favourite author of mine. The title is Harvest. There were actually two copies of the book next to each other; one was the newer version with this cover:


The other was the original released copy with this cover:


I flipped through some pages and the wording was exactly the same. The only difference was the back cover's description. The older version was this:


And the newer version [a picture I cannot seem to find on the Internet] said basically the same thing with slightly different wording; the first sentence went something along the lines of, "Dr. Abby Matteo is elated when Boston's Bayside Hospital's elite cardiac transplant team taps her as a potential recruit." It's the same words basically, just a different order. And the newer one says "Abby Matteo" instead of "DiMatteo." I checked inside the newer print and the name inside is "DiMatteo." Odd that Amazon.com's listing of the book has the front cover of the newer version and the back cover of the older one. Interesting.

I started reading this after eating a nice salad [from the new Romaine]. I got about 80 pages through, surprisingly with the distraction of South Park and phone calls. For some reason, Murphy decided to sleep in his bed, in his pen, in the kitchen, all by himself. I got up, grabbed him, and moved to the old couch so that he could lay in my arms while I read my book. It was relaxing and comforting having him snuggle with me.

It was not comforting when he ran away though.

Andrew let the dogs out to go potty after his friend Charlie showed up. I realized that I might have forgotten to close the back yard gate after bringing the shop vac back to the shop area. After going outside, I confirmed my suspicions. I called for Moses and Murphy; Murphy came trotting back to me right away. Thank goodness he didn't go far. I closed the gate and told him to stay. After walking down the street a bit and back, I got the big flashlight, got in my car, and started driving around the block. I then got the idea that maybe he would take the same route that we take on our walks.

I was right.

There he was, sniffing around right around the area where the random stop sign is. We saw a dog there earlier [no leash, no fence, no nothing] and he was probably smelling its scent. I yelled his name through the window and he took off. I started driving home, hoping I would see him again [it's hard to see a black dog in the night] and I did. I called his name and he trotted next to the car and followed me home.

After Andrew put them in time out, we started watching Farce of the Penguins. Charlie fell asleep a couple times [I guess this isn't surprising] but I'm surprised that I didn't; it wasn't that great. I would have rather watched Planet Earth; which I should do anyway.

Because Planet Earth rules.