Flu Duty

What a week we've had.

Warning: This post is gross. Just plain yucky. Don't read if easily queasy.

We are all down with the flu and my poor children have it baaad. There has been a steady flow of vomit and diarrhea. We have had to clean up vomit numerous times on carpet, bedding and tile (not to mention the constant dumping and rinsing of their vomit buckets). The first was a literal dumping of vomit from our poor E who was practically sleep walking and had no idea what was going on.

MyLove helped him to the toilet to finish and get in the tub. I rushed to start on the carpet.

My initial reaction there at 11:30 PM was to look at MyLove while trying to scoop up the vomit as fast as I could and say with all seriousness, "Here it is, Babe. Our impetus to rip this carpet up!!! Finally! We can get rid of it! Let's do it now!"

Buuuut, with a practical, hardworking, and smart hubby like mine, he pulled me back in to reality and said, "Babe, yes, we're going to do that, but we need to clean this up now."

Waaaaaaah, waaaaah! I want wood floors noooow! (I screamed in my head)

"I don't mind concrete floors!"

"Honey, this is not the time."

"But, Honey! This is going to be impossible! It's too much. It's going to be smelly and disgusting FOREVER!"

"Let's look online."

Aaaaaand, that's when we found this site. It took us a good 2 hours to get poor E back to bed and to clean up the carpet. This site is sooooooo helpful. I have no idea who this guy is, but his method definitely worked. The stench of the vomit was all over our room and by the time we had finished cleaning, before the baking soda step, you couldn't smell it anymore and the carpet looked like new.

Here is the site:

How to Clean Things

This guy is so funny with how he refers to vomit and the whole process of cleaning it. I think he would have passed out had he been in our home the last five days.

Here are a few excerpts:

"Shower the vomit with love. Once you're all done gagging and puking from the previous step, you will have to continue to remove vomit. Sorry. This step is noticeably less disgusting than the last. Get a spray bottle, fill it with cold water (or, better yet, club soda), and spritz down the vomit goo. Now, take a white towel and start blotting and dabbing the puke. Spray with water and dab with the towel repeatedly until the puke is up.

Clean puke with your very own vomit cleaner. Grab a mixing bowl, pour 2 cups of warm (not hot) water in it, and stir in 1 tbsp of table salt. Once the salt is dissolved, mix in ½ cup of white vinegar, 1 tbsp clear dish or laundry detergent, and 2 tbsp rubbing alcohol. This isn't an exact science, so just estimate. Now grab a clean kitchen sponge, dip it in your vomit cleaner, and press it into the vomit. Do this several times so there is cleaner all over the stain. Grab a new old towel and blot just like before. This will be repeated, also like before, as often as necessary until no more vomit is being transferred to the towel. Each time you blot with the towel, you will be removing vomit. Have an extra towel or two on hand.

Rinse away the sins. Alright, we're getting there. Now it's time to really see how your vomit carpet turned out. Grab a glass measuring cup, fill it with warm water, and flood the area of the stain with it. Using yet more clean/dry towels, blot up the water. It works best to set the towel down and walk around on it. Rinsing is important because you want to make sure to get the detergent out of the carpet. Detergent has a tendency to attract dirt. You probably don't want that. Do this twice and see how it looks. If you're satisfied, go to the last step. If not, march on to the next one."

Thank you, Mr. Eric Ronning, for helping MyLove and me clean up some serious vomit!!!