Memoir Monday...DIY Slip and Slide

So once again folks it's Monday and time to play with Travis at I Like To Fish.  Head on over and have a read.

(I'm dying a slow death with a tummy bug that my 2 year old gave me for Christmas, bless, so this will be quick...)

Back when I was around ten years old my parents left my younger brother and I at home and went out for the evening.  This was back in the days before babysitters, when parents assumed it was safe to leave two relatively responsible children at home on their own for a few hours.  We'd just watch a little Disney, then pop straight into bed, right?

Mkay.

So the parents left for the evening and little brother and I were washing the dishes after dinner (see, responsible right?).   Our kitchen was the epitome of 80s style and we had a very chic linoleum floor.  You know linoleum...looks like tiles but it's vinyl.  Classy.

Water and detergent were being splashed around and some of it ended up on the floor.

Inspiration hit.

Detergent + water + plastic floor = slip and slide!

We emptied a bottle of detergent on the floor, threw down a few buckets of water and presto!  Hours of good clean fun, sliding on our asses and smacking into the kitchen cabinets.

When it was time for bed, we realised that somebody would have to clean up all that water.  And there was an awful lot of water.  Because I was pretty certain that the parents wouldn't be too impressed with the impromptu water park in the kitchen.

We tried a few tea towels but they just seemed to push the water around.

Then my genius of an 8 year old brother thought of the fastest way to clean the mess up.

We could just vacuum the water up.

Like I said, genius.

We plugged the vacuum in and started to suck up the water.  It worked quite well for a while.  Until the machine started to squeal hysterically and smoke shot out of the motor.  The vacuum was quickly abandoned and hidden back in the closet.

We headed off to the linen closet and using every single towel and sheet my mother owned, mopped that floor.    It took a while but eventually we had that lino dry.  All that excitement had worn us out and we dumped the mountain of wet linen in the laundry and tottered off to bed.

The next morning my mother was a little bit peeved and curious as to why there was a Mt Vesuvius pile of washing in the laundry. We said the shower had leaked.

They bought it.

Though to this day we won't admit that we killed the vacuum.

That's why my kids always have a babysitter.  I know what those little suckers can get up to, if left to their own devices.  And I love my vacuum (it's great for Lego village extermination...see here).