Sticky
March 7, 2008 – 2:55 amOccasionally on the weekend… but only once in a while… Jay and I catch an extra hour of sleep while CJ watches cartoons. Don’t judge us… we’re TIRED. And believe me, we’re not the nicest people when we’re tired.
Saturday was no exception.
Friday we stayed up half the night battling each other at Guitar Hero (I was totally winning). So when Saturday morning rolls around we’re both still sawing logs and making puddles of drool. Honestly I don’t even HEAR CJ get up.
But get up he does. I can’t say what time… or how long he’s awake. All I know is that sometime around 8am I’m jolted awake by the sound of the back door slamming shut.
I leap out of bed and race towards the door, meeting CJ halfway up the stairs.
“WERE YOU JUST OUTSIDE???” I ask breathlessly.
I am horrified, shocked, and dismayed at the thought that my little boy might have been outside while we were fast asleep.
CJ sidles past me and says offhandedly, “I was just putting stickers on your car.”
He WAS outside. In his underwear and t-shirt. In the RAIN. And we didn’t even know.
This is so terrifying to me that I don’t know how to respond.
“JAY, CJ WAS JUST OUTSIDE!” I shout into our bedroom. Jay grunts and then rolls over. I’ll get no help from him.
I sternly lecture CJ, send him to his room, and move on with the day, vowing to get up at the crack of dawn EVERY SINGLE DAY from this point forward.
Several hours later Jay comes in from outside and says to me, “Did you see what CJ did to your car?”
“Mmm, no…” I remember that CJ said something about stickers, but surely they wouldn’t stick in the RAIN.
“He put stickers all over his door,” Jay continues, “and they aren’t coming off.”
I race outside to have a look. It’s true, CJ’s door is covered with the remains of 15 stickers… Jay’s attempts to peel them off has left white splotches of paper and glue.
ARGHRGHHHHH!!!!! I scream, and begin scraping at them with my fingernails. They are STUCK. The glue is like… glued. The stickers are ONE with the door.
At this point you’re probably thinking that you want to see a picture, right? Well, the thing is that I would have taken a picture but I couldn’t see past the bulging vein in my forehead to find the camera. So you’ll just have to imagine it… and then times what you’re imaginging by ten, because it was B-A-D.
After 30 fruitless minutes of fingernail scraping, I finally give up. We need PROFESSIONAL help. So we turn to Google.
“Paint thinner!” is Jay’s solution, but I am skeptical. Sure the internet is all-knowing and ALWAYS RIGHT and never, ever wrong… but still. Paint thinner? Methinks a second opinion might be in order.
$10 and a trip to Target later, Jay finally gets the stickers and their nasty glue off with a miracle tar-remover. Hallelujah! We are SAVED!
And me? Let’s just say that I finally understand why the ugly faded blue minivan is the universal car of mothers everywhere.
Where do I get one?
***
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By Maureen on Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
As a mother who owns a blue minivan…. oh hell, nevermind.
My daughter loved stickers too. We both stuck a bunch to the walls of her bedroom; but those were Lion King extras that we created a cool border with.
But not on the car. No way.
I’ll bet you are up like a shot the next time CJ gets out of bed!
The little rascal.
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By Wendy on Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
I’m reading this and thinking, no! not the Beamer! And then, no! not paint thinner! On the painted car!
That was a very important mission for him. Stickers.
Funny how we hear them coming IN.
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By RachelT on Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
that is hilarious… for all of us. I may be the worst mo EVER, but I think I would have been more concerned to hear my son say “stickers” and “car” then he was outside. Of course.. like you said… it was RAINING. Glad you got it off!
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By jennyonthespot on Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
That sounds like good times there, girl… real good times :)
Not that you need any advice, but Goof-Off rocks the world of stick. I dunno if it’d hurt car paint, but I’ve used it on lots of things. Lots.
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By Damsel on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
At school, when we have to get the kids to remove stuff from their lockers at the end of the year, we use a citrus air freshner. I can’t remember the name of it, but it’s in an orange can with a white lid, about 7″ tall. A guy at Home Depot recommended it to me because it’s what THEY use to get stickers off their shelving when they change the prices! As a bonus, it smells REALLY good.
So, I’ve used it and it doesn’t hurt the paint on anything.
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By Miss Huckleberry on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
I have to say paint thinner does work. We used it take the factory stickers off of Mr. H’s truck a few years ago. His neighbor paints vehicles for a living and steered us in that direction, apparently the sealant they put on is tough enough that it would take some serious effort to damage the paint with a little bit of paint thinner on a rag. It will eat through the glue before it eats through the finish. It actually did work quite well. Obviously I’m not sure if I’d do it on an older vehicle where the paint is flaking off or something along those lines, but you get the idea.
Anyway, just thought you might be interested for future reference although hopefully you won’t have to tap into that resource of your brain for a long, long while.
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By Val on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
OMG! That is too funny….now I am going to give you a piece of advise that just might work…because we love our sleep too.
When I go to bed on Friday night I lock the doors like normal…except for one small detail…we have hooks on the screen/storm doors that the kids cannot open!
These were originally installed because I was afraid the kids would get outside and fall in the pool…but they come in handy when we want to sleep in on the weekends!
They haven’t got outside yet…but I have found the dog covered in pudding on occasion….I just don’t ask!
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By Mom of 5 on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
I love Guitar Hero. LOVE IT.
One time my oldest adorned the truck with all of the bumper stickers he had collected. Yeah. Good times.
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By AFRo on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
My Goodness your stories are always great!
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By Lisa on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
Looks like CJ is quite the little self starter when it comes to his Saturday morning projects. heehee.
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By Erika Jurney, Plain Jane Mom on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
ACK! How terrifying! I bet you were awake as hell for the rest of that morning.
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By janet on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
small potatoes, babycakes.
just wait till you find out SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THE FACT that your now-grown son used to sneak out his second-story bedroom window at 2 a.m. and WALK to his friend’s house several miles away.
yes, he was back in bed before i knew anything.
and yes, i had after-the-fact heart failure.
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By Day Dreamer on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
We have a very high lock thingy on our door. So far….so good….
My older kids are warned to not go outside OR ELSE.
I would have been going ga-ga that he went outside while I was sleeping, too.
I am glad the tar stuff worked. Blue minivans are a rough alternative!! LOL
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By Charity Donovan on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
That is hilarious…only because you were able to get them off! Gotta love a kids idea of beauty! lol!
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By The Daring One on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
This scares me. Terrifies. My kids get up and do the cartoon thing too and HECK NO if I’d be okay with them going outside alone. Car Shmar. I’m getting a fat lock for our front door.
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By Redneck Mommy on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
It’s wrong to laugh. It just feels so damn good.
My daughter once escaped our house while we were still sleeping and she wandered away talking to strangers while wearing nothing but jammies. No shoes. No socks. In the dead of winter.
Thankfully, my brother happened along and collected her. The shit hit the fan. Big time.
And i still have child locks on all my doors to this day.
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By All Adither on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
Your child is more intrepid than mine. He won’t even go to a different floor of the house without me.
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By mommypie on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
The SAME thing happened at our house a few weeks ago (well, minus the stickers …). My four-year-old left the house and walked to my mother’s house IN THE SNOW (she lives next door - we’re in the country). I woke up when she called me on the cell phone to say “Sorry Mommy - I’m at Grammy’s … is that okay?”
It’s good to know I’m not the only one …
(And Guitar Hero ROCKS!)
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By creative-type dad on Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
and to think, it all started with guitar hero…
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By Rosie on Mar 8, 2008 | Reply
Oh no not the car!! But what sort of stickers were they? If my 4 year old put stickers on the nearest car I’d be in trouble as we don’t own one, the neighbours are likely to completely overreact!
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By Chelsea on Mar 8, 2008 | Reply
Next time try Goo Gone or WD40. (Of course, you’re probably hoping there won’t be a next time, but let’s be realistic!)
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By Jenni on Mar 8, 2008 | Reply
Stickers should be banned for everyone but middle-school girls with sticker books!
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By Donielle on Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
My Hubs and I have Rock Band and stay up waaaay to late playing too! :-)
Glad everything worked out okay!
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By tulipmom on Mar 10, 2008 | Reply
What a story! And here I thought it was bad when SB got up early and helped himself to a breakfast of Hershey kisses and M & Ms.
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