Salvation, thy name is Starbucks.
Right now I'm taking a breather from de-ickifying our futon.
I'll explain.
When we packed up everything to move down here, we didn't put any type of covering on the futon mattress. Hence, it picked up all of the dust and other icky stuff that was in the truck and probably collected stuff on its many-hundred-mile journey down here. That's not good for someone who's allergic to practically everything under the sun. When my sister and I got the futon set up down here, though, we didn't clean it off or anything...just slapped the cover on it and we were good to go. However, I did notice that my nose would get all stuffy whenever I sat on it. Fast forward to Monday night. I took the blanket that had been living on said futon for two weeks and dragged it to bed with me because I was chilly. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning coughing and wheezing. After about 15 minutes, I figured that I was reacting to the blanket, so I threw it back into the living room. However, the damage had already been done - the offeding allergens were all over my bed, and I continued to hack and wheeze and I couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up setting up a bed on the floor of my bathroom (being as that I figured I might die if I slept on the futon) which consisted of a different blanket and towels (all treated with allergen-reducing Febreze). I then hosed down my bed with the Febreze, and set up camp on the bathroom floor, promptly falling asleep around 5:30. I made it back to my own bed at 8am and slept for another few hours.
So today I cleaned the futon, which consisted of the following:
1. Remove futon cover and throw in the washing machine.
2. Vacuum side one of futon mattress, flip, vacuum side two, flip again.
Side note: Futon mattresses are ridiculously f-ing heavy!
3. Throw futon cover in dryer.
4. Hose down futon mattress side one with the magic Febreze and allow to dry. Enjoy cup of coffe and E!'s Daily 10.
5. Restart dryer 2 more times in order to completely dry futon cover. Go to Target for errands.
6. Wrestle futon cover back on to mattress. This involves a system of shoving the mattress into cover with your foot, then zipping cover approximately 3 inches.
In other words, it was a not so fun process when done solo, but I did it.
Anyway, back the the subject of today's blog.
On Monday I had two job interviews with equally shady marketing firms that essentially send people out to small businesses and try to convince the owners that they need better paper clips or DSL service. Upon trying to find a place to kill time before the second interview, I ended up driving through a particularly shady looking part of Dade County. I then realized I had two problems: I needed to put gas in the car, and I needed to pee. Badly. However, every gas station I pulled into had suspect characters hanging around outside, and I was not about to try and deal with catcalling (or worse) when I was in interview gear and had no clue where I was. I turned down a main road, saw a strip center, and there it was: Starbucks! I actually said out loud, "Oh, thank you sweet Jesus, a Starbucks!" I pulled in, used the bathroom, ordered a drink, and hung out in air conditioned safety for about half an hour before gassing up the car (at a shady-less gas station) and heading to the interview. At least, the Starbucks was relatively safe considering that the GameStop two doors down had been robbed that morning.
So, yeah, that's my little love letter to Starbucks. 'Cause when you look past the $5 lattes and heart clogging Frappucinos, that familiar logo of green and white sometimes serves as a beacon of familiarity in a really strange land.
I'll explain.
When we packed up everything to move down here, we didn't put any type of covering on the futon mattress. Hence, it picked up all of the dust and other icky stuff that was in the truck and probably collected stuff on its many-hundred-mile journey down here. That's not good for someone who's allergic to practically everything under the sun. When my sister and I got the futon set up down here, though, we didn't clean it off or anything...just slapped the cover on it and we were good to go. However, I did notice that my nose would get all stuffy whenever I sat on it. Fast forward to Monday night. I took the blanket that had been living on said futon for two weeks and dragged it to bed with me because I was chilly. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning coughing and wheezing. After about 15 minutes, I figured that I was reacting to the blanket, so I threw it back into the living room. However, the damage had already been done - the offeding allergens were all over my bed, and I continued to hack and wheeze and I couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up setting up a bed on the floor of my bathroom (being as that I figured I might die if I slept on the futon) which consisted of a different blanket and towels (all treated with allergen-reducing Febreze). I then hosed down my bed with the Febreze, and set up camp on the bathroom floor, promptly falling asleep around 5:30. I made it back to my own bed at 8am and slept for another few hours.
So today I cleaned the futon, which consisted of the following:
1. Remove futon cover and throw in the washing machine.
2. Vacuum side one of futon mattress, flip, vacuum side two, flip again.
Side note: Futon mattresses are ridiculously f-ing heavy!
3. Throw futon cover in dryer.
4. Hose down futon mattress side one with the magic Febreze and allow to dry. Enjoy cup of coffe and E!'s Daily 10.
5. Restart dryer 2 more times in order to completely dry futon cover. Go to Target for errands.
6. Wrestle futon cover back on to mattress. This involves a system of shoving the mattress into cover with your foot, then zipping cover approximately 3 inches.
In other words, it was a not so fun process when done solo, but I did it.
Anyway, back the the subject of today's blog.
On Monday I had two job interviews with equally shady marketing firms that essentially send people out to small businesses and try to convince the owners that they need better paper clips or DSL service. Upon trying to find a place to kill time before the second interview, I ended up driving through a particularly shady looking part of Dade County. I then realized I had two problems: I needed to put gas in the car, and I needed to pee. Badly. However, every gas station I pulled into had suspect characters hanging around outside, and I was not about to try and deal with catcalling (or worse) when I was in interview gear and had no clue where I was. I turned down a main road, saw a strip center, and there it was: Starbucks! I actually said out loud, "Oh, thank you sweet Jesus, a Starbucks!" I pulled in, used the bathroom, ordered a drink, and hung out in air conditioned safety for about half an hour before gassing up the car (at a shady-less gas station) and heading to the interview. At least, the Starbucks was relatively safe considering that the GameStop two doors down had been robbed that morning.
So, yeah, that's my little love letter to Starbucks. 'Cause when you look past the $5 lattes and heart clogging Frappucinos, that familiar logo of green and white sometimes serves as a beacon of familiarity in a really strange land.
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