The Big Red Explosion

I took all three kids to the doctor today for their checkups (and thankfully they're all still "officially" normal!), and then we went to Wal-Mart for groceries. We picked up groceries for the next week, including about eight 2 liter bottles of Diet Big Red (I often say my husband has a drinking problem, only it's sodas for him—he downs at least one 2 liter per day!).

Well, as the story goes, we got home and began to unload the car. Jaden was in the kitchen unloading one of the sacks that contained a gallon of milk and one 2 liter of Big Red. I was just walking into the house with a load of groceries when I heard a loud popping sound and Jaden start shrieking, "Oh, no! Oh, no!"

I hastened to the kitchen in time to see puddles of red pooled across the kitchen floor, all over the inside of one of the glass front cabinets in the kitchen, red splatters on the kitchen, dining room, and living walls, a trail of red across our couch and our (light) brown living room carpet, and huge splatters of red on the hearth, all over the Christmas decorations. It took a while to find the 2 liter bottle that had exploded, but it was finally located next to the speaker in the living room, well over 25 feet from where it had fallen!

Can you say mess?

Another bottle of Big Red, perched on the infamous spot from whence the offending bottle fell.

After consoling Jaden, encouraging him that it was just an accident, I couldn't help but laugh! It was so ridiculous, that's all I could do. I wasn't mad, just amazed at how big a mess one silly 2 liter could make. (I kick myself that I didn't take a second to capture the mess on film.)

So we immediately went to work to clean up the red that covered our three rooms, praying while we did so that the carpet wouldn't stain. Most of the stains did come out, but there's still a foot-wide red streak in front of the living room speaker where the liquid had pooled for too long.

And Jaden has sworn he will never pick up another 2 liter again!