PA trip 2019 - The project

In college, we took turns riding a greyhound bus to visit one another. When I went to Pennsylvania, Lois would always leave a list for us in the mornings. There would be some cleaning chores and usually a newspaper clipping of things we might be interested in doing, such as a museum opening or an activity that would get us out of the house. Even after Kim and I moved to Florida, she'd send us things she'd read about in our area. She was the queen of lists.

Lois: "Oh, I don't remember that. I think you're making that up."

But in the spirit of my memory, Lois told us that first on our list of chores was getting out the paint on her leather car seats. Apparently, Steph's daughter Maggie had gotten paint on the seats after a trip to Michaels where Grandmother purchased her some acrylic paints. 

Me: "Why wasn't Grandmother paying attention to the fact that Maggie was opening the paint in the car?"

Lois: "I was driving. I can't keep an eye on the road and an eye on her in the backseat."

Maggie denied any involvement, but since she was the only one who rides in Grandmother's backseat and the only one who paints, she didn't have much of a defense. When Kim and I took Maggie and her friend Kevin to Chocolate World, Kevin kept pointing out all of the places where there was paint. It really became evident the day we took on the project, and Kim backed the car out of the garage and into the sunshine.

How the kid got paint on both seats in the back is beyond all of us.

Maggie: "It wasn't me!"

I Googled some helpful suggestions and decided on a cleaning program that included softening the leather with olive oil before using non-acetone fingernail polish remover. With Q-tips, I oiled the paint smears and streaks and let them soften. Then I went in search of the nail polish. When it turned out to be acetone polish, I had to re-evaluate.

Lois: "Well, I can't sit on olive oil."

I decided to wash off the olive oil until I could get the nail polish remover. Apparently, Dawn dishwashing liquid, water, and a good scrubbing were all I needed.

Kim, since she had fingernails, scraped while I scrubbed. She then vacuumed the flakes, and Lois had a clean backseat once again.

A day later, we took Maggie to Claires, where she purchased some glittery, gooey, rubbery, putty that she immediately opened in the backseat where she was sitting with her Grandmother.

Me with Kim: "DO NOT OPEN THAT IN THE CAR!"