At this point in our lives, we do not own a home. We’ve thought about it quite a few times, but we always struggle with where. I mean, my husband’s parents live in Europe, mine in North America and we are in Asia. Where do you plant the roots? Yeah, there will be a post about this at a later time...
Traveling “home” means staying with people or house-sitting for others while they are away. Usually for us, it means family. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE seeing family and staying with them has been great.
Until those little TCKs came along…
They got into every drawer. Ran through the house like it was an amusement park. Threw balls. Threw tantrums. My extended family on both sides are wonderful and extremely gracious. They say all is fine, but I know deep down they are looking at their watches counting the minutes until it is time for us to go to the park, take a nap, or bedtime. Then they sigh with relief as another day has gone with only a few minor damages have been noted.
And you sigh, too, until you spot it. The one thing you can’t believe was left out on the table for anyone to grab and use. And to top it off the cap is off – it’s even missing. Picking up the little nemesis, you spot the mark.
Dreadful music is now playing….The Permanent Marker has struck again! Flashbacks of other times that little damage maker has made his appearance: on Ge Ge’s face, on the walls, and now….your mother’s beautiful wooden table.
Yep, true story, and my shoulders still tense up thinking back to that moment this summer. Thankfully, I remembered a little tip from the days when Ge Ge was a mere baby with a nice black streak from mouth to ear. Permanent marker is seriously one of those things that just keeps popping back into my life. I think it wants to test my power to remove its marks.
Have you had the Permanent Marker strike at your house (or while you were a guest)? Here’s my tip. It sounds a bit crazy, but it really works. And the best is that you can buy it almost in any country.
Before…
Toothpaste. Simply rub the paste onto the mark and it comes right off. Here’s pictures to show the before and after affect.
There was a huge sigh that evening for sure. 😉
After…
Your Turn: What is your little nemesis that keeps returning, trying to take you down? Got a tip to share or a funny story? Please leave a comment…I need a good laugh this week, so come on and share.
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raisingTCKs 
Diaper blowouts have been my nemesis for the past two years! haahah Great tip on the permanent marker removal strategy!!
Ahh, yes the diaper blowouts – ours were ALWAYS on the plane. What is it, air pressure? LOL
Staying with my Parents in their tiny 2 bedroom apartment in Poland has always been stressful. My mom likes her house clean and neat, but how do you keep it that way with two additional adults and two kids? 6 people in 2-bedrooms + toys, suitcases etc. And imagine that every year we go back for a month or two! That’s how it was until last year … when we bought a small one-bedroom apartment in the same building. Now we have a place to keep the toys and some clothes and no more stress about inviting friends over or queuing for the bathroom.
Wow, that would be tight and stressful. Nice that you have your own place now that is so close – My mom’s home is huge compared to that and Uwe’s parents’ home used to be two apartments, so we have our own space upstairs with small kitchen included.
My parents have a large house, so space isn’t an issue. It’s childproofing that was a problem. My daughter had never been round an open fire and had a very close call in a relative’s home. At the time, we didn’t have an oven, so they didn’t know they get hot. A month at home is long enough for these things to be an issue but not long enough to invest a lot of money into the home-proofing items needed for that short time. The kids are older now so it is easier.
On a fun note, after a trip home two years ago, my dad wrote to me to let me know they had figured out what was wrong with the TV. My daughter had used the remote control holder in the set as a mailbox, mailing her toys through it. Nothing a quick TV pull-apart couldn’t fix…
Yes, child-proofing is another one that stresses me out. We still have that issue with Jie Jie, although we saw a HUGE development with her this summer. She didn’t bother the plants and such like she had in the past.
Discipline was always a huge issue when we visited family. How do you explain that with THIS child, there are bigger fights we are fighting right now and so we aren’t going to discipline over table manners until we settle the bigger issues? Plus, manners vary from country to country.
Oh, yes the various discipline issues and manners. I think I remember someone wiser telling me to pick and choose my battles – and the bigger issues are the battles to pick. I agree with you Dawn, but not everyone sees it the same way, which is hard, especially when it’s family. Thanks for stopping and taking time to share.
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