Sticky and annoyed

Horse Daughter is moving out.

I am getting things ready for the big day, end of month.

Our grocery store has had promotions where you collect stamps and then exchange them for dinner ware, mixing bowls, kitchen knives, glasses, cookie sheets, casserole dishes, pots, frying pans, you name it. I have been stashing stuff in the basement for years. I don't even know what's down there!

Today I started lugging it up and began washing off years of dust, taking the pieces out of all that cardboard and bubble wrap that it comes packaged in. Figure why lug all the packaging to her new place and leave her with 3 bags of garbage to get rid of? Take it off here, throw the burnables in the furnace, give everything a good wash, clean and ready to go.

I am admiring the beauty of this sparkling new kitchen stuff (my own looking like it's been in my kitchen for 26 years) as I come across a cardboard insert stuck inside a glass baking dish. This insert is affixed with some adhesive that is used to glue together NASA lunar equipment and apparently it can withstand every substance and temperature known to man. Because NOTHING I do will dislodge this strip off gooey evil from the bottom of that pan!

What on earth are companies thinking when they inflict this particular bit of misery upon their loyal customers? Someone should get punched in the nose for this! Today I have encountered other glue blobs that have happily and willingly separated themselves from the surface they were adhered to. But not this stuff!

As I type, it is soaking in a layer of WD40, the third application after I vigorously scraped at it with a knife. If this does not work, I will have to try diesel fuel. Here I was making such good time, an efficient machine of lug upstairs, unpackage, wash, dry, rebox for moving and then boom...got stuck.

ANd once she is gone, out, all set up with blankets, toilet paper and bleach, what then? What then? I don't know.

I feel for you. My bathtub has similar issues. I bought it and it sat in its plastic packaging outside for a few months while the perpetually delayed plumber slowly put the bathroom together - finally when the bathtub was installed the thin layer of plastic keeping it clean outside was removed - NOT all of it. Some of it just doesn't want to come off. Friends from everywhere give advice - DW-40. Blow dryer. Peanut butter. Nothing works except sitting in the bathtub full of hot water and slowly peeling little strips away, milimeters at a time, and carefully putting those strips in the garbage so they don't clog the drains. The layer of plastic still stuck in strips to the bathtub is now grubby and unattractive but it won't give it up or even wear away. Sigh. Makes me CRAZY....

Lighter fluid works well.

Nail polish remover?

uno wrote:Horse Daughter is moving out.

I am getting things ready for the big day, end of month

ANd once she is gone, out, all set up with blankets, toilet paper and bleach, what then? What then? I don't know.

big changes ahead for all of you looks like....best of luck with all of that.we will be hear to lend a listening ear.
about the sticky spot I dont have any idea but it does sound annoying as if with time it has become hard to impossible to seperate...does sound like a good omen though.hope your mother/daughter bond stays just as sticky!

and....teatree oil removes most sticky stuff like pitch etc..might work for the nuclear glue as well

Lac thinner .................takes anything and softens it up and then just wipe it off with the same stuff .The new items on the shelf have material that's called "" water borne "" , basically  made up by using water instead of thinners etc . Now the older stuff was made of thinner , petroleum , products and had a short life as far as removal goes . Not mineral spirits , Lacquer Thinner ................Crappy Tire sells it

And since BigRock mentioned pitch, I recall that my faller brother-in-law uses hand sanitizer to remove pitch from his clothes. Maybe that'll do something?

Aww Uno. Big changes. Drown yourself in that glue. But you will survive. She probably will too. Hugs.

I have no personal experience with empty nest syndrome, but my parents managed to cope after I flew the coop. They got tiny dogs to fill the hole. A chihuahua may be in your future.

Keep talking about it Uno, it will help. May help with the sticky stuff too.

Aww...thanks you guys.  

I'm happy, I'm sad. I'm sticky!

Turns out a liberal dose and long soak with WD40 did the trick. I keep thinking about Heda and her plastic coated bathtub. That would drive me batty and make me mad as a hatter. And it's not like you want to use a lot of these rather potent solvents on an acrylic bathtub.

I was touched that my local gang of WCPSers wanted to meet for breakfast and coffee and moral support. I don't think there will ever be a Chihuaha in my future, but maybe that Irish Wolfhound I've always wanted....  This would almost be bearable if Horse Daughter was taking those damn horses with her. But no! They're staying here! So I won't be lonely, she says. Right.

Uno, hope the next part goes well. Maybe there will be silver linings to the journey that you didn't expect. Maybe two wolf hounds will be homeless and you will have to take them in and now you will have room for them some how (empty basement). Irish wolfhounds seem like noble beasts to me.

Uno, these are trying times, you will cry, you will be happy, you will wish that she was not gone, you will be happy she is gone. You will have a world full of emotional stuff going on, even though sometimes you don't think so, Horsey Daughter loves you, in her own way, I have told you that, and you have questioned this. The time that you spend with your Daughter, as she learns to deal with a life without Mother, will be rewarding. I know that. You may not believe me yet, but there is a place for you in her heart that nothing else can share. A special place, saved only for Mothers. It is there, just needs to be nurtured, she will do that. She will have more things in common with you. As she learns about life as a woman, different than Daughter living with a woman. She WILL come to you with advice, things like, cooking, cleaning, how to deal with new things that she will learn that she never even knew she would EVER think about. Times will be sad for a while, whilst you learn to have a little more quiet home. I have had two young ladies go on their own, and it was not easy when either left. Particularly my first-born child. But the whole gig changes as you leave that role of bossy Mother, to loved Mother, whom that adult child will need to glean advice from. Maybe not right away, but it will happen, you will become her best friend. I would imagine that some times these things never come to pass. But I personally thinks that her tune will change, as she is in this new front, on her own. Anyways, freakin' glue eh? Goof off works nicely too, or just torch the dam thing! Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

I have always thought if your kids left home you had done your job correctly. You gave them the confidence to strike it out on their own. You allowed them the opportunity to make their own decisions. You provided enough love that they felt comfortable leaving. Great job!
i left my son once he had graduated and moved into the interior. It was a bit lonely, i got more cats, then moved on to dogs.
i definintely support the wolfhound....go find a puppy!

I have to say my relationship with my mother got way better once I was on my own. It was never a bad relationship, but when we were able to connect as adults it was a much better one.
It certainly will take some time. I can't comment on the child moving out, but I can remember when I went out on my own. There will be a lot of adjustment for both of you.
Glad you got rid of the sticky, now we have to help Heda with her tub. I have to say that would drive me insane!!!

I raised my kids on my own after their dad died. We were close and I thought it would rip my heart out when they moved out. I was so surprised that I was not only fine. I was excited to finally be able to focus on what I wanted for a change. There were times I missed them but I certainly wasn't moping around. They were happy and I was happy. It is my hope for you that this opens up new and wonderful worlds for both of you.