As Advertized

(this picture is of River and Kal years ago in a non-offending hotel room)
I am a bit obsessive about a clean hotel room (is there even such a thing?)
I am very picky about all things hotel.
It has to be the right price (of course)
The right smell,
The right lighting,
The right bedding,
The right cleanliness …
Don’t get me wrong… I am not a high maintenance kind-of girl.
I have been known to “rough it” many times. But when I am spending $120 plus for a place to sleep, I have expectations.
That is the logic Dean employed a few months back as we stopped in St. George for a night. It was late, and we were tired…so rather than drive straight home Dean talked me into getting a cheap hotel room for the night.
The Howard Johnson sounded good, at least on the phone at 11:00 pm it sounded harmless…and for only $59.00 it was a steal.
But, from the creepy guy at the front desk, to gang signs spray-painted on the door next to us and office furniture stacked in the stairwell, I was regretting this hotel decision almost immediately.
Right away I put towels on the floor and I forbid any of the kids to get undressed.
We would all just have to sleep in our clothes.
I couldn’t decide what would be worse, on top of the covers or underneath them.
Many, many things were wrong with this room.
However…the thing that makes me cringe,
the thing that keeps me awake at night,
the thing that has taken a piece of my soul that I will never get back is…
The next morning as we were packing up, I couldn’t find kal's jacket.
Against my better judgment, I pulled the bed away from the wall
and reached under the bed and pulled out……
a clump of bloody tissues!
OH THE HORROR! THE HORROR!
(hold on...I’ll be back)


whew...I think I’m ok now.
The funny thing was, the kids really loved the hotel room(at least the younger ones did) Kal loved how the beds were so bouncy and River thought it was neat that the remote control was attached to the TV. Wade yelled from the bathroom “Mom! come and see this!” He wanted to show me the fan timer on the wall. (it read… 5…10…20…turn past) He said ”we need this for Lauren, when she takes too long in the bathroom it will tell her “turn past.’
That made me laugh.
You know what makes me cry?
Gross hotel rooms.