The Family Car

My daughter has this fascination with other people's automobiles.  Anytime we have friends over she wants to see the inside of their car/suv- sorry friends.  She has mentioned several times she wants me to get one of those BIG family cars (she means SUV).  I have explained we have a family car w/the same number of seats, but it is just a little smaller.

My mission this morning was to clean the my family car after a summer of abuse.  My hubby usually does the honors, but he doesn't REALLY clean like I do.  As I wipe the sweat from my forehead I have decided I live with two little pigs.  I found the following items:  the lost Nintendo DS, a DS game, three sports magazines, two hats, baseball, tennis ball, golf ball, enough pens and pencils to begin school, two beach towels, a french fry, two water bottles, a John Grisham book, hairband, hand sanitizer, endless gum wrappers and stuck on skittles and gum.  I failed to mention the sand.

Questions after my adventure:  Why do we have fabric, leather or carpet in family cars?  The inside would be much more suitable if it resembled the interior of McDonalds- ceramic tile flooring and hard surface seating with booths or swivel chairs.  Why not lap trays that swing from the side of the seat when needed.  Why hasn't some car manufacturer designed a built in wastebasket that you can take out, empty and snap back into place?  A mini refrigerator and microwave would also be nice.  I must also question why Britax goes the extra mile and designs car seats with such plush fabric?  Our beautiful car seat is stained with grease, red drink, Skittles and grime.

I'm not ashamed to post our sins because I know the autos of most families are identical in description.  I have attempted to tell the kiddos to clean cups, food, toys, etc. each time we get out, but evidently I have failed.  This morning, I scrubbed, scraped and vacuumed before spritzing a little febreeze.  It will never be like it was when we drove it off the lot, but a least someone would ride with us and not be afraid of critters.  My friend Carmen at Mom of Redheads recently posted about driving her van until the wheels fall off.   I must say I am in complete agreement.  Even more, I think my children as teenagers should drive the very cars they treated with such care.