The Porcupine Sponge of Goodness

I openly embrace my dorkiness. I'm not ashamed of this. I've shared stories about flashing random strangers and making silly bets. I've told you about my scientific study regarding the quantity of salt and pepper in the little packets and the food on my face. I'm not exactly shy when it comes to admitting that I am a eccentric, or a dork (depending on the day and my audience).

So, it is with great joy that I share my latest trip into overenthusiastic dorkdum. It all started with a water bottle, as so many stories do. I had purchased a water bottle while on vacation because, 1) I liked the picture of a black dog on it as I have a black(ish) dog and, 2) it was Nalgene and people in the know had told me this was The Water Bottle Brand of Choice. So being a sheep, who likes pretty things, I purchased my water bottle and I used it. And I used it some more. And then, I used it some more. Each night I would swish soapy water in my pretty bottle to clean it, but after time this method of cleaning was insufficient and a haze started to coat the inside of my bottle. I was not pleased.

I decided I would actually scrub the inside of the bottle, but with the mouth opening bit so small, the what part of how I would scrub the inside was issuematic. I tried a wadded up paper towel mushed around with the handle part of a wooden spoon, it was no good. I tried to use the wooden spoon handle method with a dishrag. A little better, but still no good. I tried jamming a sponge in there. Still no good. I bought a brush specifically designed to clean bottles and this was not only No Good, it was the worst of the lot as it left little streaks in the haze showing the few random bits it had cleaned. But then it hit me, I needed a sponge on a stick. You remember these little doohickeys from yesteryear? The sponge that were porcupine-like on long plastic sticks? This would be the PERFECT device for cleaning my water bottle.

Off to Target I went. Only to find none of what I was looking for. They had the wiry brushes on a stick and the big triangle sponges on soap-dispensing sticks, but not the good porcupine-sponge on a stick. Well, to make a long story less long (I think we are past the point of no return on making this story short) after trips to several grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Walgreens, I was still no closer to my porcupine-sponge on a stick. Knowing that I was beat, I decided to think outside the box. Which basically means that I asked BeFri to keep a look out. She lives in Florida, Florida has more old people, old people use to use the porcupine-sponge on a stick, therefore the porcupine-sponge on a stick would be easily found in Florida. This was my thought process. A thought process which totally paid off. Because guess what I got for my birthday. A gift that made me squeal out in delight! A gift that sent me running upstairs to use immediately! That's right, BeFri found a porcupine-sponge on a stick. It is modified to have the wiry bottle brush bit on the bottom, which I don't really care for (see the above-referenced streaky line thing), but the porcupine-sponge bit makes up for it.