Coke and a Car Battery

When our battery died the other day ( I still wish I knew who left the lights on), we had some really nice guys help us out.

 I am not above playing the damsel in distress. There was a time when I was younger that I might have tried to be all independent. But these days... not so much. I don't know how to fix a car battery, and, quite frankly, I don't really want to know. The poor man jumping my car was trying to give me a lesson, and I felt so badly for him. He thought I was actually going to remember what he said. Bless him for trying.

My kids were sitting in the car during this lesson, and I can assure you they were actually laughing at me. The man told me to be sure not to let the ends of the chargers (see how technical I am?) touch. So, naturally, I was terrified of getting electrocuted. Held those chargers as far apart as I possibly could.

Curly tells me they watched me back up, away from the car altogether, when the man turned his car on. Merciless teasing on the way home ensued. Those poor kids saw a whole new side of their mama that day.

There was a small crowd of men at some point. Apparently, if you are a woman and open the hood of your car, it's an invitation to come on over. They all peered inside, looking at my corroded car battery, which I found oddly embarrassing. The state of my car battery is surely a direct correlation to the state of my house, obviously.

One of the men, whom I know in a vague sort of hey-I-know-you kind of way (that's actually what he said to me) took a look at the battery and said, "You should pour some Coke on that when you get home. Clean it right up."

What?! Wait a minute. Pour Coke on my car battery? Sounds thrilling and terrifying! Sounds like science! And it's not even Friday.

 It wasn't until the next day that we actually had some Coke in hand, but when we did, we popped that hood and took a look.

Car battery in all its corroded glory.

Curly ready for the cleaning.

Look at that!

Yeah, that's pretty much the face I was making during my jumping-the-car lesson.

The final product. Amazing! Now just don't think about what that Coke is doing to you! :)