Day 66: Beware! The Black Light is NOT your friend

My husband really enjoys decorating for Halloween. So, for a few days around October 31, each year, I try my very best to stay calm and ignore the scattered piles of pumpkins, straw, moss, plastic spiders and styrofoam tombstones that take over most of the kitchen and dining room as he prepares his frightful displays!

One of the items he uses for the ghoulish decor is a black light... and if you have ever watched CSI (or a similar show), you know that black lights can be used to see things that aren't visible to the naked eye. Of course, I have no need to search for blood or, uh... other possibly incriminating crime-scene-type fluids... BUT... since we have had two male dogs in our home, we thought it might be a good idea to check for urine.

Not a good idea. NOT good!

Not good if you really want to know how much your furry, 4-footed children might be messing up your seemingly clean home! And NOT good if you want to discover just how deep the layer of dust really is, despite countless hours of swiffering and vacuuming.

*sigh... I swore I wouldn't do this, but here is the evidence:

SCENE 1: Here is our lovely, striped, sage-green dining room rug in normal light.


And here, you can see me pointing to a lovely urine stain, softly glowing in the black light.


And here is another similar stain under the chair. But I'll spare you from the rest... {shudder} :)

SCENE 2: This is a shot of the baseboard and carpet in our master bedroom, right behind the door, in regular lighting.


And here is that same spot in the black light. Luckily the photo does not do it justice... because it showed a LOT of dust all a-glow along the baseboards and all over the carpet. ICK! (Either that or I spilled a bucket of glitter in my room!)


Looks like I have some cleaning to do....


Now, THAT's neat!