Thursday, September 24, 2009

Tip of the Week...

If you need to wash a book, I'd recommend a damp paper towel. Why you ask? Well last week in my hurry to get a load of laundry in the washer I accidentally left a book in with the clothes and it went through the washer. You can only imagine my surprise when I lifted the lid to transfer the clothes to the dryer and saw all this white stuff on my clothes. I first thought I left a tissue in one of my pockets, that's certainly been known to happen, but this seemed a bit...well not just a big more...like perhaps an entire jumbo package of toilet paper!

I could not imagine what had caused so much mess until I discovered the plastic wrapper of the book...in case you didn't know, the card stock cover is covered with a plastic film that has the picture and information on it. My washer had totally obliterated the entire book into the tiniest little shreds you can imagine and it COVERED everything...especially the darkest clothing.

When I say covered, I mean after the first pass through the dryer, it was still covered. Oh, and just to give you some context, Caleb's marching band show shirt was one of the worst hit items and he needed the shirt in about an hour. He was so angry and frustrated! I ended up vacuuming the shirt to get as much off as I could and then used one of those lint removers, lots of elbow grease, patience and about 90 minutes or so to get it good enough to deliver (late) to the game. When I discovered the mess I literally stood over my washer and dryer and prayed for God's help, well begged for his deliverance from this terrible situation!

I couldn't bear to deal with anymore of the mess until the next day. I had my contractor (who was here all that week) to look at my washer to see how I should best proceed. I took the offended laundry outside to shake as much off as I could. My contractor offered to string up a clothes line, but I decided that I didn't need to share my undergarments with the neighbors! After repeated washing and drying most everything is back to normal. I had friends tell me last week that some day this will be funny...I know it will, but it was a trying experience.

Over the weekend, I resumed my normal laundry...my younger son left some money in his pants pockets. Interestingly, the money remained in tact. My contractors though could not pass up the opportunity to tease me about not only book laundering, but money laundering! :)

So, the lesson learned that I'd like to share with you all is...don't put your books into the laundry! Oh, and for those wondering the book was Missing by Beverly Lewis and yes, it's really missing now!

1 comment:

Deanna said...

Oh Sherry...I hate laundry messes because I always seem to make them! I've put chapstick, permanent marker (THAT was the worst!) and plenty of tissues through the washer and dryer. Glad to hear that everything is still working okay, though. :-) And I hope that you had a fun birthday week celebrating with Josh and Maryn. Give her a squeeze for us and know that we miss you guys.