Ok, maybe it wasn't an entire day from hell, more like an hour from hell. It started out fine with the kids all behaving themselves and everyone being as pleasant as they could manage. (Different levels of pleasant for each child.) Then I went to get clothes out of the dryer and the delicate peacefulness was shattered by this sight:
That's the inside of the dryer that I borrowed from my sister, (which shall now become mine after I buy her a new one), covered in, near as I can tell, 5 or 6 different crayon colors. There are two theories as to how this happened. The first is that I missed checking somebody's pockets, and the second is that Drew tossed some of his art supplies in the dryer when I was distracted. He's done it before with toys, so why not crayons? I choose to believe that it was my error, because if I knew that Drew had done this, that might just be too much.
So, I first had to call my mom and cry, then I sat in front of the dryer and laughed like a crazy person. Then I got on the internet and looked up how to clean this off. Several sources said to take care of the clothes that were in the dryer when this happened first. I thought the clothes were a lost cause, but the good old World Wide Web gave me hope, and I tried it out. It said to cover the crayon stains with WD-40 and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then wash them out with dish washing liquid, (presumably to remove the oil before you put them back in the drier and add to your woes.) Finally, put some stain remover on them and hope there is a fragmant of thread left when you're done. Now, because of the busy day we had yesterday, I have not yet completed the final step, but I'm not holding my breath. Those clothes will forever have crayon on them. And they may always smell like WD-40. We'll see. So on to the dryer!
I have tried Magic Erasers and all the different cleaning products I own to get the crayon out of the dryer. I scraped it with my debit card, (gotta put that to some kind of use), and that was a waste because the crayon is not crusted inside the dryer so much as it has fused with the enamel coating of the dryer. It looks like tie-dye in some parts and, due to the colors of crayon that were in there, a cotton candy factory explosion in others. Very festive. So today's plan of action involves other tactics...comet with a damp sponge and then reheating the dryer to see if that does anything. I'm not full of hope on this one. Also, I can see tiny chunks of crayon in the holes where the lint is filtered through, but I have no way to get to it, so that will have to be melted into oblivion before it can be used again. Just another crisis in the life of a mother, right?
While I was busy trying to salvage both clothes and dryer, Drew, (yeah, we saw that coming right?), climed up to my desk and somehow managed to turn the image on my computer screen sideways. It was a nice little "funhouse" touch to the day. The mouse, of course, was working sideways also, so I had to contort my body sideways in order to figure out how to shut the thing down. I did that twice, somehow crashed the thing, which finally sent the computer into recovery mode and fixed itself. What is the point of that function other than to play pranks on people? I do not understand why that would be a necessary feature; the ability to turn images sideways...in case your head is on crooked or something?
And while I was cursing and fixing that one, Drew, (yep), decided to rock the baby in his carseat. Rock hard enough and the thing lands upside-down. Trent wasn't buckled in, but either because he's so chubby and immovable or because Divinity knew I couldn't take another disaster, he didn't fall out. He just looked around and gave us all upside-down smiles. Where were Cameron and Ethan during this whole fiasco? Watching cartoons. They are now grounded from TV for being oblivious to their surroundings and generally ticking me off.
In an effort to see the bright side of things I remind myself that I will get to smile every time I put clothes in the dryer and that we needed a new dryer anyway, so no harm done. Now I just get a colorful one. And the brightest spot is that today cannot be as bad as that one hour from yesterday.
That's the inside of the dryer that I borrowed from my sister, (which shall now become mine after I buy her a new one), covered in, near as I can tell, 5 or 6 different crayon colors. There are two theories as to how this happened. The first is that I missed checking somebody's pockets, and the second is that Drew tossed some of his art supplies in the dryer when I was distracted. He's done it before with toys, so why not crayons? I choose to believe that it was my error, because if I knew that Drew had done this, that might just be too much.
So, I first had to call my mom and cry, then I sat in front of the dryer and laughed like a crazy person. Then I got on the internet and looked up how to clean this off. Several sources said to take care of the clothes that were in the dryer when this happened first. I thought the clothes were a lost cause, but the good old World Wide Web gave me hope, and I tried it out. It said to cover the crayon stains with WD-40 and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then wash them out with dish washing liquid, (presumably to remove the oil before you put them back in the drier and add to your woes.) Finally, put some stain remover on them and hope there is a fragmant of thread left when you're done. Now, because of the busy day we had yesterday, I have not yet completed the final step, but I'm not holding my breath. Those clothes will forever have crayon on them. And they may always smell like WD-40. We'll see. So on to the dryer!
I have tried Magic Erasers and all the different cleaning products I own to get the crayon out of the dryer. I scraped it with my debit card, (gotta put that to some kind of use), and that was a waste because the crayon is not crusted inside the dryer so much as it has fused with the enamel coating of the dryer. It looks like tie-dye in some parts and, due to the colors of crayon that were in there, a cotton candy factory explosion in others. Very festive. So today's plan of action involves other tactics...comet with a damp sponge and then reheating the dryer to see if that does anything. I'm not full of hope on this one. Also, I can see tiny chunks of crayon in the holes where the lint is filtered through, but I have no way to get to it, so that will have to be melted into oblivion before it can be used again. Just another crisis in the life of a mother, right?
While I was busy trying to salvage both clothes and dryer, Drew, (yeah, we saw that coming right?), climed up to my desk and somehow managed to turn the image on my computer screen sideways. It was a nice little "funhouse" touch to the day. The mouse, of course, was working sideways also, so I had to contort my body sideways in order to figure out how to shut the thing down. I did that twice, somehow crashed the thing, which finally sent the computer into recovery mode and fixed itself. What is the point of that function other than to play pranks on people? I do not understand why that would be a necessary feature; the ability to turn images sideways...in case your head is on crooked or something?
And while I was cursing and fixing that one, Drew, (yep), decided to rock the baby in his carseat. Rock hard enough and the thing lands upside-down. Trent wasn't buckled in, but either because he's so chubby and immovable or because Divinity knew I couldn't take another disaster, he didn't fall out. He just looked around and gave us all upside-down smiles. Where were Cameron and Ethan during this whole fiasco? Watching cartoons. They are now grounded from TV for being oblivious to their surroundings and generally ticking me off.
2 comments:
Oh dear - it's a good thing you have such a good sense of humor!!!!!
if it makes you feel any better, I have pen all over the inside of mine, oh, and gum:)
Post a Comment