Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A good start to the day....


I could have entitled this "10 Reasons I shouldn't kill my husband" or "Why I hate doing laundry". But, the anger is subsiding. Sort of. Can you see all those spots in my dryer? Yes, that would be a pen that exploded in the dryer. By the way, our dryer is only about 3 months old. So this all pen. And I didn't get a picture of the little spots all over the laundry. John apparently did not take a pen out of his pocket before putting the pants in the dirty pile. I suppose part of it is my fault for not checking the pockets. But when you're tired and not wanting to do laundry anyway, who has time to check the pockets? Right. Am I right??

Anyway, I've tried magic eraser, and it's taking way too much elbow grease to get even the smallest stain out. I've googled and found some good answers. It seems like the best thing to do is soak some white cloths in water and bleach and dry it. Although I don't think I have any bleach.

And it looks like I have a sick kid on my hands. He's laying in my bed as we speak, with no signs of getting up. Very usual for a child that is usually up by 7:30am. I'm hoping he's just reeling from the long weekend we had. Fingers crossed.

18 comments:

Maggie said...

rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.

I'd try the rubbing alcohol first.

Valerie said...

You might try aerosol hairspray. It took permanent marker out of a lot of things when my 2-year-old son got ahold of one in his room. Good times, good times.

I don't know if it will work, but it worked on the permanent marker...

Karyn said...

Yikes! I can't offer any suggestions to help get rid of the ink. I'd be mad at MYSELF for trusting that the pockets were empty when thrown in the laundry.

I can't tell you how many things I've put through the washing machine, but never a pen.

jessica said...

Sorry - no suggestions here, but I do hope your days starts going a little better!

Anina said...

Oh wow! You could try something like Softscrub.
Or, if it's not coming off on the clothes just leave it there and call it artistic. :-)

Jenn Maruska said...

Oh Katie, I feel for you.

I once had a house guest who did laundry while they were staying. The day that they left I went to do laundry and found that the last thing they had put in the dryer had bubblegum in it. My entire dryer was covered with hardened smears of bubblegum. I don't remember what product I used to get it all out.... but I remember it took ALOT of elbow grease : (

Hope you find a quick solution to your ink spots.

Handi Dandi Mandi said...

The acetone in nail polish remover might help, it does work miracles with super glue. Perhaps you could try oxi-clean? It is supposed to be some sort of stain miracle worker.

I'm bad at checking pockets too, I washed my DH's passport...

Heidijayhawk said...

when it rains it pours i suppose. hope your babe feels better. we are just getting over it over here. my husband does stuff like that all of the time. you would think that my head spinning would detract from him doing it again. but no. wish i had better advice. if a magic eraser won't kill it, nothing will!

Amy said...

I'd kill him...yep that is what I would do. Sorry no help from me.

Felicia said...

Sounds like a rough start! I'm sending positive thoughts your way :)

Anonymous said...

Hey there...My boyfriend did this not once, not twice, but THREE times. The white rags soaked in bleach/water and then tumbled in the dryer worked the first time. For some reason, it didn't work the next two times...What ended up working well was Comet powder and a green scrubbie thing. We discovered this after almost suffocating ourselves and the neighbors when he attempted to clean it with bleach! Good luck! Surfergirlie

Philigry said...

oh, i hope your little guy feels better! the pen exploding, oh my husband has done the same thing!

Jody Sanders said...

Hairspray? I've had great luck with that. Good luck.

Hope your son is better soon.

Becky J. said...

ok. so i don't get pens i get chap sticks! those cute little 10 and 4 year old dd's love it and so does my dryer apparantly. the only hint i get though is blotches and an suspicious empty container! good luck and hope things get better.

Anonymous said...

I've made it clear in my house that I don't check pockets. With everything else that I have to do, I think it's the responsibility of the wearer. Which is why I ended up with the same problem. I think I used a sampler of products and probably should be grateful I did not pass out from the fumes.

Hope your little sweetie is feeling better soon!

Shannon said...

My fabulous hubby loves to put his black soled running shoes in the dryer. I am sure you can imagine the result, and my dryer is new too. I feel your frustration!

I hope kiddo is feeling better ASAP!

lera said...

I would want to kill my husband, too. I find pens all the time in the laundry from him.

With the kids, I expect it (rubberbands, acorns, etc.). My husband definitely knows better. As of right now, we are missing the lens cap from our new camera. He thinks it's in a pants pocket somewhere but he can't remember...

Anonymous said...

My hubby left a pen in his pants about a month ago!!! A wash and a dry later my drier looked JUST LIKE yours!!!
I used a magic easer...actually, my five year old did...climbed inside (with me right there the whole time) and thought it was the greatest thing to get to clean the dryer!!! YEA for little worker bees!