Remember when Noah was first born, and I had delusions of becoming a great housewife?
Well, this week, I ruined three loads of laundry. THREE. First, I forgot that a load was in the washer and left it there for several days. All of those clothes now have a funky mildew smell. (Any advice?) Then, I washed a load without realizing that my purple uniball pen was in the pocket of my sweatpants. The whites (including Ryan's nice dress shirt and all of our underwear) now have a nice violet hue. And finally, and this one is the kicker, I did a load of Noah's clothes using fabric softener instead of laundry detergent. The fabric softener was in a big jug like detergent, and I just poured it right onto the clothes, not thinking. The undiluted blue liquid left splatter stains all over everything.
I swear I have been doing my own laundry for about ten years now without incident. How could I ruin three loads of laundry in one week?? I am a total idiot!
On top of all of my laundry mishaps, I am a complete failure in the kitchen. I can't remember the last time I cooked a real meal. My aspirations to make dinner more often now that I am a stay-at-home mom seem to have evaporated in the past few months. Not sure why--I just have no motivation to choose recipes (this step overwhelms me for some reason), then get to the grocery store (so much harder with a baby), and then slave away in our tiny and perpetually messy kitchen (yes, keeping the kitchen clean should be my responsibility too!).
And I ruined a pan of brownies today. Like, a boxed brownie mix. After living in Buffalo for four years, I am out of the habit of using the "high altitude" directions on the box, and our brownies came out hard as a rock.
I know, I'm awesome. Go ahead and call me Martha Stewart.
Sheesh.
Hahaha! I love it. I absolutely despise doing laundry. How about color safe bleach? That should knock out the mildew smell. I HATE that smell - when my sponge smells even remotely like that, I have to chuck it. It makes me gag.
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Sorry Rachel, but this is funny. Try Oxi Clean on the clothes. It fixes all of my problems. It really is amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me feel better to know that I am not the only one making stupid laundry mistakes.
I think I read somewhere that rinsing the mildewy clothes in plain vinegar takes the smell away-then rewash. But to be on the safe side, I would google it.
ReplyDeleteLol:) Isn't it funny to think that after all these years of living and doing things you still make mistakes? After I had my baby I didn't rest enough and made my c-section site open up. Then to top it off I used my skills I learned as a nurse and super glued it shut. It would have worked great except I didn't let it dry all they way. Needless to say my shirt got super glued to my body, thank goodness for google I learned acetone takes off superglue:)
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer the only way to get through life is to be able to laugh.
For the first load--wash with vinegar. If it still smells funky, throw it in the drier (sounds weird, but it helps kill the smell) and then re-wash it with detergent. Possibly with a stronger one than usual, like color-safe bleach.
ReplyDelete(Yeah, John has often thrown a load in the washer and not told me. Then I find it a few days later. They can be saved. In extreme cases, after taking them out of the dryer, hang to let them air out even more. But I think I only needed that for one that went a week.)
Hot water and vinegar. I still put detergent in and I don't even rewash it and it take sthe smell right out.
ReplyDeleteyou are MARTHA. don't doubt it girl. all of us have our down moments. . . TRUST ME!!!
ReplyDeletei went a completely different route when i got married and had kids and DROVE my family nuts! i was too OCD. tried to be too perfect. i think your ruined laundry and lack of meal preparing is AWESOME!
keep on trucking and keep on being an *amazing* mom and wife. . . because you are! ;)
have you tried using hairspray on the pen stains? and how about laundry sticks? i hear they are killer at getting stains out! good luck hon.
p.s. just so you know i hardly EVER cooked when i was with Pace. . . AND! go brownies! they always remind me of you :) it is one of the only desserts that i can actually make! remember how i made them for every card club and get together!?! their is a VERY good reason why. . . i am NO COOK!
ReplyDeleteok. i ruin laundry all the time. i always forget about it and leave it for a few days and brad FREAKS. he hates the mildew smell. i do too, but not like him. i learned to just put a little bit of straight bleach in your load. like a capful or two. it really gets the smell out and doesn't bleach your clothes... i totally thought it would. but i was proved wrong. shanea and her fam are so excited to come to the sealing this weekend. i am so happy for you you too! i wish we could be there to support you. we will be there in spirit! loves.
ReplyDeleteOkay there is this AMAZING stuff called color catcher (I think shout makes it) and it has saved the day in our house a time or two. One time my sister did a load of whites with a red sock or something and everything was pink. She used the color catcher and you would never even know what happened. The whites were white again! It was a miracle! I realize I sound like a commercial, but it is good stuff so I hope that helps :).
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but smile & chuckle at this post. It happens to us all Rach! Just keep on keepin on is what I say! :)
ReplyDeleteFunny post. Not shocking to me, though. :) I don't get how fabric softener could ruin clothes, though..... Try soaking ALL of them in Oxiclean for many, many, many hours. You're probably out of luck on the violet undies, but otherwise you may be able to save something. I must say, I am a bit concerned by the fact that half of "Noah's clothes" are actually Callum's clothes.......I guess it's a good thing I'm not having a boy in April. And, for the record, I can't recall the last time I bothered with high altitude directions on a brownie mix. Strange that it messed you up!
ReplyDeleteI dried a load of whites with a piece of blue crayon in the pocket of some pajama pants and ended up with little blue stains all over EVERYTHING. I googled it, found the crayola website and their tips on removing crayon (with WD-40! Who knew?!) and after following all the instructions, our whites were white again!! You might look up if there's a fabulous solution to your laundry problem also.
ReplyDeleteNEXT, I hate choosing recipes too, so take it or leave it, but this is what I do. I have an excel file with every recipe (eh--most of 'em) listed that we eat in the first column. In the second column, I write the recipe book I have that recipe in (if applicable) and then in the 3rd and 4th and 5th, etc. columns I write teh week we had that food. For instance, Poppy Seed Chicken---Whitney Ranch Ward cookbook---1/13-1/20. I write it in BEFORE I go to the grocery store knowing this week, we'll have spaghetti. That way I don't have to THINK of anything, I just write down on the list that is already thought up for me. I decide on the 5-6 meals we'll have, look up the ingredients in the books listed and head out. It's much simpler for me. Hope it works for you. Hang in there! :)
Ha- loved it, but in the I'm sorry you had a bad week kind of way. Welcome to the club! I believe with each child you'll lose a few more brain cells!
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