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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Bleach Blanket Bingo

There are many facets of domestic life that still remain a mystery, despite over three years of living with Adam and becoming as domesticated as I have ever been. For instance, I hate to dust. Actually, what I mean is it never occurs to me to dust. I am not a natural born duster. So the fact that Adam DOES like to dust ensures that a dust bunny doesn't rise up and devour us both.

Another area in which I fail is laundry. I admit, I don’t know much about laundry. Until yesterday I wasn’t aware that colors should be watched in colds and whites in hot. I never read the care labels and just throw things in and hope for the best. I even commit the ultimate laundry related faux pas and wash my dry clean only items in the gentle cycle. This works out okay more often than you would probably think. In any case due to this lackadaisical laundry attitude, Adam does most of our laundry. Why he doesn’t trust his clothes to someone who thinks that blow drying a shirt can substitute using an iron, I will never know.

But there are days like yesterday when I have to step up to the plate.

I was home from work and Adam, who was still at work, asked me to do a load of whites since he would not have time to do it. He instructed me to use bleach and I balked. What exactly do I do with the bleach? Sprinkle it on the clothes? Mix it with the Tide before I put it in? He instructed me to pour a capful into the machine before I put the clothes in, and after the clothes are in to pour in the Tide. And to wash it on hot. Easy Peasy.

Too bad he neglected to tell me that putting the bottle of bleach in a basket of clean clothes to transport it back up to your apartment is perhaps NOT the best idea.

Moments later, when I dumped the clothes out on the bed, I noticed his long sleeved Bruins shirt was covered in whitish orange spots.

This shirt is normally black.

Oh crap……

I smelled my hands and realized they smelled like bleach and when I ran into the kitchen I realized the bleach bottle that I had thrown into the laundry basket had bleach drippings on it and that had transferred to Adam’s favorite Bruins shirt and who knows what else.

Crap!

I washed my hands and hastily went through the rest of the pile. Everything else seemed okay and free from bleach spots. Until the pile was gone and I noticed the odd dime sized white spot square in the middle of our brand new comforter.

CRAP.

Knowing that I was in trouble, I decided to face the music and call Adam at work to tell him about his shirt and the bed. I prefaced it like this.

OHMYGOD OHMYGOD SOMETHING SO TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED!!!!!”

(I learned this trick as a kid, if YOU overreact to something bad you did than your parents response is more likely to be “Oh its not that bad” than if you start off trying to make it less than what it is)

Unfortch I forgot this is Adam’s favorite Bruin’s shirt we are talking about so IT REALLY WAS SO TERRIBLE. Not to mention the new bedspread that he (and I) love(d). And I tend to be overdramatic about everything so he is hip to my game anyway.

In the end, after some moments of dissapointment and incredulity at my thinking throwing the bleach bottle in a basket of clean clothes was a good idea, he chuckled about it and we agreed perhaps the whites are best left to him from now on. And we didn’t speak of it again. Until we got home from dinner that night and he realized half his boxers are now covered in bleach spots as well.

What? They weren’t like that before?

17 comments:

SBCVandy aka PreppyChemist said...

LOL I will have to try that trick the next time I mess up :)

tulipmom said...

You crack me up. Seriously, though, bleach is so unforgiving. To counteract our hard water (residue and smell left in the machine), I do a bleach cycle every few weeks (just bleach, no clothes). Even after extra rinsing and a few extra empty washes, I still end up with bleach marks on the next load of clothes. It seems unavoidable.

Nicole Huot said...

You know what? I think it's ok that you aren't good at laundry or dusting. You have Adam for that. And besides, you cook like a mo-fo! You're awesome!!! Things even out.

P.S. I suck at laundry too.

Anonymous said...

That is hilarious! I am so sorry that happened, but you tell the story so comically. That has to be worth something, right? :)

Sarah said...

Hopefully it's worth a new Bruins shirt! :-P

Lys said...

Y'all are too much - there is a trick to the dramatics - thankfully it all worked out. I've learned to never mess with a man and his favorite items of clothing. However if he tells me to the do the laundry, it's, in my mind, granting a waiver if I mess it up.

MegFordice said...

Sarah! I can't believe you put dry clean only clothes in the gentle cycle.

Of course, now I'm tempted to try it.

Frankie said...

I do the dry clean only trick a lot, too!

The clothes come out clean, but they don't last quite as long.

eileen said...

well, at least you cook good :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my god...I can top you a bit...I don't even bother putiing my dry clean only clothes in the gentle cycle...I just pop it in with my regular stuff...I fool myself into thinking I am fooling the drycleaning system, by just airdrying them instead of putting them in the dryer...I haven't screwed up anything yet!! **God I hope this doesn't mean I have now jynxed myself and will have some fav piece of dry cleaned clothing ruined the next time!!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and by the way...you have me TOTALLY wondering what your new comforter loks like!! I am now obsessde with them for some reason. In the year Dominic and I have lived together, we have already bought 3!!!

AND..I, too have always been a huge drama queen...I can cry at a moments notice, but it doesn't phase Dominic either :( :( 28 years later, my mom still falls for it though!!

Random Musings said...

Oh my.. lol The hubby is banned from the laundry but he does all the cleaning so I scored with that one.... But I much like you do not do the dry cleaning thing... yeah if it does not go in the washer and dryer I will not buy it.. usually...
I may use your trick one day very interesting....

Sarah said...

Amy this is our new one

http://slimages.macys.com/is/image/MCY/products/7/optimized/308717_fpx.tif?bgc=255,255,255&wid=273&qlt=90,0&layer=comp&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.7,1.0,0.5,0&fmt=jpeg

that now has a LOVELY dime sized bleach spot smack in the middle. awesome.

Krista said...

Whew. omg I feel so much better. Matt does all the laundry... so the other night I went down in the basement to work out (as in slowly die on the treadmill) I thought it would be sweet of me to start that laundry.

I couldn't even get the washer on, so I punched it.

KK said...

I don't think I've ever commented before but I just had to say thank goodness I'm not the only one who sucks at laundry! I washed my husband's sweater last week and it came out about 4 sizes smaller :) Oops!

Sarah said...

Yay! Glad I am not the only laundry-deficient gal out there.

Jane said...

This is too funny. A classic moment.