Please Tell Me That Normal Is Overrated

Laundry is a never ending chore at my place, just like it is at yours. And when I think I'm getting caught up (read: only 3 more loads to go!) the boys empty the laundry bins that they've been hoarding in case of a natural disaster. We've got 3 laundry bins in our room (whites, colors, towels), 1 in the kids' bathroom, 1 in the laundry room, and each of the kids have bins in their rooms. Needless to say, there's a lot of laundry on any given day.

And I'd hope that you can appreciate the fact that sometimes I don't inspect every single piece of laundry that gets tossed into the washer. It's actually more like never. I never inspect laundry. If you have a stain that needs treated, please put it on top of the washer to alert me to the fact. If you do not, please know that the stain will be permanently set by the time it's out of the dryer, and it won't be my fault. Judge if you will, but feel free to take over my laundry as well.

So the other day I got a load of laundry out of the dryer, and was met with a smell. I know that smell well, and it isn't a pleasant one. That smell would be the fact that Micah didn't get to the toilet in time. Mind you, I clean out underpants and shorts before tossing them into the wash, but that's not to say that the boy didn't try to help me out by tossing something in himself. And since I don't inspect laundry but simply grab handfuls and throw into the washer, a little lumpy something-something may have gotten washed. And it completely contaminated the whole load.

The smell. OH, the smell.

So I re-washed the entire load. And I thought there was a very faint smell when they came out again, but by that time the smell was permanently lodged in my nose and I figured it was all in my head. Turns out it wasn't. Sam came home from work and said that his shirt smelled like Micah had pooped on him. So that prompted a raid of closets and drawers, sniffing every article of clothing we owned. The offenders were easy to spot.

The smell. OH, the smell.

Our life is so far from normal here that I'm not sure we'd recognize normal if it walked up and shook our hand. And if you smell something a little off while greeting us with that handshake, please know that we're not that kind of people. I think. Right?

6 comments:

Michelle said...

Ohhhh I feel for you. My downfall is stickers that aren't removed from clothes and after being washed result in clothes that cannot be worn anywhere decent. They're currently on probation and may not be allowed stickers in the near future.

Go with vinegar and baking soda. They do a GREAT job in getting iffy smells out, not that I'd know anything about that ;) (baking soda goes in with the rinse if you have a top loader, otherwise when you load in with the clothes; vinegar goes in the fabric softener container)

JennyH said...

I know that smell! I even have what I call, the poopy load. Anything being washed with That.. gets washed at least 2 times. I set my washer to stain cycle, extra rinse, anything that will give them longer washing time.

I have by mistake dried clothes that still had That smell and it is HARD to get out! Good luck with that!

I never check the laundry either. I do, though, make a mental note of what was worn when more chocolate ice cream is on the shirt than could have possibly been eaten. Then hope I remember once that clothing hits the washer.

Yeah, Normal is way over-rated!

Annette W. said...

Oh boy! Life at your house is never-ending fun!

Trisha said...

Put some vinegar in with the wash - that should get rid of the smell . . . maybe!

caramama said...

Oh no! That absolutely sucks!

I can't imagine how much crazy your laundry is with four kids and all the animals. I love the idea of teaching the kids to put clothes in need of stain treatment on top of the wash. I'm going to be sure to do that, as well as teach them to empty their own pockets.

We've had a couple rocks go through the wash... at least until the loud crashing noises alerted me to issue. Now, I spend a lot of time checking pockets before throwing pants in.

HalfAsstic.com said...

Aaaaah! Bless your heart! "Set in" poop smell... and even heated up!
I too draw the line right before my kids want me too. I refuse to stick my hand down in anyone's socks and turn them right side out. I taught them how to remove them, (right side out), and if they go in the wash turned inside out, they get folded with the mate that way.