Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Turning the Air Blue

As the saying goes, "hindsight is 20/20".

We all have bad habits and we all know that sometimes there are consequences to those said bad habits.  Consequences that we may not see normally but they are still there-a possibility and yet, not a deterrent.

My front loading washing machine is one of the highest rated machines in Consumer Reports and is relatively new.  I was so proud of my meticulous research and prowess at negotiating a good deal on our machine. Less than two years old, it is relatively new considering the lifetime of major appliances. It is not even near middle age.  Yet, it becomes possessed fairly regularly.  Possessed, as in, shaking wildly, making load noises, and migrating across the floor.  It appears that this happens when the load is not balanced-which happens when I cram to much laundry into the machine.

Saturday night, while my daughters peacefully slept and my husband was enjoying time out with The Boys (his friends), I was home doing laundry.  While I was on the computer checking email, I heard the washing machine start having a fit but it stopped within about 3 seconds.  Then it started again.  There was a thud.  My mind registered that that was a very, very, very bad thing.  The only thing on top of the machine was a wicker basket of laundry (which would NOT have accounted for that loud of a thud) and a 1.17 gallon of Tide. 

I raced to the laundry room already preparing myself for the worst case scenario.  Yet, I didn't really think that I would find THE ENTIRE BOTTLE empty on the floor.  It appeared that when it fell, the cap broke into pieces and the entire bottle spilled onto the floor.  It only took seconds.

This is where the air started to turn blue with words that I did not utter but I thought them-loudly.  My anger quickly turned to frustration after attempting to clean up the lake of blue goo that had spread out and under both the washing machine and dryer and to almost all corners of the room.  Bath towels did not absorb the liquid very effectively nor did paper towels. 

After a half hour my husband called to tell me he was heading home. Nearly in tears, I told him my sad tale.  He laughed...and laughed...and then said, "Your cleaning it up wrong".  How dare he!!!!

I responded, "and how would you clean it up Mr. KNow-It-All ?" (the name calling was only inside my head).

"A squeegee and a dust pan".  Here is where I rolled my eyes.

Then I realized that yeah, that would probably work.

It did.  I found the squeegee attachment for our home steamer and used that to scoop up the lake of goo.  When my husband came home, he helped move the washer and dryer and even helped scoop up goo.  We had it cleaned up in about 20 minutes.

Then, my husband pointed out that here is the difference between me and him.  If he had been responsible for this mess, he would have gotten yelled at.  I am not proud of this, but I will admit that he is probably right.  Whereas, he was totally nonplussed by my accident. I choose not to mention the fact that I clean up messes much better than he does.

I now have a squeaky clean floor and the air in my laundry room is no longer blue.

LESSON LEARNED:  To clean up spilled laundry detergent or any kind of substance with a higher viscosity, use a squeegee and a dust pan.

Oh and Lesson #2 is don't put a bottle of laundary detergent on top of a washing machine in case, like mine, it becomes possessed.

18 comments:

hypermom said...

Maybe you should call an exorcist person next time hehe

Buckeroomama said...

I think when it comes to cleaning major messes, my husband is definitely better than I am. He's more cool-headed and just attacks the mess, whereas I get overwhelmed... :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm terrible at cleaning. My hubby is better than I am. However, I am good at blue words! I've promised hubby I will quite cussing...as long as there is not a clean up like this I think I can stick with it.
Mary

Confessions From A Work-At-Home Mom said...

Aeeeeee, what a day!!! My washing machine becomes "possessed" as you say from time to time, but never like that!

I would have SHOT my hubby for saying what yours did; even if he WAS right!

~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom

Anonymous said...

I hope I don't need it - but thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

I bet the laundry room smells good though :-)

I never would have thought about a squeege either!

Joy@TPMG said...

That night was not one of my best moments but I will say my hubby was a sweetheart for helping clean up. His muscle is the only reason our washing machine got moved. There was no way that I would have been able to move it!

I must admit the laundry room does smell very clean!

Lourie said...

Mine does that all.the.time. I have rearranged the clothes/blankets/towels or whatever as much as 7 times before the darn thing stops acting crazy.

I never knew that about cleaning up soap like that. Good to know.

Mimi said...

My husband is better at things like this too. And I would have been swearing up a storm & probably have blamed him if it happened to him.

I'm just stopping by from SITS to say hello & welcome!

Daisygirl said...

Oh no!!! I am laughing a little but I know just how you felt about the mess I was that way when I tried to clean a bean bag chair full of styrofoam beans because the 2 year old peed on it....what a mess it was!
I will definitely remember to use a squeegee and a dust pan if that ever happens to me! ~Jen

Ann On and On... said...

Not to mention the cost of the detergent.... Fun post!

Welcome to SITS! Come on over to my blog...I'm giving away a $25.00 g.c. for new sunglasses. Who doesn't need new sunglasses? :D

Sarah at The Stroller Ballet said...

That sounds like something that would happen to me. I'm glad I know, now, for when it does!!

Unknown said...

This seriously sounds like something that would happen to me. What a disaster--and I'm sorry that it spilled everywhere :(

xo

Joy@TPMG said...

I still can't believe that this happened. It was $20 of detergent down the drain literally. If my hubby hadn't suggested that method of clean-up I would have been still cleaning up the next morning probably.

Stefanie Wolfaardt said...

Something very similar happened to me not so long ago, so JIP I have the same lesson learned

Stopping by from SITS to say welcome

Anonymous said...

Is there a wrong way and right way to clean? I would have just soak up the goo..I'm glad to know how now if that happens to me..(Cross my fingers and hope not..) :-)

Erin said...

You and your husband sound exactly like me and mine! He totally would have laughed at me too.

I am stopping by to welcome you to SITS. Love your blog!

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