Did You Ever Watch the Brady Bunch?

Remember the episode when Jan borrows earings from her mother without asking? She sets them on the bathroom counter, walks away, and when she returns the earrings are gone. Remember how in the end, each person in the family somehow was involved in finding them?

Well, that's how I felt today. Except there were no earrings and I wasn't missing anything. Jimmy was...

I came home from a meeting last night to hear the story about how the kids were dumping dirt on each other. They were subjected to showers and all the dirty clothes, shoes included, were put into the washer. Jim mentioned this to me and said I might want to get it into the dryer before I went to bed. Well, I forgot...

Earlier today, Emma had some wet clothes, so I sent her into the laundry room to change and get the dirty clothes into the hamper. Meanwhile, I started cleaning up from lunch. Afterward, I sat down on the couch, and began to wonder where Emma was. Next thing I know, Emma comes out of the laundry room, all clean with dry clothes. I asked her if she put her clothes in the hamper. "No, I put them in the dryer" she says. Well, I knew the clothes in the dryer were clean and dry, and not wanting her soiled clothes in the dryer, I quick hopped up and went to check the dryer. I discovered that Emma had cycled the wash loads...

She put the wet clothes from the washer into the dryer and put her dirty clothes into the washer. WOW, I thought! She's really getting to be a helper! But, that's when I rechecked the dryer and noticed a pile of laundry soap inside the dryer (the new 3 month old dryer)!

Apparently, she wasn't satisfied putting laundry soap into the cubby drawer for the washer, she needed to put some into the dryer for good measure. Not knowing if this would kill my dryer, I used the shopVac to suck up as much of the powdered soap as I could. I figured the rest would collect in the lint screen where I could vacuum that out periodically during the cycle.

I did clean the lint screen after about ten minutes, and planned to check it again in about 10. Well, the next time I came into the laundry room, the dryer door was open, and the cycle was incomplete. Knowing I hadn't opened it myself, I decided to examine the dryer to see why it would kick itself off like that.

That's when I saw it.

The WAD OF GUM...

At first it looked like silly putty, but this was pink. That's when I remembered that dad just bought some new gum for the kids...Double Bubble...Remember that gum? Thinking that the single piece of slightly warmed gum may not be the only unacceptable item in the dryer, I slowly pulled the clothes and shoes out of the dryer, one by one. Slowly...

I got to the end of the items, and thinking it strange that I didn't find anything else, I examined the lint screen again, then the drum. There it was...the second piece of gum had melted and was gummed up in a few spots around the interior of the dryer!

SO! I can just hear Jimmy saying, "Where's my gum? I put it in my shorts pocket!" then, Dad says, "Well, I put your shorts into the washer!" (everyone races to the washer) Not there...then, Emma says, "Well, I put the wash into the dryer!" (everyone races to the dryer) That's when we discover what happens to gum when it is in the dryer for 15 minutes! The first one comes out clean...then the second one comes out damaged!

Just like the Brady Bunch! The first earring came out of the dryer looking nice. The second came out crumpled!

hmmm...maybe Goof-Off will clean up this mess...