ORANGE CRAYON!!!! Melted. All over your clothes. And oddly enough, that mystery orange crayon came from a load of mostly adult clothing and while you are crying on the inside, you are wondering, "How in the world did that get in our clothes?"
Frustration. Because it'd been one of those weeks. One of those weeks. A puking kid, a semi-broken dryer (that has to be replaced...urg), an exploded pipe in your basement that flooded the walls and ceiling and floor, dealing with home owner's insurance, another puking kid, the coldest temps in years. Come on! Can we catch a break?
Yet, on the same hand, I am grateful. We have insurance, we are warm, dry, and well fed. We have a home (one of my best friend's home burned on Christmas Eve) and we have a vehicle (another friend had her's stolen this past week out of the drive). And God gave me extra grace and extra energy, and an EXTRA, EXTRA amazing husband. He helped clean puke covered floors, picked up pizza when I couldn't make dinner, helped around the house, and loved (loves) on all of us.
My brain kept singing this song (and yes, I know this is about an orange crayon...I'll get there): Matt Maher's "Lord I Need You". While I rocked in a chair with a baby girl several nights in a row for long periods of time, while I "slept" on the floor next to another little girl while she puked every 15 minutes, God gave me these words through this song. "Oh I need you, Lord I need you. Every hour I need you. My one defense, my righteousness. Oh God, how I need you."
Oh, I need Him. To fill up the darkness in me. To overflow the top of my cup and fill in all the cracks. I need Him to infuse me with Him, so at some point there will be no telling where I end and He begins. And in that night, when the hours seem long but the "babies" need Mama, I need Him. And the best thing?
He never fails to show up. Never.
Because when I need Him, and even when I don't think I do, He's there. Ahhh.Maze.Ing.
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(So because there's no sweet transition that I can think of, that's my transition...a line of equal signs.)
So things got better. Kiddos healed, restoration company is helping us with drying out the basement, dryer is functional, it's still cold (but hey, I can't get everything). So now I get to move on to more trivial things. Like trying to figure out how to remove orange crayon from an entire load of our clothes.
And I happened upon a little site after a "Google" search that promised the miracle working of a little bottle of cleaner found at the Dollar Tree. L.A.'s Awesome Laundry wash. As you can imagine, I was skeptical. Until I read the mass amount of comments that all praised the stuff and the simple method of a bottle of cleaner that cost a dollar.
What did I have to lose? I grabbed a bottle, followed the recommendations on the site and laundered. IT WORKED! How? No idea. But it worked. I sprayed a bit all on as a pre-wash to the crayon-ey spots, worked it in with a little scrubbing and a toothbrush, sprayed it with Spray & Wash and then threw it in the washer. I then emptied half the bottle into the wash, put detergent in and washed it on the hottest setting possible.56 minutes later I gingerly pulled each item out and they were clean! 2 of the items required a bit more scrubbing and another wash, but it worked. Apparently you can use the general cleaner too, but I chose this one. I had to share. I know that I'm not the only one who gets crayons in their dryer (albeit, a wonky dryer). Best wishes and best washing now that you don't have to cry when you pull out a load with crayon.
1 comment:
I remember a similar day in my own life a few years back, but with a blue crayon! I was nearly in tears.It took so much scrubbing and re-washing and it was a big load of clothes. My kids were afraid to ever put a crayon in their pockets again after the interrogations were over :) I find mostly gum wrappers, rainbow looms and coins now. They wash much better!
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