BIG Laundry Oops!

Everyday I try and do 1 load of laundry so I stay on top of the laundry that gathers around here and yesterday was no exception. My basket was full so I threw it in the wash before I went to do some mission work with my church. Right before I left I went to hang/dry my clothes. Well I open up my washing machine and see ALL my clothes (about 8 shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of socks, 4 pair of underwear and 2 sets of pj's) covered in this paper crap. I didn't know what happened until I saw the culprit.... a coloring book! Yes an entire coloring book (some pages were colored) somehow got into the wash. I don't know if Nyla threw it in my basket in our closet or if it fell from our coloring stuff that's kept above the machine. But it was in there and it made a big ol' mess!!!

I left to go do my mission thing and would deal with it when I came home. It ended up being a bigger mess than I thought. Every piece of clothing was covered in hundreds of pieces of paper. I called my mom (because mom's always know what to do right?) and told her what happened. She told me to let everything air dry overnight and then brush it all off the next day. Let's just say I went to bed pretty upset with myself.

Today I tried to go in with a good attitude and conquer this huge mess and just get it all done. I start taking each piece of clothing one by one and start brushing it off. Sometimes brushing it works, sometimes it doesn't. After shirt number five I was furious again. So I quit for a bit. I came back to it awhile later and just couldn't get it done. My jeans are the worst looking. They must have been by the coloring book the whole time. They have tiny pieces and big pieces and those pieces are just sticking to the jeans. So annoying!

I, again, left it for awhile and came back to it. Brushing it off obviously wasn't working. And picking it off piece by piece? Forget it! I decided I'll throw small loads in the wash (after I've shaken them out a good bit) and try washing again; then I'll dry it in the dryer and go from there. So far, one load has done well with this. I have 2 more loads to go and I have I have as much success!

Piece of advice: Look in your washing machine before washing anything. You never know what you may find!!!

What big laundry mistakes have you made?

Here's one shirt covered in the paper. This picture doesn't really do it justice but you get the idea. It's not just the outside of the clothes, it's the inside too!

And here's the inside of the washing machine AFTER I took all the clothes out. It was a huge mess and it was everywhere! I'm mad just typing this!!!