Friday, July 27, 2012

Check Those Pockets

Alternate Title: How a Purple Plastic Gecko Gave Me a Heart Attack.

Photobucket

If you're a mother and you do laundry, you probably already know that you must check your kids' (and husband's) pockets before washing/drying them. Sometimes this laundry tip is passed down with a tale of warning accompanying it. Or sometimes you just learn it the hard way.

I know and practice this rule...about 80% of the time. Sometimes, I just plain forget to check pockets. And really, my boys are not putting very many things in their pockets just yet. I've found the occasional penny (no big deal) or a sticker (ugh), but nothing too detrimental yet. In the past, I have washed and dried a tube of lip balm...that was in my own pocket. Sigh. 

But last night, I was reminded of this rule again. This time, not to avoid damaging laundry or a laundry appliance. But to save my own sanity. 

It was midnight. I was heading to bed. Casey had fallen asleep on the couch watching Sports Center. I wanted to switch out the loads of laundry before going to bed so I could just fold this morning. As I was taking out the load from the dryer, I stuck my head inside to get that t-shirt at the very back. Out of the corner of my eye, at the bottom front of the dryer, I saw a black gecko corpse. I immediately got my head out of there and shrieked, running out of the laundry room.

My reaction, of course, woke Casey up. He asked what in the world was wrong with me. I said, "There is a gecko in the dryer. And it has been dried."

I asked Casey to go get it out of the dryer and then started thinking about how I was going to clean the dryer. And that I'd have to wash that load of clothes again. Eww. Casey asked me, "so I have to get it out just because I'm the man?" And I said, "Yep. Absolutely." Thank goodness he knows when I'm serious, because he took a wad of paper towels in there to do something I'm guessing he did not particularly care to do.

He came out 10 seconds later with the "gecko" on top of the paper towels and headed toward me. I backed up and asked him why he thought it was a good idea to bring a crispy fried gecko anywhere near me. He told me to look at it. I didn't want to, so he picked it up by its tail. Knowing that even he would probably not normally do that, I went in for a closer look. And yes, it was then I discovered that it was just a purple plastic gecko. 

Photobucket

And the weird thing is that my first thought was relief that I would not have to clean the dryer of dried gecko. Casey then told me that Ethan had gotten the little culprit from church on Sunday and must have put it in his pocket. I had never seen it before and had no idea about it's existence until my run-in with it in the dryer. 

Then, (after my heart rate had returned to normal) we both had a good laugh. In my defense, the dryer was dark. We also have quite a few little gecko guests in our house during the summers. It could happen. I'm just SO glad it didn't!

I can't believe I'm admitting this, but this morning, when I walked into the kitchen (in the relative dark) and saw the gecko sitting on the counter, I jumped again. Sheesh. It got me twice. Then Ethan saw it up there and asked, "mommy, where did you find my gecko?"

1 comment:

CassieL said...

That gave me such a good giggle! I have Andrew kill spiders for me all the time.

Incidentally, here's a great guide on getting out chapstick stains: http://www.elementaryorganization.blogspot.com/2012/03/stupid-chapstick.html