My Poor Washing Machine

I've been frazzled lately trying to keep up with my house since Santa came with all these new toys. Lego's are on my dining room table, we cleared two shelves of our bookcase in the living room off to fit Jake's stuff, an entire bookcase has been taken over in the family room etc etc.. It also does not help that Jake is into everything. He drew on our computer monitor with a pencil, drew on his auntie's iPod with a permanent marker, drew on my tile with a crayon and picks stuffing out of the hole in my recliner. I tried to come up with strategies to handle it all. So far the 'I'm going to stand in the kitchen and stare' strategy is not working. Then I read an article in 'Shape' magazine (it was only five dollars with another subscription, I have no intention of getting into any kind of shape) telling me how to sanitize my home. Boy oh boy, that was a scary article. There are more germs on my bathroom floor than on the toilet seat apparently. Oh and you have to wash your hands after you place wet laundry in the dryer because the high temp in the dryer kills the germs that just washed all over your clothes. Anyway, feeling more than overwhelmed (because how am I supposed to sanitize a floor I cannot find under all those toys?), I just accepted the fact that the toys have taken over and I am going to have to stop caring.

Then it happened.

Living in a multi-level home, I often find myself throwing things down the stairs instead of carrying them. This morning I got Jake out of bed, changed his diaper, threw it downstairs, took all the bedding off both his crib and Hayden's bed and threw them down the stairs. After getting Jake's breakfast I scooped up the laundry and put it in my precious red front loading washer. Now I did all of this early so it would be dry before Jake's nap. Blanket, the beloved blanket, was also in this load. And apparently the diaper was in this load as well. I opened the door after the wash cycle ended to see tiny pieces of liquid absorbing gel all over everything. The door, the bedding, blanket. I was traumatized. The part of the diaper that makes them so absorbent was all over Jake's blanket. You want germs 'Shape' magazine? I'll give you germs.

Two hours and three wash cycles later, I had removed all of the gel I could see and felt comfortable putting them in the dryer. Now I just stare at the washer, remembering a time when it wasn't infested with urine, gel and blankets. That was a good time, a very good time indeed.

Moral of the story-My house wants to be dirty. I shouldn't even think about sanitizing it, or it will make me pay. And even though it would help to not throw things down the stairs, I'm not going to. So if you're ever in my house, don't stand at the bottom of the stairs.

UPDATE: I guess I don't know the names of my magazines. It was 'Health' magazine, not 'Shape'. Thank you for your time.