Unexpected Annoyances

Julie and I walked home after dropping the kids at school this morning only to find that the car was dead. Luckily Pia was just on her way out, so she picked us up and we dropped Julie at preschool (too far to walk). I came back and called AAA, then threw a load of laundry into the washer. So the AAA guy came and jumped it; turns out that Pete and Julie had left their dome lights on last night after we picked up Steph from Hebrew school—although I remember telling them to turn them off, and I remember hearing two clicks.... Anyhow, I ended up having him replace the battery anyhow, since it was 5 years old already. The new battery was just $100 and has 675 [insert unfamiliar unit of measurement here]s as opposed to the old one, which had only 550. So then I threw the laundry into the dryer and ran out to do some errands. Came home to find splotches of black ink, large and small, all over everything in the dryer and black streaks all over the inside of the dryer too. Then I found Andy's Uni-ball pen. ("Oh, yeah, I was looking for that...")

When those Mr. Clean Magic Eraser things first came out, everyone was oohing and aahing about them, so I bought a package, but I could never really find a use for them. Well, no more. After trying everything else I could think of, I tried them on the (white) inside of the dryer. It was amazing! It took a fair amount of elbow grease, but all of the black ink came off! The clothes didn't fare as well; I used Zout twice but managed only to lighten the stains. There are still black flecks and blobs all over everything, mostly Steph's and Julie's stuff, but also one of my favorite shirts. Someone's in the doghouse!

Comments

[Susan Bunyan]

Don't know if it works after the dryer but in the past I've used hairspray on ink. Spray it, let it sit and then wash.

[susan]

Another version: "Soak (really soak!!!) the stain with hair spray and BLOT like crazy, repeat and repeat and repeat. It really does work. Gonzo sells a stain remover (I get it at Joann's Fabrics) that will take out ANYTHING. It's great stuff. I know it will work on ink because I used it on a white blouse. "

[Maribel]

Looks like you're not a tout for Zout.