Today is one of those rare rainy days that we get in San Antonio. I don't leave the house when it rains here because my anxiety level flies through the roof. It's not ME driving in the rain so much that causes my fear; it's other idiots that scare me. No one in SA knows how to drive when the sky clouds over. They're certain that, regardless of the temperature, there is black ice on the road, so they must slam on their brakes and drive 20 miles an hour in a 65 zone.
Don't get me wrong ... I love the rain! I love to sit on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, reading a book with a warm cup of coffee sitting beside me while I watch and listen to the rain.
Now, I don't get to DO this when it rains, but I love to. One, I don't have porch to speak of. Two, I have two little girls who would never allow me to have the peace and quiet required to do these things.
So, instead of getting to do this, I mix my day up with laundry, playing with the girls, reading, and perusing the internet.
Today, I was looking at Pinterest and my Aunt pinned this blog about cleaning your front-loading washer. It made the little light in my head go "ding!" We just replaced all of the towels in our house because we couldn't get the stinky-moldy smell out of the old ones. So, it naturally made sense for me to follow the instructions presented to me.
There are not many things in life that I regret doing. You can add two things to that very short list - 1) buying a front-loading washing machine, and 2) cleaning said washer for the first time seven years after purchasing it, having washed hundreds, if not thousands, of poop-covered clothes in that time.
I had no idea of all of the hidden spots that needed to be cleaned! Pull this back, put a q-tip in here, dry this off, soak that, open this. There was a whole new (unwelcome) world opened up to me today. One that I never want to see again!
It took me about 30 minutes, handfuls of baking soda, all of my remaining vinegar, 2 cups of bleach, 20 q-tips, and a full-sized towel to clean this 18" circle of death. And it's still not really clean. It's currently running an empty cycle, the first of many today.
The towel is now in the trash. My stomach is almost back where it belongs in my body. And my savings account suddenly has a new target.
So, to any of you unfortunate souls who made the trendy, colossal mistake of purchasing one of these demon machines, take heed - CLEAN THAT SUCKER REGULARLY!!!!!!! Do not wait! Or, better yet, get a new machine!!! :)
Now, go out and enjoy the rain!
