– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - Well, that was a sticky situation

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

We all know that glue and tape are not my friends, which was never clearer to me than this past weekend, when I did a lot of stuff around the house. One of the things on my list, was to get the beds changed, i.e. washing the sheets and blankets.

I accomplished that, but it wasn’t a painless process like one might expect. So, I got the sheets done, then the comforters and finally, the mattress pads. Gosh, though, there sure was a loud thump coming from the washing machine.

Sometimes, it does kind of sound like that, so I put it out of my head. When I transferred that load to the dryer, again, there was a loud plink as it spun, but I figured that must be from the missing zipper pull on the jacket on a load of clothes I’d done earlier in the day.

I later found the zipper pull on the floor by the dryer.

When I pulled the mattress pads out, something hard slapped against my leg. What in the heck? It was square and flat, and completely smushed into the pad.

Turns out, when I threw the pads on the floor before they made it to the washing machine, I inadvertently set them too close to one of the glue traps I have out for mice. I never noticed it when I stuffed it in the washer.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to ruin the inside of the machine and I did loads after that, and all went good. The dryer, on the other hand...yeah. There was sticky, brown glue all over the drum and of course, it ruined the mattress pad beyond repair.

As for the drum, I tried scrubbing it, but to no avail, so I turned to my old buddy, acetone. After a good 45 minutes of scrubbing, with my head in the dryer, I thought I was going to pass out from the fumes. Then, I spent another bit cleaning the whole drum with Mr. Clean, which, again, those fumes almost did me in.

I left the door open and let it dry for hours, because I was afraid that having used those flammable substances, if I ran the dryer, I’d start a fire. Once I thought the drum was dry, I slipped in another load of blankets and everything was fine.

From now on, I really need to be more diligent before loading clothes in the washing machine. And if one person says using glue traps on mice is inhumane, just consider how my dryer feels!