Now I know what a million of something looks like

What's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? Of all the random things you could come up with, I bet you weren't going to say, "vacuum out my washing machine" like me. What's that? Why was I vacuuming my washing machine? Okay, fine.

It all started with a cute bean pillow that has been overly "loved". You know, covered with smudges, dark spots, and drool rings (because it's slept with, of course). If you are anybody, you probably throw it away. But, if you know it is a loved item, you clean it and return it to its owner.

Well, this soccer pillow of my son's which is filled with teeny, tiny Styrofoam beads so it's all cool and squishy when you play with it was BEYOND the simple "wipe with a damp cloth" as the instructions tell you.

So I threw it into the washing machine with the whites. After the washing machine was done, I opened up the lid to switch the laundry over.

What IS this?

My first thought was, "Who dumped a box of Tide into the finished wash???" (Anyone who's a parent knows this is not beyond possibilities, right?)

Then it hit me. THE PILLOW! Oh no...the pillow. I just starred in disbelief. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I scooped up a handful of beans. Cool. It was like snow. Too bad it couldn't melt away like snow. Well, I could see I had another project on my hands. So I called all of the kids in to see it and I took the picture to put on my blog. Heck, I might as well write a blog about it and have something good come out of it.

I wish I could say that I cleaned it up and all was good. But no. This is how it went. I spent the next 10 min. taking out one item of clothing , shaking it and dusting it off, inside and out, over the laundry trash can, and then tossing it into the dryer, and doing another. After 6 or so items, I closed the dryer and turned it on to experiment and see if the remainder of the beans would come off in the dryer lint thingy. Then, I threw away the remainder of the pillow in the kitchen trash because there wasn't room in the laundry trash. But, being a mom, I couldn't finish because I had to attend to other things. So I left it for later and went to take care of stuff and run a few errands.

Mistake #1- I showed the kids what happened.
Mistake #2- I threw the pillow away in the kitchen trash.
Mistake #3- I left.

When I walked in the door after running errands I found one of my children (the owner of the pillow) with his hands in the washing machine swishing the beans around. I give him the "What do you think you're doing?" look and he just says, "Cool, Mom! Look at this." So I shoo him out of the laundry room, as I notice the newly added beans on the floor. Then I look up into the kitchen and see a small neighbor friend playing with the cool little beads in the kitchen trash can. (Where my own child, her friend, was at the moment, I had no idea). Great! So I then clean off my little disappointed neighbor's hands, TIE the trash bag closed and take it outside. Then I check the dryer. YES! The beads are collected in the lint thingy! I spend another 10 min. dusting out a few more clothes and tossing them in the dryer. I look at the clock. Drat! I've got to make dinner! Sandwiches tonight.

As I gather the kids for bed time, I go to turn off the back porch light and, what's that? Snow on the porch? It hasn't sno.....wait a minute. Sigh. Gratefully, it was only a small amount. Without knowing, I must have stopped small, neighbor friend before she had a chance to cover the deck. Yea for me...

1:30am I'm going to bed...Oh no, I forgot about the washer! Sigh. Take an item of clothing, wipe it off inside and out. Take out another. Repeat. At this moment I'm secretly wishing that the clothes were all ruined and I would have to throw the whole mess away. But no.

By almost 2am and as I pick up what seems like the hundredth piece of clothing to de-bead, the lyrics, "Somebody save me!!! (Save Me (Smallville theme)" began playing in my head.

2:10am 3 more socks to go. FINALLY done. I turn the dryer on. Now, what do I do with all of the beads in the washer? I scoop out handfuls and put them into the trash. I just can't get them all. Light bulb over my head comes on. I tie the trash securely closed and go to bed.

And the next morning (or six hours later, however you want to look at it), I am vacuuming out my washing machine.

PS. Everyone is STILL finding beans in their pockets and in their shirts! And we probably will for a very, very long time.