I thought I set my alarm clock for 6:30 this morning, but when I rolled over, peeled one eye open and looked at the clock, it said 7:45. The kids' bus arrives at 7:21, school begins at 8:15, and there were lunches to make.
At least I had turned on the dryer for Patrick's school uniform before I went to bed. I woke up the kids and went to the laundry room to get Patrick's dry uniform. I opened up the dryer and was greeted by a big pile of wet clothes. So I took out everything except Patrick's uniform and Kira's coat. I went and made lunches. I opened up the refrigerator and a big jar of strawberry jam jumped out at me and landed on the floor. I did a quick tidy, mostly just removing the broken glass, hoping to wash the stickiness off the floor once the kids were at school.
Campbell: I have a headache. And a sore throat.
Me: I think we all do, can you still go to school?
Campbell: I think so.
I made lunches, and then ran down to the clothes out of the dryer. I opened the dryer and to my horror found pale blue crayon all over everything! I had removed a skipping rope, 3 crayons and a small ball of clay from her pockets, but it became apparent that I had missed something. I promised that I would find a stain removal tip from the internet and have them cleaned by the time he got home from school, and he begrudgingly wore his "winter uniform".
5 lunches were packed, 6 kids were dressed, we were mostly ready to go. Kira started coughing and couldn't stop. She needed to use the puffer. Clearly she needed to stay home from school "just one more day". During all of this, Patrick and Campbell offered to take the little ones to the van, but they need my keys. Keys. Not in my usual spot, not in my coat, are they in the door? Nope. At this point, I am thinking that God is trying to tell me something. Campbell checked my purse where I don't ever put them, bingo. In the excitement, somebody has knocked a cup of apple juice off of the table in the hallway. I grab something to blot it with, again the sticky floor can wait.
As we are going out the door, I remember that my van is 6 kms to empty, and I'm 9 kms to the nearest gas station at which I will be stopping. I suddenly remember that I have 2 "free plays" for the 50 million dollar lottery that I need to cash in. I figure that in 45 minutes of being late, I've already had a big dose of bad luck, so I am due to have a little bit of good luck. I get my gas and my lottery tickets and we are on our way!
We pull up in front of the school, and Campbell's headache is now worse, so only 3 get out of the van and trudge into school late. I drive off, stop at the grocery store for a few things. Then I go to the bank and use the machine. The machine won't process my transaction and I need to call a 1-800 number to get it fixed. When I call at home, they say that I need to go into a branch with ID because they can't restore my card over the phone. I appreciate that banks are looking out for customers, but this has gotten ridiculous. I should mention this happened last month when I tried to move UCCB money from that bank to the bank I do all of my banking at. Apparently, me using my card at another bank's branch (and paying the $1.50 charge) is considered "suspicious activity". They cleared me the last time, and yet froze everything again this month for the same reason. It's a good thing I wasn't in need of that money to put gas in my van or food in my children's bellies. Yet.
My friend and I were trying to get together and go for a walk maybe just with Griffin in a backcarrier, but between the other 2 sick kids, the rain, and Griffin's runny nose, I asked for a raincheck. Another friend dropped in for a spot of tea.
Finally I got a chance to go online and googled "crayon dryer remove stain", I looked at several of the tips and most of them involved ironing with a paper bag (I am usually pretty good at avoiding my iron), spot treating with storebought treatments, or scrubbing by hand. I remembered something about ammonia and crayons though, but everything online said to use ammonia for crayon in carpet. The ammonia bottle did not mention crayons. I tried it on a spot of the uniform and it dissolved right there. So I followed the directions on the bottle of ammonia and added 1 cup of ammonia to the washer, I threw in some of my homemade detergent and the stained clothes. As you can see, I am very lucky that the stains came out in one wash with NO SCRUBBING, NO IRONING.
Before:
After:
Let's just hope that there is just a little bit more luck left to cover my lottery tickets.