The Black Crayon

A couple of weeks ago in Brigham's 4K class it was black day. The kids all wore black and brought something black to put on a poster. Brigham decided that a black crayon would be really great. The next day as I was getting the laundry out of the dryer I found the black crayon. It had gone through the wash and made the biggest mess I had confronted in a long time. The inside of the dryer was completely black. Not just a few streaks here and there but it was smeared everywhere. As I pulled out the clothes everything was covered in black smeared crayon. It was a nightmare come true. After a few days I got up the courage to face this huge mess (not to mention the other laundry that was piling up). I cleaned out the dryer with a Magic Eraser sponge and then used Soft Scrub cleaner on it. It took a lot of elbow grease. For a while I thought I might have to buy a new dryer but the scrubbing worked. A miracle!! Then I took the basket full of ruined clothes and stuck them in a closet for another week until I could muster up the strength to start cleaning them. Finally this last Saturday I examined the clothes again. I felt very discouraged. I took an iron and a paper towel to the spots hoping that the heat would melt the wax and then adhere onto the paper towel. It didn't work too well because the crayon was smeared into the fibers of the clothes. I decided to try and wash the clothes one more time in the washer. I used Oxy Clean and Dawn liquid dish soap. I was doubtful that it would work but to my huge surprise every piece of clothing came out perfectly clean. A double miracle!!! So if any of you out there have a basket hidden in your closet full of crayon stained clothes---Don't give up!