Welcome to “Crayons in the Dryer”!

The tag line under my blog title reads, “. . . which when discovered made me feel fully initiated as a mom”.  That is so true!  We had three children, ages 4, 3, and 1 at the time, and I was pregnant with number four.  Keeping up with laundry was (is!) a real challenge.   I was so proud of myself on the day that I caught two crayons, one green and one red, in the load I was switching over to the dryer.  “Whew!” I thought, “I dodged that bullet!”  Ha!  The second red crayon and the turquoise blue crayons escaped to the dryer to decorate white burp rags, pretty panties, underwear (I still think I see a blood spot on a pair of underwear to this day!) some of my best onsies, and some towels and pillow cases. 

For the record, once crayons are heat-set, there’s not much you can do to truly get the stains out.  You can try, (click HERE and HERE for ideas) and you’ll likely get the stains to fade, but take it from me . . . the best course is to avoid crayons in the dryer in the first place!  (Did I hear a “duh” or two?)

And there’s not just the laundry you have to worry about getting the crayon stains out of, the dryer likely has crayon residue inside, just waiting to jump on your next load of clothes!  To rid your dryer of the potential extended staining, click HERE, HERE, and HERE for ideas about how to clean the inside of your dryer effectively.  And I’m thinkin’ that a Magic Eraser would probably do the trick, too.  They weren’t around (or I didn’t know about them) 3 children ago.

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Purpose of “Crayons in the Dryer”

So here I am, a married 40-something, homeschooling, mom-of-six, with a bit of experience and wisdom and hopefully some wit to offer to any moms who care to drop in at “Crayons in the Dryer”.  I’ve learned some things easy, some things hard, and have tried to maintain a certain level of humor throughout. 

“Crayons in the Dryer” will attempt to be a resource for moms for information on things ranging from what to do when you discover melted crayons in the dryer to breastfeeding to diapering to surviving the newborn season, (sweet as it is) to quick recipes, to potty training, to . . . well you get the idea. 

I don’t know everything, but have a pretty rounded out experience thus far (we have six children, ages 12, 10, 9, 7, 4, and 21 months).  One thing is for sure . . . I’ve learned that flexibility is the name of the game.  Every pregnancy, every nursling, every child is so different!  Now there is a range of predictability within those differences, but flexibility and ingenuity are often called for, for everyone’s sake.

I’ll try to keep it light, but every now and then I may just have to weigh in on politics and/or religion . . . Feel free to engage in discussion.  I just ask that we keep it friendly, and agree to disagree when appropriate.

There will be a variety of links and resources in the sidebar (Mouse Tracks) here at “Crayons in the Dryer”.  Please keep in mind that though a link or blog may be listed on my sidebar, that doesn’t mean that I agree with or endorse everything at those sites, but that I have found those sites to provide good information or to be thought provoking as I find what works best in our family.  And there may be other sites I just consider to be a good read from time to time.

Practical navigation is a goal I have for “Crayons in the Dryer”, so please be patient if you see the format change from time to time as I tweak and tune.  I want the bleary-eyed mom to be able to find out about what to do if she thinks she has mastitis in the middle of the night and to find that answer quickly if she lands here.  So keeping it simple will be the goal!

Blessings to you!