Wrongfully Accused

Author's note: This post isn't directly about the kids, but it's about their (missing) socks.

I'm missing a sock!  Where did it go??

The answer is the same every time because I have no other reasonable explanation:  "The dryer ate it."

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here to declare that we, as a society, have wrongfully accused The Dryer for losing our socks, rendering pairs as singles and therefore, worthless.  I got so frustrated with the number of unmatched socks that I even went as far as putting the kids' socks in a lingerie bag to keep the dryer from eating them.

Despite my actions, I always had my doubts The Dryer was eating socks.  So for years, I kept the single socks, figuring I'd find them sometime. 

That time was last night.

For some reason, when I put Elektra's laundry into the washer, I felt the need to clean the rubber door seal inside the washer drum (which keeps the water from coming out of the washer's door).  When I pushed down on the rubber seal, I discovered that it's not actually attached to the washer drum, just the outside of wall of the washer.  This makes sense, if you think about it, because the drum needs to spin as it washes, and so the rubber can't be attached else it would rip.  But I never thought about this before, so I never looked.  When I looked last night, oh my, was I surprised.

Lo and behold, there were 10+ kid socks between the washer drum and washer's outside wall, underneath the rubber door seal.  I found socks from when DJ was a newborn that I thought were lost.  At the time, I'd do a load of laundry, come up with an unmatched sock, and think that I was going out of my mind due to the lack of sleep. 

No... no...The Washer was eating them. 

I just stood there, stunned at my discovery.  I found myself thinking that all this time, I've been wondering why our washer smelled a little moldy, and so I'd run a light load of whites with bleach to help with the stench.  Now I know why!!!

Meanwhile, I ran the socks through the laundry with a whole lot of soap and on a high cleaning cycle.  Unfortunately, some are permanently stained, but the more recent losses (now finds!) are just fine! 

So all you dryer-haters out there, it's NOT The Dryer's fault.  The Washer is the real culprit.  I'm going to go put The Washer in Timeout for letting The Dryer take the blame all this time and not fessing up instead!