Silly Mom Thoughts

How the world even functioned before dishwashers and washing machines is a mystery to me. The amount of time that these amazing contraptions saves us is immeasurable. This is why any time I see “hand wash only” in the care directions for clothing, I hang that sucker right back on the rack where it belongs. I don’t care how cute it may have been or how awesome it made my butt look. Nothing is worth spending the time to hand wash. If I’m being honest here (and I am, ‘cuz it’s my blog and I have nothing to lose), when I somehow come into ownership of a “hand wash only” article of clothing I either end up putting it in the wash anyway (by mistake or as my own little experiment to see what will happen), or leaving it crumpled in the bottom of my hamper for months on end until I realize that it has gone out of style.Or is that just me? Hmm.

About a year ago my mom returned from a business trip with presents for the kids, like any awesome Grandma would. The presents were these adorable sippy cups, one with a racecar on it for Bug, and one with Bean’s name on it. They were so stinking cute in fact, I thought they were too good to be true. And sure enough, they were. Plastered all over the bottom of the cup and in the instructions placed inside were huge letters screaming at me “Hand Wash Only!”

Since the cups were so cute, I decided to suck it up and hand wash them. Bug’s cup lasted all of a week before Turk accidentally put it in the dishwasher and it cracked and otherwise lost its ability to hold any amount of liquid. Bean’s cup sat on the shelf because she was still too young to use it, until recently. It was one of those days when every cup was dirty and Bean needed something to drink or she was going to die (or at least that’s what you’d think watching her scream and writhe around on the floor). Reluctantly, I washed out the cup, filled it with juice, and handed it to her. This was over two weeks ago and it is still sitting beside the sink, rinsed out, but not hand washed.

Who has time for this hand wash only stuff?

If you ever have the opportunity to purchase a present for a child or the parent of a child, please do not give any gift that bears the markings “Hand Wash Only.” Chances are, it will either be a huge waste of time, or end up getting ruined in a couple of washings anyway.