Lentils in the washing machine!!!!

What? How? Why? When?

Yeah, I was just thinking the same when I took out the towels that I had put in the washing machine about 45 minutes ago, and they were washed and ready to go into the tumbler dryer. I took the first towel out, and some bits fell out of it - what was that? I took it out of the tumbler dryer, and more bits fell out. I shook the towel and all these bits fell onto the floor, there was about 20-30 but it felt like hundreds and thousands!

What were they? On closer inspection, they looked like lentils....lentils??? I know, right?  Lentils in my washing. How???

I looked in the machine, and there they all were - lentils, spilt yellow ones, split green ones, whole red ones, small little ones, all perfectly plumped up by their wash in the machine. Cog wheels turning furiously in my mind, wondering how they got there in the first place.......it can't be? can it? Oh yes it can. Jasmine's home made fabric Domo somehow got in the machine. Who put it there, did it walk in there?

I put the washing in the machine earlier, so it must have been me that put it in the washing machine too. Why didn't I notice it? Probably because it was wrapped up in the dirty washing, or Jasmine had dressed it in her clothes or used a towel as a blanket and then those items got picked up by me, the housewife, and put in the wash.....

 Today was housekeeping day, I set the Roomba off, gathered the washing and did a load. Emptied the tumbler dryer of last night's load, tidied anything that might be in Roomba's way, gave the bathrooms a once over, sinks and toilets got a clean, emptied the dishwasher....dusted, I know, I know, seems a lot when you list it all down. Oh, I forgot, I made the beds. Well not Mitch's, he made his own. Jasmine's brand new Ralph Lauren comforter had some red staining on it. What is that? Not the dreaded painters already, come on, she's only 10! Stains in an odd place, right at the top of the comforter..... hmmmm, lipstick?

I spy some fake blood on her bedside table, left over from Halloween. NOOOO! Yes, that's what it must be, and from previous experience, it stains forever! Something else to deal with.

Back to my lentil predicament. I shook all the lentils off the washing, placed it in the tumble dryer, then looked at the top loading washing machine in horror. Lentils everywhere! Lodged in the filters and in  places where the bits of machine join. My main concern was the lentils getting caught up in the working mechanisms of the machine. They were tiny enough to go through the holes in the drum. I tried to brush them all to one spot before scooping them up with my fingers. I rang Dave in a bit of a panic, he was his usual reassuring self, thank goodness.

I got what I could out, and then set the machine on a rinse cycle with nothing in it but the left over lentils that I could not get to. After 20 mins I removed the filter and there were a few mushed up lentils in there and a few in the drum, stuck to the sides. More brushing and picking up. I hope it will be ok. We will have clothes washed with a scent of lentil for the next few loads until all the lentils are flushed out! Never mind spring fresh, autumn rain or summer daisies, we are having dhal soup fragrance for our clean washing...

Jasmine just got home from school, I told her what had happened to her Domo, and she said, "I put it in the washing machine". So, it wasn't my fault. Phew. But that doesn't change anything... you can't cry over spilled lentils!

Lentils are a great food, and soaking it before cooking will shorten cooking time, but do not soak it in the washing machine.  The machine does a good job, don't get me wrong, but retrieving the lentils might prove a bit of a problem.......

PS, whilst all this was happening, I was also dealing with a few UK phonecalls  about our house;  buyers and tenants chomping at the bit to get a piece of the action! Despite this near disaster (yes, I'm being a drama queen), we have had another offer on the house, better than the offer we had on Monday and it's another cash buyer! Hmmmm, cynical me, cash buyer, where have I heard that before. The icing on the cake was that he wanted to exchange before Christmas!

The house was also being viewed by prospective tenants this morning. The estate agent was on to me,  saying the letting agents were getting tenants for the house, and do the letting agents know you've had an offer and a second viewing on Saturday, blah blah, blah and this and that and blah, blah and more blah! And so and so and ting and ting!

I had told the letting agents that whoever could get a buyer or tenant first, they get the house LOL, it was a first come, first served, so it looked like there was tug of war on.... hahahahhahahahahahahahha.... all these weeks of stress about the house and now it seems there are no end of people wanting it, either to buy or rent. What in the world was I worried about........

My mum was right, when I had moaned to her about our trials and tribulations, she said be patient, and it will all work out, and it is......cheers Mum, I guess she has eaten more salt than I have eaten rice...LOL